.The land of Tyberia has been overtaken by a Tyrant, who has "blessed" the land with escape from death by turning all of the land's corpses into a Dead Army. Princess Lyndal and an eclectic assortment of volunteers form the Uprising, a company waging guerrilla warfare against the undead, aiming to defeat the Tyrant and liberate Tyberia.
Players of Into the Breach will notice that this game has openly borrowed some of the basic mechanics, such as doing battle on an 8x8 grid against enemies that telegraph their attacks. However, there are several key distinctions as well.
Tropes:
- Achievement System: There are achievements for doing certain things in a single campaign or across all campaigns. Two achievement stars can be spent to unlock a random new Hero or Pet.
- Action Pet: In addition to the Hero units, there are also various "Pet" characters, such as a trained dog and panda bear. Their moves tend to be focused on utility rather than damage, but are still valuable for combating the undead horde. Spark the dog, for example, can pull any unit one square back, helpful for getting an ally out of the way or pulling an enemy into another's line of fire.
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: The player is allowed only three Hero units and one Pet for the whole campaign. Some missions include people in need of rescue; they can be controlled only for that mission.
- Arbitrary Mission Restriction: The basic goal of each mission is to defeat all enemy forces. There are opportunities to earn Reputation stars or other rewards for carrying out specific situational goals.
- Breath Weapon: Lyndal's primary attack is to summon her dragon to fly over the battlefield and damage a row of three tiles with its fire breath.
- Last Chance Hit Point: If a Hero suffers lethal damage, one of your Guardians (a type of token) will be expended to keep them alive with 1 HP.
- Protection Mission:
- Technically, every mission is a protection mission for your own team. If any Hero or Pet dies, the campaign is over (unless the death occurs during the final battle).
- Several missions have an optional objective to protect civilians or soldiers being attacked by undead.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Uprising is comprised of volunteers from all walks of life, most of them with no formal military training. One camp conversation suggests this has the benefit of unpredictability.
- Soul Power: During the player's turn, moving any playable unit away from direct attack (denoted by red color beneath them) leaves a temporary "shade" at their point of origin, attributed to the cursed magic ravaging the land. Any damage dealt to the shade will be transmitted to that character, ensuring that you can't just walk away from every attack. Only basic movement leaves a shade behind — abilities that include or induce movement do not.
- Zombie Apocalypse: Tyberia is being ravaged by the Tyrant's Dead Army, with living souls becoming animate corpses and joining their ranks should they fall to them, and Lyndal's explicit goal is to round up as many survivors as possible in order to fight back.
