Games Like Castelune

Every round you look after two things: your castle and your army. The castle stays home. A wall stands in front of it, and behind it you build up five buildings: a cannon that fires on attackers, a treasury, a forge, a war banner and a witch's cauldron. Each time one of them levels up, you choose one of three upgrades. The army goes out. When the build phase ends, it meets a rival's army in the field, and the winner marches on the loser's castle. Put too much into the castle and your army falls behind. Put too much into the army and the next siege hurts more than it should. Most of the decisions in a match come back to that.

Units, items and heroes

Synergies

Seven races and eight classes. The class decides what a unit does in a fight: warriors make enemies bleed, mages burn or chill them, hexers curse them and rangers mark targets for everyone else. Races help the whole group, each in its own way, from fast beasts to undead that leave skeletons behind. Your army only has so many slots, so sooner or later a good unit ends up on the bench because it doesn't fit.

How a match plays out

Your castle's health is your life total, and it doesn't come back between rounds. A broken wall stays broken too, until you pay stone to fix it.

2 to 8 players, or solo

Everyone builds at the same time, so nobody sits around waiting for their turn. Online it's a free-for-all with up to eight players. Solo you play against AI that sticks to the same rules you do: no extra gold, no stat bonuses, no looking at your board. The four difficulty levels change how well it plays, and each opponent has one of six play styles, from early rushers to economy players. There's also no clock: the fight starts when you end your turn.

At a glance