Reaction · Fire + Ice
Shatter
Ice meets fire on one body and it breaks. Double on a frozen enemy, which thaws.
- Damage
- 150% of both marks, true
- Reach
- The one struck
- Then
- Nothing: all of it lands at once
- Favoured by
- Snow · Heat
A tower defense on the north bridge of Thais
Hold
the bridge.
Thirty waves come down the farm road. Every element you throw leaves a mark, and where two marks meet the road itself becomes your weapon.
Free in your browser. No install, no account.
Prologue
“Ruzad take bridge!
Warlord Ruzad, entering wave 10
Humans run!”
The north bridge is the last thing between the woods and Thais. The guards are gone. What is left is you, sixteen crews, two hundred gold, and a road that remembers every spell cast on it.
You are the warden. You do not hold a sword. You place archers and mages along the road, you speak the old rune words, and you read the army coming before it comes.
- Waves
- 30
- Acts
- 3
- Reactions
- 6
- Bosses
- 4
- Oaths
- 14
- Vigils
- X
One run
From morning
into the long night.
-
Act I
The Farm Road
Rats in the grass, wolves in packs, then orcs with shamans who wipe your marks clean. Learn to read the ledger: it names the next two waves, their road, and their sky. By wave ten a warlord walks behind his banner.
Warlord Ruzad · 2,400 health · Berserk at 40%
-
Act II
The Bend
The lake road opens from the west. Bats take the sky lane, straight over the farmhouse, skipping every field and wall you laid. Slimes split, skeletons stand back up, chargers dash. Then the heat comes, and with it a dragon lord.
Demodras · 9,500 health · Fire never marks him
-
Act III
The Long Night
The light goes. Your fields and towers become the only light on the road. Ghosts phase in and out of reach, necromancers raise what you felled, bonelords turn your best tower to stone. At the end, in the rain, the archmage.
Ferumbras · 20,000 health · “I will return!”
The law of the road
The road is
a reaction board.
Other tower defenses mix elements inside a tower. Here they meet on the enemy, and on the stones. A fire mage marks; a frost druid’s hit on that mark sets off a Shatter. Six pairs, six reactions.
Ice
Energy
Earth
Fire
Ice
Energy
Two of the same element make a chorus: +15% to both towers, no reaction.
- I
Mark
An elemental hit marks a creature for four seconds. Fire burns, earth poisons, ice slows.
- II
React
A second element on a mark sets it off. True damage: armour and resistances never touch it.
- III
Field
Reactions leave fire, frost, poison, and energy on the stones. The next walker in is marked, so reactions chain down the road.
- IV
Link
Two towers side by side form a duet. Their shots charge a tether that fires their reaction on its own, or waits for your word.
- V
Break
Every enemy spell is telegraphed in crimson. Land a reaction on the caster and the spell never comes.
Placement is a spell
Towers that stand together sing together.
Set a Fire Mage beside a Frost Druid and a golden tether arcs over their heads. Every shot from either charges it. At eight it fires a Shatter at whoever has walked furthest.
Or hold it. A held duet fills and waits. Release it the instant a boss raises his hands, and it strikes half again as hard and takes one more break off his spell.
- 1–7 Build
- G Release every held duet
- U Raise a tower
Crimson means intent
Every spell is a timing game.
Crimson only ever means one thing: an enemy about to act. A shaman’s green ring before he heals his pack. A charger’s warning before the dash. A bonelord’s beam before your tower turns to stone.
A reaction on the caster breaks the spell. It never lands, the caster is exposed for two seconds, and you take back gold and mana. Bosses need two breaks. A rune by your own hand counts twice.
The warden’s belt
Speak the words.
Aim. Cast.
Four slots on Q E R T. A rune that lands on a mark of another element sets off a reaction by your hand: half again as strong, and twice the mana back.
- Q
adori mas flam
Great Fireball
30 mana · 3 s
60–90 fire within a tile.
- E
adori mas frigo
Avalanche
30 mana · 3 s
45–70 ice within a tile.
- R
adevo grav tera
Magic Wall
50 mana · 12 s
Walkers stop before it for four seconds. Flyers pass.
- T
adevo mas hur
Explosion
45 mana · 12 s
Every mark within two tiles detonates. Each one, a reaction by your hand.
Nine runes in all, from Paralyse to Sudden Death. Three on the belt from the start; the rest come from drafts and renown.
Seven crews, fourteen oaths
Raise them.
Then make them swear.
Crews are few: sixteen at the start, one more every two waves. Gold is better spent raising towers than spreading them. At grade two, every tower swears one of two oaths, and the run bends around the choice.
Physical
Archer Post
50 gold · 4 tiles · 0.7 s
Cheap, fast, and the only arrows that pin a mark so it lasts.
Kindred Bowman
Each arrow borrows a linked tower’s element.
Sharpshooter
Every fourth shot strikes for three times, and staggers.
Fire
Fire Mage
90 gold · 4 tiles · splash
Burns everything within a tile of the one it strikes, and stops trolls regenerating.
Pyromancer
Every hit lays fire on the road.
Hellcaller
One target, ignited. Its reactions +40%.
Ice
Frost Druid
95 gold · 4 tiles · 1.5 s
Heavy single hits that slow. Half of every Shatter.
Winterwarden
Lays frost two tiles long.
