You're stuck in a time loop, and no matter what you do, you wake up to the same day: the day of the invasion. The day the Dark came for your kingdom. And you're the only one who can stop it.

The same day, over and over — until you kill the one who locked it in place

It was an ordinary dawn, one of many. The fountain splashes in the market square, bunting sways between the lampposts, smoke curls above the tavern, laundry hangs drying across the alley, braziers burn low by the gates. The king is on his throne, the courtyard is empty, the walls are whole.

But you know that soon the Dark will be here — all of it — and you'll be the one to meet it, on the front line.

Castle Against the Dark is a single-player third-person action-strategy game where you build your castle, lead your army, and fight in the thick of the horde.

If you die — or the king does — the day rolls back to dawn. You come back stronger, and with something the undead don't have: you already know how this day goes.

FIGHT AND COMMAND AT THE SAME TIME

You fight right where your soldiers do: at the gates, in the breach, at the portal. Your archers' arrows fly overhead; your swordsmen fall beside you.

And from right there, without leaving the fray, you decide how your army fights: lock shields around the king, hold the walls from the inside, meet the wave in the open field, or push forward with everything you've got. The line re-forms while you're still mid-swing.

In the same instant, you're both soldier and general.

FIVE HEROES, FIVE DIFFERENT WARS

As the knight, you plug the breach with your own body: catch a blow on your shield and answer with a kick that sends the undead tumbling.

As the archer, you mark your prey and, before it can reach you, rain arrows down on the road.

As the witch, you wield magic — fire creeps through the ranks, ice binds their legs, and chain lightning picks its next jump on its own.

As the healer, you never land a single blow the whole battle: you blind the undead, heal those holding the line, and take the wounds of others upon yourself.

As the engineer, you turn the field into a fortified position: war machines you repair with your hammer, under fire.

And the classes you've leveled in past loops can be called into battle as companions: each one arrives exactly as you raised them and fights on their own, with every trick their school taught them.

RACE THE FIRST WAVE

After every reset, the courtyard is empty again, and what grows there is up to you. Barracks, mage towers, workshops, archer towers on the walls, catapults at the corners. The clock is ticking: somewhere out there, the first wave is already gathering.

It's all one purse. Gold spent on your weapon is gold not spent on the walls; put up a tower, and that's a squad you didn't hire. Get it wrong, and you'll find out when a wall gives way.

Then the masonry cracks down the middle, and the entire horde pours through one hole. Your swordsmen plug it with their bodies — and you're there with them, because there's no one else. Beat it back, and the repair crews run in and seal the breach.

STEP BEYOND THE GATES

Everything you're missing is out there: a gold mine, a village, a crypt with a lich's amulet, an elven grove, a dwarven rift. You already know where it all is — knowledge is the one thing that doesn't reset with the day.

Every step away from the castle is a gamble. While you're cracking open the crypt, the battle at your gates goes on without you.

STOP PLAYING DEFENSE

The waves pour out of the portals — and the portals can be brought down: everything you have can hit them. Every portal you topple is a road the undead will never take again.

And the Dark Lord isn't waiting. He's amassing gold, hiring black knights and gargoyles, sending demons at your walls, rebuilding what you burned. The longer the day drags on, the heavier the pressure.

At some point, defense has to become offense. No loop has to be your last — but one of them will be.

DEATH IS JUST ANOTHER DAWN

Lose, and the day rolls back to dawn. The gold is gone, the army is gone, the walls are whole again, the portals are standing again.

You keep part of the experience you earned — and everything you've figured out. Where the iron is. How long until the first wave. Which road the siege will take, and what killed you last time.

You learn this day by heart, and it's not just the hero getting stronger.

The loop rewards persistence, too. At your command, the world bogs down: arrows crawl through the air, the horde gets stuck mid-swing, and you right along with it. At first it's a ripple you can barely see. But the more dawns you have behind you, the more obedient time becomes.

Go again. Build faster. Learn from the war you've already lost — until one day your army makes it to the other end of the map.

There, behind the gates of his stronghold, lies tomorrow. Storm the fortress, defeat the Dark Lord, and break the loop.

Make it to tomorrow.