Wardens of Wen

The sun sets on Wen, hopefully it's not the last time.

Wardens of Wen is a top-down wave-survival pixel ARPG set in a dark medieval fantasy world.

Each Warden has a unique build and ability set. Choose your Warden and survive! 

Depending on your starting difficulty, your starting Round might change, normally you will start at Round 1, Wave 1. Defeating each wave will reward you will experience, and copper. Enemies themselves will occasionally drop from a large pool of items or potentially drop some helpful or even risky powerups! Each Wave has the potential for a random Mutator that will apply one of many modifiers to that Wave. Monsters themselves can also spawn as Elite variants with powerful Affixes.

You are able to upgrade your abilities, your power, as well as build out your Talent Tree. Downtime is granted in-between rounds for the player, where they can spend time deciding on items to equip or items to sell at the Trader.

Reach Round 10 for a boss fight, and every subsequent 10 Rounds thereafter.

How long can the Wardens last?
TUNED FOR CHAOS

Wardens of Wen is designed around clear moment-to-moment choices:
Auto-fire primary with distinct melee/ranged behaviors

Upgradeable Abilities, upgradeable attributes, and unique Talent Trees

Dash as a real combat verb, escape danger with your dash - rendering you invincible while dashing!

Layered defenses: health with optional shields/armor, built to support different archetypes and enemy profiles.

Status effects and buffs: burn/DoT, slow, stun, blind, lifesteal, attack-speed boosts, stasis/freeze effects, thorns/reflect-style interactions.

Pickups that spike the tempo: heal, recharge, explosions, freeze, frenzy, and brief invulnerability or invisibility!

Mutators & Affixes: Each run remains fresh with the mutator and affix system for waves and enemies alike

Hotzones: Areas of the map which incur an increased gain of experience, copper, or both!

Want to play it safe? Hug cover and kite. Want to play it fast? Take a hotzone and gamble your run on speed.

(Playable Characters)

Pick a Warden based on role and build preference. Current archetypes include:
Jack (Tank, Melee): high survivability frontliner with a slower stride.
  Sally (Healer, Ranged): supportive sustain, balanced speed, lighter offense.
 Robin (Damage, Hybrid): swaps between melee and ranged stances.
 Maria (Assassin, Melee): extremely fast and lethal, but fragile.
 George (Builder): sturdier utility specialist focused structures and training units.
 Gunther (Support, Melee): long-reach polearm play with team-friendly tools.
 Ellis (Special): experimental kit with slight boosts across the board.
 Sage (Summoner, Ranged): calls beetles and snakes; fragile, protected by summons.
 Raven  (Druid, Shifter): switches between human ranged and melee beast forms.
 Jade (Wizard, Elementalist): cycles elemental primaries with a high-energy spell kit.
Each run is about turning a role into a build: stacking stats, exploiting hotzones, and choosing upgrades that reshape how you clear waves.

You earn currency through kills, wave clears, dynamic events, and bounty targets. 

Currency is split into copper and gold with each tier supporting different layers of progression and spending decisions. 
Between waves you can:
Buy raw stats and consumables.

Roll upgrades that scale over the run (cost growth is data-tuned).

Hire temporary allied mercs (optional system) whose cost and stats scale with the run.

Interact with roaming boards between waves:

Event Board: choose wave-level modifiers (mutators) for better rewards.

Bounty Board: opt into extra elite/boss targets for bonus payout.

Contract Board: take run objectives with tracked progress and gold rewards.

Barter with the Trader to sell your loot, monster parts and buy some stuff with your hard-earned copper! (Trader located inside the building of the Eastern Maze)

Maps are authored in Tiled and built to support both tactical routing and high-chaos kiting.
Hotzones are invisible, map-authored bonus regions:
Danger Pay: more currency

Xp Surge: more XP

Combo: mixed payout

Terrain matters:
Path tiles grant a small speed bonus (15%)

Fire-tagged tiles can burn you (DoT) and are visually telegraphed

The best builds don’t just “get stronger” - they learn where to fight.

