Most tower defense games hand you a little more every level.

This one takes things away.

You start at level 10 and it is the best day of your life. Every block, every turret, unlimited supplies, no timer at all. Build a fortress. Build a stupid maze. Build a heart shape around the zero if you want, nobody is stopping you. Take as long as you like.

Then you clear it, and the counter drops to 9.

Now your best material is gone. Your best turret is gone. Your upgrades all slid down a notch. There is a clock now, twenty minutes, and you get nine of each thing instead of as many as you want.

Then 8. Then 7. Two minutes come off the clock every time.

And here is the part that hurts: your base does not carry over. Whatever you built last level is gone. Every level starts on empty grass with fewer toys and less time than the one before it.

By level 1 you are standing in a meadow with wood, one wood turret, four minutes, and one of each.

the numbers

The things attacking you are numbers. Actual digits, with little legs, walking toward the zero with their eyebrows down. Bigger digits are slower and much harder to kill. If a wall is in the way they will stop and chew on it until it is not.

You can whack them with your hammer. It does almost nothing. It feels great.

the thing at the end

At level 1 something arrives that you cannot hurt.

Not "tanky." Not "needs the good turret." You shoot it and the word IMMUNE floats off it. The hammer does nothing. Everything you have ever built does nothing. It walks toward the zero and it will not stop and there is no number you can bring down.

The answer has been in the corner of your screen since level 10.

It has been sitting there the whole game, politely, not explaining itself. You probably typed something into it around level 8 and it wiggled at you.

Go back and talk to the box.

other things worth mentioning

• 10 levels, 3 waves each, and a full refund if you delete a block you regret
• 10 blocks and 10 turrets, from Wood up through Bedrock, God Material, and one called WHY
• The soundtrack counts down too. Drums drop out, then the melody, then the chords, until level 1 is mostly a heartbeat.
• Butterflies in the field. They hide during waves.
• Save file you can download and keep
• Runs in your browser. One file. Nothing to install.

controls

WASD to walk. Click to place, right click or E to delete. Q swaps between blocks and weapons, scroll wheel picks the one you want. Space swings the hammer. Enter starts the wave early if you are feeling confident. Esc pauses.