Games Like Rites of Thaw

A whole year in twenty-five minutes

Rites of Thaw is an auto battler set in Slavic folklore. Eight armies at one table, one shared pool of creatures: Leshy, Strzyga, Domovoi, Vodyanoy, Kikimora, Rarog. Buy, place and commit, then watch the fight play out. Above the board hangs the Wheel of the Year: six festivals, each visible before it comes, each changing what is worth doing that round.

Every gift has a price

The Thaw: What you give comes back

When the Thaw comes in round 21, every creature you've sacrificed returns to your side as a phantom, with its stars and rank, for every battle until the end.

Every round is a decision

36 creatures, 6 lands but not a single elf

The Wildwood, the Stronghold, the Steppe, the Marsh, Nawia and the Sky. Every creature counts toward two synergies at once, and each land's chieftain rewrites what its synergy does. A creature that survives five battles becomes a veteran and earns a byname and, after ten, a title. When the game is over, a veteran can take a seat at the Forefathers' Table and come back, on Forefathers' Eve of a later game, to fight at your side.

Other players' ghosts and rivals from the old tales

The seven seats at your table go to the ghosts of other players: their saved games, with the boards they've built. Nobody waits for anyone, and nobody has to be online. Where no ghost is waiting, a rival from the old tales takes the seat: Baba Yaga, Popiel, Twardowski and four others, each with a temper and a favorite land. All of them play by the same rules you do, gifts and night included. While you're away, your ghost fights in other players' games.

At your own pace

No timer in the shop. No queue. Save mid-run and come back later. Every finished game stays: an archive of your armies, a chronicle, a board code you can share. In the Daily Tournament everyone faces the same seven ghosts, with leaderboards for the day and the season, and the festivals are celebrated on their real dates.

A small studio in Poland

Old Spruce Works is a small studio in Poland. Two illustrators paint the creatures and the world of the game, and a third paints the store art. The festivals follow the real Slavic ritual year, and every creature on the board comes from a tradition you can look up.