Fight Together. Adapt Together. Survive Together.
Current Status: Coming Soon™
Multiplayer Co-op is planned for the final release. Launching in Early Access on Steam will help me refine and finalize the feature.
Lobbies will support up to 6 players.

Wen is a hard land of stone roads, torchlit outposts, and old oaths. 

Standing alone amongst a hostile realm, the trade hub and the lifeline of the western realm, the outpost Wen faces grave danger that could throw the entire realm into chaos. Kalibros, the Lord of Wen has performed the ancient and nearly forgotten ceremony to awaken and summon the Wardens - legendary warriors, healers, wizards that have remained in a state of stasis until the moment they are needed. The Wardens have not been awakened in generations, most alive today only know of them from tales and songs old warriors would sing at pubs in the outskirts of Wen.
In ancient times, Wen was but a small Hamlet but its necessity to the entire realm was just as strong. Blessed with enchanted soil, Wen yielded impossible harvests and soon became the entire realm's heart of trade.
As the wealth and prosperity of Wen grew, so did its notoriety. Growing in size, with population rising and traffic increasing the dark forces once thought long lost began venturing out of the shadows once again, setting their sights on the bustling hamlet of Wen. At first, the attacks at night were sporadic and rare but as time passed the dark forces began to get braver, and worse - smarter.
Over time, these dark forces evolved into the creatures we see today. Over centuries, the darkness learned. It sharpened. It took form. These ancient dark forces became creatures such as Goblins, Orcs, Ghosts, Living Slime, the undead, and worst of all, the Dragon.
The most powerful warriors, wizards, and overall skilled combatants were called upon by the first Lord of Wen to rally against these dark forces to drive them back to the shadows once and for all, and the Wardens were successful. Having suffered casualties, the surviving Wardens retired in the tombs of Wen where their injuries were treated by powerful sorcerers and then they were all placed into a regenerative stasis.
Asleep for a millennia, the Wardens recover. Waiting. Hoping they never have to be awoken.
These evil creatures once again emerge from the shadows with Wen as their target. These Evil forces were not the only thing to prosper during the long peace - Wen grew to be the shining beacon of the realm. Riches and treasure beyond the evil forces wildest imagination which in turn has caused them to grow hungrier than ever.
Goblins and Orcs have developed social skills and hierarchy and a sense of order and chain of command. They splintered and have established numerous separate clans. Typically these clans war with eachother but have recently banded together to take on Wen hoping none of the other clans plan to betray the others like they have so eloquently planned themselves.
The undead have grown in power. Once only apparitions, dark energy has learned to animate corpses right from the earth as well as skeletons and mummies and congealed pure evil into deadly self replicating slimes. Some apparitions refuse to inhabit another vessel, and rather emerge into our realm as ghosts spreading terror wherever they go and Evil itself has set it's sights on Wen, forming evil demonic Hell Skulls to unleash on Wen alongside the rest of these dark forces.
A millennia ago, the Wardens felled the Dragon leading the onslaught nearly with their last breaths and now the Dragon has returned. Infused with the pure essence of Hell it once again aims to claim the riches of Wen for itself. While the Wardens slept and licked their wounds the Dragon grew stronger. For a thousand years Verdaxis waited, nursing hatred deeper than death. Empires have risen and crumbled while the dragon plotted the fall of Wen.
The Wardens awaken — weary, uncertain, burdened by memories of a war they believed ended forever. Kalibros speaks the words they dread: Verdaxis lives and is once again carrying hell on his back as he ushers in a second apocalypse. Will the Wardens be strong enough after all these years? Have their wounds fully healed? Will the missing members be their downfall?

Wardens of Wen is an active, iterative project. 
Some systems described in design docs are already playable in the prototype, and others are still being expanded or refined. Expect frequent balance and UI changes as the run loop, content roster, and netcode harden.