Seal
A bastion only counts when a closed ring of your walls surrounds it. A sealed ring pays energy and points every wave. A gap pays nothing and earns you a strike.
Arcade strategy · 1–4 players · One screen
Snap walls into a ring around your bastion, arm it with cannons, and aim every shot yourself. A new island every match. The shape of your fortress is your strategy.
- 1–4players on one screen
- AIrivals: Easy, Medium, Hard
- 3 / 5 / 7 / 9waves per match
- 3cannon types + Fortify
- ∞procedural islands
The game
Build a ring.
Break theirs.
Neon Bastion is a player-versus-player arcade strategy game. Every player holds an island with a citadel, the bastion. You fence it in with falling wall pieces under a hard clock, buy cannons with the energy your ring produces, then turn those cannons on your rivals' walls. No enemy waves, no towers that shoot for you: everyone on the map is a player, and every shot is aimed by hand.
Arm
Spend energy on Rapids, Mortars and Lances, placed inside your ring. Cannons outside a sealed ring go dark and cannot fire. Fill all eight slots around a bastion for a garrison bonus.
Aim
Move your reticle, lock a wall or a cannon, fire. Your cannons fire in turn, so a bigger battery means a faster barrage. Open a rival's ring and they lose the bastion's income until they rebuild.
The loop
One wave. Four phases.
About a minute.
A match opens with a single Selection phase, then repeats the same loop every wave. The first wave skips Build because your opening ring is raised for you.
Phase 00 · once per match
Selection
Claim your ground
- Every island holds several bastions. Pick the one you want to start from.
- A wall ring is built around it for you, so wave 1 goes straight to Deploy.
- Your choice sets the shape of your territory for the rest of the match.
10s
Phase 01 / 04
Build
Close the ring before the clock runs out
- Wall pieces are free. Time is the only limit.
- Pieces come from a shuffled bag. You see the next two and can hold one.
- Gaps from the last fight pulse in your colour. A gold preview tells you a piece will seal a ring.
- When the clock hits zero, every player needs at least one sealed bastion.
16s
Phase 02 / 04
Deploy
Arm your fortress
- Spend energy on cannons. Each one takes a 2×2 spot inside a sealed ring.
- Cycle Rapid, Mortar, Lance and Fortify with the rotate buttons.
- Unspent energy carries over. There is no cap.
- The phase ends early once nobody can afford anything.
12s
Phase 03 / 04
Defend
Every shot is yours
- Aim with mouse, keys or stick. The reticle locks the wall or cannon under it.
- Each press fires your next ready cannon. More cannons, faster barrage.
- Every enemy wall you destroy pays points and energy on the spot.
- From wave 2, fill your Overdrive meter and unleash it.
24s
Phase 04 / 04
Score
Count the damage. Do it again.
- Each player's wave is broken down: territory, bastions, walls, cannons, breaches.
- Points grow every wave: ×1.1 in wave 1, ×1.7 in wave 7.
- After the last wave the highest score wins. A tie goes to Sudden Death.
4s
Arsenal
Three guns.
One answer to every wall.
New tools unlock as the match heats up. Read your rival's fortress, then buy the gun that breaks it.
Rapid
The workhorse
Fast, low lobbed arc that strikes the first wall or enemy cannon in its path. Cheap enough to fill a ring with.
- Damage
- 60
- Reload
- 1.0 s
- Unlocks
- Wave 1
Mortar
Over the wall
A very high, slow arc that flies over everything and lands exactly where you aimed. Splashes 30 damage on the eight tiles around the impact.
- Damage
- 60 + 3×3
- Reload
- 2.5 s
- Unlocks
- Wave 2
Lance
The line breaker
A flat, fast beam that pierces up to 3 enemy wall tiles in a line. Passes your own walls. An enemy cannon stops it.
- Damage
- 100 / tile
- Reload
- 3.0 s
- Unlocks
- Wave 3
Fortify
Brace for impact
Pick one of your sealed bastions. For the next Defend its ring walls hold 160 HP instead of 100: three Rapid hits instead of two. Once per wave.
- Wall HP
- 100 → 160
- Limit
- 1 / wave
- Unlocks
- Wave 2
Garrison bonus
Fill all eight. Fire 20% faster.
