You Are the End

The deeper you go, the more of yourself you lose.

A genre-shifting rogue-lite tower-defense where summoning costs lives — Flipped on its crown into a platformer, with the descent of the King.

Game Concept

The theme for Ludum Dare 57 was “DEPTHS.” That one word sparked the entire idea.

I started thinking — what if “depth” didn’t just mean how far down you go, but how much you lose the deeper you descend? What if the real depth was emotional — the weight of your own choices?

That’s how You Are the End came to life.

You play as a king witnessing the last days of his kingdom. The people are your only resource. To fight back, you must sacrifice lives to summon allies. Every time you place a unit, someone dies. Your health, your army, your future — it all comes from the same pool: your population.

There’s no currency. No energy system. Just blood.

I wanted every choice to feel like a loss, not just a strategy — the depths of your decisions.

Why the Title “You Are the End”

Because you are. Every life lost is your call. Every shift in the story, every crack in the crown — it all comes from you.

But it’s not over when you fall.

After each failed run, you descend again — this time with new choices. You pick from three cards:
Good, Neutral, or Evil.
Each offers a new twist — power, upgrades, or consequences. Some help. Some hurt. All of them shape what’s to come.

The Prophecy

As you play, your story is written in a five-line prophecy. Each line unlocks based on what you did — who you saved, who you sacrificed, and how you fought.

No two players get the same prophecy. Your actions shape your fate, line by line.
Some rise as saviors. Others become the End.

When the Crown Breaks

Eventually, you unlock the final summon: the King — at a massive cost.

But summoning him doesn’t just change the battle… it changes the game itself.

You stop simply summoning units and watching them fight. Now, you enter the battlefield yourself — controlling the King directly. You run, jump, and strike down enemies alongside the very soldiers you once commanded from afar.

The game shifts into a full platformer, where your own skill matters just as much as your strategy. You’re no longer just leading the war — you are fighting it.

It’s a moment where everything changes — mechanics, tone, and your connection to the world you’ve been sacrificing to protect.

Thanks for playing and reading!
If you’ve got feedback, I’d love to hear it — or better yet, share the prophecy you unlocked!