ASH PROTOCOL

Relentless. Ruthless. Remorseless.

You are one of the Numbered: a nameless clone soldier, bred for nothing but war. Push deep into the Embers, the corporations' surviving facilities scattered across the void. Cut down everything that stands against you, destroy the guardians keeping the corporations' secrets in the depths, and make it out alive. Then begin to uncover the truth behind this conflict, and what the world is hiding.

ASH PROTOCOL is a turn-based tactical roguelike built for your phone's browser. Every move, every shot, every door you open is one turn, and the facility answers every one of them.

What makes it tick

• Every step is a turn. Move, shoot, reload or open a door, and the enemies take their turn after yours. Some move before you do. Plan, don't twitch.
• Cover and sight lines decide the fight. Crates, corners, partitions and doors decide who can see whom, and who gets hit.
• Enemies that work together. Squads shout orders, push forward, flank you, suppress you and throw grenades. An enemy about to fire shows it. Whether you get out of the way is up to you.
• Light and darkness. Unpowered rooms are pitch black. Flashlights, lamps and glowsticks decide what you can see, and what can see you.
• Six classes. Start as Soldier, Recon or Engineer. Unlock Bulwark, Berserker and Ninja with protocol points, or find their fallen operatives deep in the Endless Descent.
• Three ways to deploy. A six-floor extraction, the Endless Descent, or a one-floor survival run (experimental).
• Daily game. One seed a day, the same for every player.
• Egret and Wren on comms. Your two controllers train you, brief you and warn you. When things go wrong, they send in the next you.
• One life per run. When your operative falls, the run is over. Only the protocol points you earned carry over, and they unlock new classes.
• Kill House arcade. A one-floor score attack: grab your gear, clear the range and chase a best score with every class. No rewards, and nothing at stake for your campaign.

Playing

• Phone: hold it upright. Tap the arrows to move, tap an enemy to lock on, then tap Fire.
• Desktop: mouse, or the keyboard (every key can be rebound in Settings).
• Saves: progress is saved in this browser. To move to another device or browser, export your save in Settings and import it there.

First public build

This is the first public version (build 3.199.1). Still in progress:

• Story: the facility records are still being written, so they show as encrypted for now.
• English: the translation is a work in progress. The original text is Traditional Chinese.
• Balance: still being tuned, and your runs help.

Found a bug or have thoughts? Post in the discussion board. Include the build number (shown in ABOUT) and your device and browser. For a bug, the results screen can download a run log that replays your run exactly. I may ask you for one.

About AI

ASH PROTOCOL is my wishlist game. The code was written with Claude (Anthropic) and Codex (OpenAI). The art drafts were made with OpenAI image generation, then pixelated and retouched by hand. The sound effects were also made with AI. How it all fits together, every story and every rule, is mine. The full note is on the ABOUT page in the game.

© 2026 DarkBearLab / Sloth Mage Games. You are welcome to play, share, record and stream it.