Skywatch Bastion — Teaser

One beacon remains. You are its light.

The world has fallen into shadow, and a single crystal tower still burns. Goblins swarm from the fog, orcs march in war bands, drakes slip through every crack in your walls and the Golem tears mountains apart to reach you. You don't just build the defense — you are the defense. Aim the Bastion's light yourself, shape the battlefield, forge your crystals and see how long the last light can hold.

👋 A few words from the developer

Hi! I'm a solo developer and the dad of two kids. Skywatch Bastion is made entirely by me, in my spare time: late at night after the bedtime stories, early on weekend mornings, in every quiet hour I can find.

Every system you'll see here (the Bastion's beams, the crystal forge, the enemies and their pathfinding, the maps, the lighting, the music direction) has been built piece by piece over many months. This teaser is the very first time I'm showing it to anyone outside my home.

My goal is to bring the full game to Steam. Before that, I need an honest answer to one question: is it fun? That's why this teaser exists, and why your opinion matters so much to me.

If you play it, even for five minutes, please leave a comment. It truly makes my day. 🙏

⚔️ What is Skywatch Bastion?

A 3D tower defense where you are the tower. Instead of placing turrets and watching, you fire the Bastion with your own hands, choosing every target, every burst, every chain. Your essence is limited: every shot spends it, and every wall, crystal and upgrade competes for the same resources. Defend now, or invest for the waves to come?

📦 What's in this teaser

• The Anvil: a hand-crafted map with lava rivers, mountains, forests and caves.
• Endless waves: no ending, just you against the tide. Your best wave is saved, so come back and beat it.
• Two abilities: Nova bursts across an area and Cascade leaps from enemy to enemy. Use both, or focus on one.
• Harvest wood and stone from forests and mountains with the Bastion's beam.
• Build stone walls to bend the enemy's path, plus a Guard Tower to help you.
• The Forge: create crystals and combine them to power the Bastion.
• Four enemies and a boss: goblins, orcs and their captains, drakelings, drakes… and the Golem, returning stronger every 10 waves.
• Day or Night: choose your lighting before you play.
• Fully playable in English and Spanish.

🎮 How to play — quick start

1. Place the Bastion on a clear hexagon, then lay your starter walls.
2. Press Begin Defense. When enemies arrive, left click them to fire.
3. Between waves, harvest forests and mountains (key S) to gather wood and stone.
4. Use right click to open the tactical command: build walls, the Forge and the Guard Tower.
5. In the Forge, merge one red, one green and one blue crystal of the same level into a White crystal, and put it in the Bastion's core.
6. Survive. Then survive one more wave.

💡 Tips from the developer

• Essence is your lifeline. Every shot spends it. Firing at everything leaves you empty when the big ones arrive.
• Walls are not just shields, they're paths. Make enemies walk the long way, through your line of fire.
• Watch the drakes. They squeeze through gaps your walls leave, and drakelings simply fly over them.
• Hunt the captain. Orc captains lead and protect their bands. Bring the captain down and the rest scatter in panic.
• The White crystal is your real power. A higher-level White in the core makes every shot stronger, so feed the Forge.
• Pick up dropped crystals before they fade. They're free power.
• Prepare for wave 10. The Golem arrives, and it comes back every 10 waves, stronger each time.
• Keep upgrading the Bastion: at level 10 it unlocks a surprise.
• Press Space to freeze the battle and plan.

⌨️ Controls

• Left click: fire / interact
• Right click: tactical command (build, harvest, beams)
• G: switch aim between enemy and ground (drag on the ground for Nova links or a Cascade line)
• Hold mouse wheel: orbit the camera · Wheel: zoom · Arrows: pan
• C: tower view, look out from the Bastion itself
• Space: freeze combat · Esc / M: menu

🌍 What's coming in the full game

This teaser is a small slice. Much of the full game is already built and being polished:

• Many more abilities: Storm (lightning, hail and freezing rain), Timebend, Supercharge, Core Overload, the Crystal Decoy, the Mana Field and the five Nova Disciplines: stun, bind, burn, hurl and expose.
• A deep research tree to shape your own playstyle.
• New defenses: the Wall Refractor that bends the Bastion's light into a firing line, towers mounted on your walls, special ammunition and Essence Pools.
• More enemies and bosses: armored trolls that charge your walls, bat swarms that blind you, the Blight Rider who curses your forests, and colossal bosses like the Balrog and the Oliphant.
• More maps and biomes: haunted forests, mountain passes, volcanic rivers, hidden sanctuaries, snowy peaks and deep fortresses, with water, swamp and lava that change how every battle plays.
• A full campaign: a world of regions to free, with branching paths, mission by mission.

💬 Help me make it great

The comments below are my most valuable tool. I read every single one. It helps me a lot to know:

• What did you enjoy the most?
• What confused you, or what did you not understand?
• Which wave did you reach?
• Did you want to play "just one more"?

Follow me here on itch.io to be the first to know when Skywatch Bastion comes to Steam. Thank you so much for playing. Every play of this teaser, from someone I don't know, means the world to me. ❤️

Technical notes

• Desktop browser, keyboard and mouse. Not designed for phones or tablets.
• Best on a recent Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
• The first match loads around 150 MB of textures. Give it a moment.
• If it stutters, keep the Quality button (top right) on Min. Night mode needs a stronger graphics card.
• Your record and settings are saved in your browser.