A bastion core is 2×2 and so is every cannon. Surround a core with all 8 cannon slots and every one of your cannons gains +20% fire rate. Your emblem lights up on the barrels. Lose one cannon and the bonus is gone.
Overdrive
Five seconds of everything.
From wave 2 your meter fills as you hit enemies and, harder, as you lose your own walls and cannons. When it reads READY, unleash it: ×1.6 fire rate, ×1.7 wall damage, splash on every shot and full-auto fire for 5 s. A plain Rapid shot now breaks a wall in one hit.
Stakes
Lead and
you're hunted.
Falling behind is never the end. Losing walls charges your Overdrive, breaking a ring pays a bonus, and the leader wears a target.
Three strikes
End a Build without a sealed bastion and you take a strike. 3 in a row and you're out. Seal a ring once and the count resets.
The crown
Lead by more than 10% and the crown sits on your bastion. Every wall and cannon of yours now pays attackers ×2. Everyone knows where to aim.
Breach
Open a rival's ring and it stays open until they rebuild it. At the start of Build every ring broken in the fight pays a 120-point breach bonus, split between the attackers who opened it.
Sudden Death
Tied after the last wave? Up to 3 more waves decide it. Still tied: most walls destroyed, then most rounds won, then fewest strikes.
Playable · Build phase
Seal the breach.
The last Defend tore holes in your ring. You have 16 seconds and a bag of wall pieces. Close the ring around your bastion. The real game gives you exactly the same clock.
Play your way
Alone against the machine.
Or four friends on one couch.
Single player
Skirmish
Face one to three AI rivals. Each seat has its own difficulty. The AI draws from the same piece bag, buys the same guns and plays by the same rules as you. No cheats, no free walls.
- Easy
- Medium
- Hard
Local multiplayer
Couch war
Up to four players on one screen, any mix of humans and AI. Mouse and keyboard, a second player on the arrow keys and two gamepads.
- P1
- P2
- P3
- P4
Every match
New ground
Islands are generated fresh each match and fair for every seat. Pick 3 / 5 / 7 / 9 waves and one of three themes: Void Sector, Red Expanse or Toxic Rift.
- Procedural
- Fair seats
- 3 themes
Media
From the front line
Field Manual
The rules in sixty seconds.
Everything else is detail. The full Field Manual has every number, every edge case and every control.
Open the Field Manual- Seal a ring. A bastion counts only inside a closed ring of your walls. Walls must meet edge to edge.
- Sealed rings pay. Every sealed bastion pays 40 energy and 100 points each wave, plus 8 points per tile inside.
- Cannons need a ring. Place them inside sealed ground. Outside, they can't fire.
- Break their walls. Each enemy wall destroyed pays 15 points and 3 energy, more against the leader.
- Rebuild or strike out. Finish Build with no sealed bastion: one strike. 3 in a row and you're out.
- Highest score wins. After the last wave, or when only one player is left standing.
Road to launch
Where we are
- 2026
Full loop playable
All phases, three cannon types, Fortify, Overdrive, AI rivals and local multiplayer.
- Autumn 2026
Steam page
Wishlist Neon Bastion and get notified when the demo lands.
- Winter 2026
Free demo
Skirmish against AI and local multiplayer. Planned.
- Feb 2027
Steam Next Fest
Planned.
- 2027
Launch
Windows, on Steam.
FAQ
Questions
Can I play alone?
Yes. Skirmish puts you against one to three AI rivals, each on Easy, Medium or Hard. The AI follows the same rules you do.
Is it a tower defense game?
No. There are no enemy waves and no towers that fire on their own. Every opponent is another player or an AI seat, and every cannon fires where its owner aims.
Is there online multiplayer?
Neon Bastion is built for Skirmish against AI and local multiplayer on one screen. We'll announce online play only when it's ready.
Which controllers work?
Mouse and keyboard for the first player, the arrow keys for a second keyboard player, and up to two gamepads.
How long is a match?
One wave takes about a minute. A default 7-wave match runs roughly 8 to 10 minutes. You can also pick 3, 5 or 9 waves.
Which platforms?
Windows, on Steam.
