Your squad grows. The map tears you apart.

Fading Reel is a wave-based Roguelike where you lead a chained squad through a forgotten 1930s animation reel. You aim and move as the leader; teammates follow every step and fire on their own. A longer chain means more bullets — and more risk when the arena splits you apart.

Chained squad combat

The HUD tracks Leader and Mate HP in separate rows. If a Mate is crushed or cut off mid-wave, they leave the field — but your roster bench refills missing squadmates at the next wave start. Stack damage, fire rate, spread, and cohesion upgrades after each horde; detached Mates stop firing until you reattach (some Evolutions change that rule).

Map events split your formation

The arena is not scenery. Closing gates, sweep beams, lockdown zones, and anchor tethers force split-second calls: regroup fast, or keep fighting understrength. Circle back to reattach before the horde closes in.

Linked Blink

At Wave 12 start, unlock Linked Blink — teleport the entire attached chain together (~0.4 s, 1.5 s cooldown). Attached units are briefly invulnerable; mistime it and the HUD flashes a deny pulse. Essential for dodging Blaster ground bursts and Hydra charges.

Survive the wave. Stack your build.

Clear each horde wave, then pick one of three random run upgrades from a pool of stat boosts — fire rate, max HP, heals, move speed, projectile damage, chain resilience, knockback resist, map-pull resist, and squad-scaled perks.

Milestone waves 3, 6, and 13 auto-add a squad member and play a Reel Sync story beat (no upgrade menu on those waves).

Evolve after the mini-boss

Wave 11 is the mini Hydra fight. After you win, choose one of three randomly rolled Evolutions from 19 run-long paths — e.g. Twin Reel, Rail Line, Living Chain, Long Leash, or Gate Runner. That pick defines your Act II identity (Wave 11 has no normal upgrade menu).

Act II and the final reel

Wave 12 is a Blaster-only intro (ground-burst dodging), then Act II (Waves 13–21) hits with the full six-type roster — Chaser, Skirmisher, Bruiser, Shooter, Splitter, and Blaster — longer spawn windows, and stacked map events. Wave 22 is the final Hydra; beating it wins the run.

Meta progression between runs

Spend currency on 12 permanent branches (3 tiers each): Squad Roster, Vitality, Constitution, Field Triage, Swift March, Chain Bond, Steady Line, Anchor Grip, Trained Trigger, Cracked Rounds, Hollow Points, and Bounty Hunter. Each failed run funds the next attempt.

A memory reel aesthetic

Sepia, grain, vignette, and inked cartoon silhouettes — like a worn film strip playing inside a distant memory.

Play in your language

Full interface localization for 31 Steam languages (menus, upgrades, and in-run UI).

Fadestrand Games · Built with Godot