stration

Play free in your browser below — no download needed. Windows and macOS builds are also available if you prefer.

stration is a hard, replayable top-down survival strategy game. You directly control a single hero and preside over an autonomous village — you never micromanage villagers; you steer them by what you build and the policies you set. Raids come relentlessly and grow bigger and stronger every wave.

Advance through five eras — surviving each era's raids and paying the age-up cost at your keep — until you reach the finale, Armageddon, and clear the all-out siege it unleashes. That is the only way to win. Your hero dying, your keep falling, starvation, your last villager killed, or a soldier revolt each end the run.

Wall off your base, repair what the raids break, and climb the online leaderboard — every run is ranked by the era you reached and how long you lasted. Every playthrough is a fresh, procedurally generated world. Nothing carries between runs except your own skill.

New here? Pick Tutorial from the main menu. It teaches the whole game step by step in a calm, raid-free world — or just hit Start and learn the hard way.

Quick start

Move WASD · Attack hold right-click toward cursor · Block / parry hold Space · Build press B then left-click to place · Select / inspect / command left-click · Cancel / deselect Esc · Pause button (top-right).

Note: attack is right-click, so left-click is free to select and command units without ever swinging by accident. Left-click never attacks.

Playing in the browser

Just click Run game above — it loads right in the page. It runs windowed inside the page (no fullscreen) with no Quit button; close the tab to leave. Esc cancels/deselects — it does not quit.

Playing the download build

The desktop build launches fullscreen. To quit: Pause (top-right) → Quit, or Cmd+Q (macOS) / Alt+F4 (Windows).

• Windows — unzip, run stration.exe. If SmartScreen warns ("Windows protected your PC"), click More info → Run anyway (the build is unsigned — expected).
• macOS — unzip, right-click stration.app → Open → Open (a normal double-click is blocked because the build isn't notarized; first time only). Still blocked? Run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /path/to/stration.app in Terminal, then open it. Runs natively on Intel and Apple Silicon.

Full controls

Action	Input
Move the hero	W A S D (arrow keys do nothing)
Attack (sword)	Right-click toward the cursor (hold to keep swinging) — you stand still while swinging
Block / parry	Hold Space toward the cursor — you stand still while guarding
Open the build menu	B, then Left-click to place (Esc cancels)
Build a wall	B → Wall, then Left-click the start tile, then the end tile — previews green (fits + affordable) or red; villagers then build it
Reinforce / gate a wall	Left-click a wall (Shift+click for several) → Reinforce or Convert to Gate
Repair a damaged building	Select a villager, then Left-click a damaged building or wall (not the Keep) — it repairs, spending wood. Idle villagers also auto-repair
Select & inspect anything	Left-click it
Cancel / deselect	Esc
Pause the run	Pause button (top-right) → Resume / Main Menu / Quit
Command soldiers (Era 2+)	Select a soldier, then Left-click open ground to hold, or an enemy to focus-fire
Send a unit to heal	Select a soldier or villager, then Left-click a Hospital
Stand soldiers down	F (return them to auto-defending the keep)
Assign / retrain a villager	Hold C + Left-click a work site or construction site (assign Era 2+, retrain Era 3+)
Occupation policy	O — set each job's pick chance (Era 2+)
Control groups (Era 2+)	Shift+1…9 assign · 1…9 re-select (multi-soldier groups need Era 4)
Restart / Main Menu (end screen)	R to restart · buttons for either

The basics

Your hero is the only unit you move directly — your strongest fighter, with a cone sword-swing and a block that becomes a parry if you raise it the instant a hit lands. He levels from kills, but if he dies, the run ends.

Villagers are autonomous. They self-assign to open jobs, eat constantly, and improve with experience. You steer them by what you build and by occupation policy (O) — never by walking them around. They also auto-repair damaged buildings when idle, as long as you have wood.

Soldiers are villagers who take a barracks job. They auto-defend the keep until you command them (Era 2+). Three types — Spearman (tank), Archer (long-range damage), Knight (fast interceptor). Arm them with metal and they earn mastery by fighting; a Master + Elite soldier is roughly 4× a raw recruit.

Walls let you funnel and delay raids — but they block your people too, so a walled base needs a Gate or your villagers and hero are trapped inside. Reinforce wood → stone → metal as the eras unlock.

Enemies all telegraph their attacks — combat is readable, not twitchy. Rushers charge your keep, Raiders hunt your economy, Heavies soak damage, Skirmishers shoot from range (let your Archers answer them). Raids hit relentlessly — the first around 90 seconds, then roughly every two minutes, each bigger than the last. A "RAID SPOTTED" banner is your only warning.

What I'm looking for (feedback)

This is a solo hobby project and my first game — you don't have to write a report, just tell me how it felt:

• How far you got — which era, and roughly how long the run lasted. The single most useful number.
• Difficulty — too hard, too easy, about right? What killed you, and did any run feel unrecoverable?
• Clarity — was it ever unclear what to do next, or why you died? Could you read enemy attacks? Did the new right-click attack / Space block feel natural?
• Anything broken — crashes, softlocks, stutter in big raids, or anything that looks wrong.

Thanks for playing — harsh feedback genuinely welcome.