Endure the Endless: Introducing Horde Mode

We’ve been hard at work on something new for Ruinstars, and we’re excited to finally talk about it.

Horde Mode is our upcoming solo and cooperative survival mode, built from the ground up to push replayability, tension, and desperation far beyond what a single scripted operation or one-off mission can offer.

If standard Ruinstars missions are about objectives, Horde Mode is about endurance.

There is no territory to claim. No artifact that guarantees escape. Just you, your Squad, and an enemy that never stops coming.

What Is Horde Mode?

In Horde Mode, one Squad faces escalating Waves of enemies, growing stronger, more numerous, and more unpredictable as the battle grinds on. Each Wave ends only when every enemy is Taken Out, followed by a brief Regroup window to patch wounds, redistribute resources, and prepare for the next surge.

Between Waves, players make hard choices:

• Heal now, or save MP for defenses?
• Spend resources reviving a downed Unit, or reinforce the battlefield?
• Push aggressively to complete a Wave Objective, or play it safe and survive?

The longer you last, the worse it gets.

Special Turn Events, Wave Mods, randomized enemy spawns, and Boss Waves ensure that no two runs ever play the same. Sometimes you’ll catch a lull. Other times the enemy surges forward before you’ve even drawn breath.

Victory, if it exists at all, is temporary.

Why Horde Mode?

Ruinstars already has strong one-off missions and scripted Operations with clear narrative arcs. Horde Mode exists to complement those by offering something different:

• Infinite replayability
• A mode that works equally well for solo play and coop
• A sandbox to stress-test Squads, builds, and tactics
• A pressure cooker where positioning, action economy, and recovery matter more every Wave

It’s also a space where we can experiment freely with events, enemies, and mechanics without breaking the core mission structure.

The Core Loop (High-Level)

At its heart, Horde Mode follows a simple but brutal rhythm:

1. Set up the battlefield Deployment zones, spawn points, and an Upgrade Console.
2. Deploy your Squad
3. Start Wave 1 Early Waves are forgiving. That won’t last.
4. Play Turns
   • Roll Turn Events
   • Roll Tactical Orders
   • Alternate player and enemy activations
5. Clear the Wave
6. Regroup
   • Spend shared Regroup ACT
   • Heal, revive, reload, and deploy defenses
   • Spend MP on upgrades
7. The next Wave begins
   • New enemies
   • Higher difficulty
   • New complications

Boss Waves punctuate the experience, forcing Squads to adapt to unique threats and rules just when they’re already stretched thin.

Randomness With Teeth

Horde Mode leans heavily into controlled chaos:

• Enemy spawning scales with Wave number and Difficulty
• Wave Mods can accelerate or ease the pressure
• Wave Objectives offer tempting rewards… if you can afford the risk
• Turn Events can shift momentum instantly: supply drops, reinforcements, battlefield hazards, or sudden bursts of adrenaline

Sometimes the game helps you. Sometimes it absolutely does not.

Downed, Not Gone

One important difference from standard missions: When a Unit is Taken Out in Horde Mode, it isn’t immediately removed.

Downed Units remain on the battlefield, crawling, bleeding, and barely hanging on. Teammates can revive them, events can bring them back into the fight, and desperate dashes across open ground can mean the difference between survival and collapse.

But if everyone goes down, that’s it. The Horde wins.

Want to Dig Into the Rules?

For players who want to go deeper, we’ve attached a Horde Mode rules preview alongside this devlog.

This document represents the current working draft of the mode. These are not finalized rules. Numbers, tables, events, and mechanics are actively being tested and refined, and some sections are intentionally incomplete.

If you enjoy picking apart systems, spotting edge cases, or suggesting alternative approaches, we’d love your thoughts after giving it a read.

Still in Active Development

Horde Mode is very much a work in progress, and that’s why we’re sharing it now.

Things still being defined or refined:

• Enemy and Boss units
• Dedicated Horde battlefields
• Coop-specific Squad rules
• Additional Wave Mods and Events
• The final “end condition”: Is there a true victory? Extraction? Or do you simply fight until you fall?

We’d love your thoughts on all of it.

We Want Your Feedback

Horde Mode is designed to grow alongside the community. If you’ve got opinions, questions, or wild ideas, we want to hear them:

• What makes a great horde/survival mode for you?
• Do you prefer a clear win condition, or endless escalation?
• Should Boss Waves be predictable or chaotic?
• What kinds of battlefield events would you love (or hate) to see?

Drop your thoughts in the comments, on Discord, or wherever you usually shout about Ruinstars. This mode exists to be replayed, broken, tuned, and pushed to its limits, together.

— The Ruinstars Team

The Horde is coming.
How long do you think your Squad will last?