Rimecaller
Every fourth hit freezes. A Shatter on the frozen deals double.
Energy
Storm Mage
100 gold · 4 tiles · chain
Lightning that jumps, and deals half again to anything with wings.
Stormcaller
Energy on three tiles of road.
Tempest
Six jumps that lose nothing on the marked.
Earth
Venom Druid
70 gold · 4 tiles · two at once
Spreads poison marks wide. Unlocked with renown.
Plaguewarden
Poison pools under the struck.
Rotmother
Four at once. Its reactions +30%.
Holy
Rune Shrine
80 gold · links
Fires nothing. Links every two towers it touches to each other.
Prism
Links every tower within two tiles.
Beacon
Reveals the hidden. Wards towers from stone.
Physical
Knight Bastion
90 gold · 1 tile · cleave
Stands on the road’s edge and holds a walker still. Never links.
Guardian
Holds three walkers at once.
Executioner
Finishes anything under an eighth of its health.
Four that walk last
They speak
as they enter.
A boss carries a ward: it can lose a tenth of its health a second, no more. Bursts do not fell bosses. Breaks do. Keep him in reach, break his spell, and his ward doubles open.
Wave 10 · Clear
Warlord Ruzad
Warlord of the North Woods
“Ruzad take bridge! Humans run!”
- War Banner Orcs near him walk faster, armoured.
- 70% Warcry: wipes your marks, calls three warriors.
- 40% Berserk. Unstoppable, and reactions hurt him half again.
Wave 20 · Heat
Demodras
Dragon Lord
“Who dares bar the way of Demodras?”
- Ember Scales Fire never marks him.
- 70% Takes wing over your fields and walls, lands, drops hatchlings.
- 40% Firestorm: the road ahead loses its fields, his kin heal.
Wave 30 · Rain
Ferumbras
The Archmage
“Thais will kneel before Ferumbras!”
- Mirror Images Two of him, every ten seconds.
- 70% Blink: six tiles ahead, unless a wall or Paralyse stops him.
- 40% The graveyard opens. He takes half from anything but reactions.
Endless · Wave 40
Orshabaal
Demon Lord
“ORSHABAAL HAS COME!”
- Aura of Ruin Towers near him attack slower.
- 70% Hellfire: your three best towers glow, then turn to stone.
- 40% He heals while he carries no mark.
The same road, never the same run
Read the sky.
Rain
Energy reactions +40%
Fire fields last half as long.
Snow
Ice reactions +40%
Walkers 12% slower.
Heat
Fire reactions +40%
Ice marks last half as long.
Fog
Every tower reaches a tile less
Plan close.
Ley sites
Three tiles beside the road wake each run, each to its own element. A tower of that element standing there deals a quarter more, reaches further, and charges its duets twice as fast.
Drafts
Every wave cleared offers three cards: boons that bend a rule, runes, gold. A fallen boss leaves relics with a price: Warlord’s Sword makes towers faster, and the orcs too.
Bounty carts
A panther, later a draptor, sprints for the bridge with a chest. Let it go and you lose nothing. Catch it and the chest is yours.
Between runs
Lose, and come back stronger.
Renown is earned as you play and kept when the bridge falls. Spend it in the War Room on new crews, runes, and the quartermaster’s extra hands. Every first meeting goes in the codex. Win, and the next vigil opens: ten of them, each adding its rule to the ones below.
- IEnemies have 10% more health
- II20 less gold at the start
- IIIA stray elite in every wave
- IVFive fewer lives
- VHalf again as many flyers
- VIDuets need two more shots
- VIIBosses need a break more
- VIIIMarks last a second less
- IXEvery leak costs a life more
- XOne card fewer, faster foes
And when wave thirty falls,
the sun comes up over the bridge.
The road ahead
One bridge is the demo.
The full game is a realm.
The demo holds one bridge on one road. Here is where Bridgewarden goes next, and what founding wardens get first.
Campaign
The Realm Campaign
Every gate on the map is a siege, on the real world map the engine already renders. Swamp causeways where poison never dries, a frozen harbour where the dead come in on the tide, a desert gate where every wave brings heat. Each road brings its own law and its own boss, and the map remembers which ones you hold.
Warden I · north bank
Warden II · the farmhouse
Co-op
The Watch
Two to four wardens on one bridge. Split the crews, cover each other’s lanes, and link your towers to theirs: a duet between two players fires a reaction neither could set off alone.
Daily road · Snow
- 1Thornveil24,880
- 2Aldric of Venore23,415
- 3Mira22,960
Every score replayed before it counts
Every day
The Daily Road
Every warden gets the same sky, the same ley sites, and the same cards. The server replays each run with the same rules before its score counts, so the board only shows runs that really happened.
Rain
Snow
Heat
Fog
Seasons
Seasons of the Vigil
A new boss, a new relic, and a new rule every season. The codex grows with them: every reaction, foe, and boon you meet for the first time is written down and paid in renown.
Creator
Forge a Road
Bridgewarden is built on sqm, a map editor for worlds like this one. Draw your own road, set its waves, and share the siege. The best roads are played by everyone.
The bridge needs a warden
Take the watch.
Join the waitlist for the full game. One letter when the gates open, and the founder’s price held for you.
Or hold the bridge right now: play the demo in your browser.