TetoWar: Wardens of the Ember

Match 3 meets tower defense. Build by day, defend the castle by night. Turn-based strategy, no timer. Captains, ultimates, a bittersweet fantasy. No in-app purchases.

Raise a garrison on the board, and turn the night back.

Match 3 meets tower defense. By day you line up three recruits to call a captain to the board; by night you hold the ember of Fortress Tetria against the Dusk Legion. A turn-based strategy puzzle where the thinking happens before the fighting does.

■ The clock is yours Nothing rushes you. During the day you can rework the board as many times as your moves allow. When your plan is set, call the night — and the captains you placed fight on their own from there. Put it down at any point; your run is waiting where you left it.

■ Seven captains, seven ways to fight Archers loose quick shots in every direction. Lancers strike only a fixed reach, but each thrust lands heavy. Gunners sweep their own row. Snipers pierce their whole column. Heavy Guard is the one unit that can halt an enemy standing in front of it, and Medics never attack at all — they mend the units beside them and raise their damage besides. You take four into the night, and that choice is the shape of the night.

■ Every run leaves you stronger Merge three of the same captain and they grow, all the way to Lv5. Draw upgrade skills from the Treasury as you go, and spend the Ember Shards a run leaves behind on the Tree of Wisdom — permanent walls, extra moves, captain training, unlocked chronicles and music. Losing is how you get stronger.

■ Three ways to play

• Until Dawn (20 days) — survive twenty nights to win
• Endless — no finish line. See how far you can hold
• Daily Challenge — the same board for everyone, changing each day

■ Ads and purchases No in-app purchases. No forced full-screen ads — we don't implement them. Video ads play only when you choose to tap one, and you can finish the whole game without ever watching a single one.

There is no blood and no gore. Enemies driven back dissolve into motes of light. You are not killing them. You are sending them home.