Marrow March
Now on itch.io: play Marrow March there too

Marrow March

An idle siege defense

Every night the dead march on the last wall. You hold it.

Play nowHow to play

Early Access 0.5Ages I–V nowFree in your browser

What kind of game is Marrow March?

Marrow March is a free incremental tower defense game for the desktop browser. You hold the last wall against a skeleton horde; every fall grows the Essence Tree, and a whole tree lets your commander rise into the Ancestral Sky while an heir takes the wall, stronger.

A tower defense where the towers are soldiers you place and train, and an incremental game where losing is the loop: the wall falls, the fall pays Essence, the Essence Tree grows, and the next run begins where the wall broke. Single-player, no account.

Price
Free
Plays in
Desktop browser
Early Access
Ages I–V of X
Essence Tree
100 upgrades
Ancestral Sky
30 stars
Made by
Enes, solo

How it plays

Raise your army

Place archers, wizards, catapults, windcallers, shamans and ballistas on the field before the wall. Gold from every kill trains them, and one strong archer beats three weak ones.

Hold the wall

The dead come in assaults: skeletons, hounds, archers, shield bearers and necromancers who raise the fallen. Traps on the field and guns on the wall thin them before they reach your line.

Fall, and grow

When the wall falls, the run ends and the Essence Tree opens: 100 permanent upgrades in 6 disciplines. The next run begins on the assault that broke you, with the gold you had earned before it.

Pass into the sky

Grow every step of the tree and its heart opens: your commander rises into the Ancestral Sky, years pass, and an heir takes the wall with Legacy to light 30 stars of the ancestors.

Hold the road

A star of the sky, the Inner Ward, moves the fight inside when the wall breaks: drop the portcullis, pour the oil, raise the drawbridge and open the sea gates on the horde.

Idle when you want

Stars of the Messenger quicken the siege, and Marching Orders sends each assault out by itself, so a strong line holds while you are away.

The beginner's guide The wikiWhat is incremental tower defense?

Early Access

Early Access 0.5

Ages I to V are open now. Ages VI to X, more lords, soldiers and guns, the curses, an endless mode and offline progress are on the road to 1.0.

What is in the game now, and what comes next

The teaser

In the game

Marrow March at dusk: archers, wizards, shamans and catapults hold the field before the wall while a skeleton horde breaks on fire and frost.
Dusk on the field: fire, frost and the whole line firing.
A storm at night in Marrow March: a great host of skeletons, hounds and shield bearers marches on the wall under its guns.
Night and a storm: the host at its thickest.
Blocks of the Bone Levy march in step across the field at dawn in Marrow March, into the fire of the line.
The Bone Levy comes in ranks, and in step.
Graves break open across the field in Marrow March, and skeletons climb out of them at dusk.
The graves open: the dead that do not use the road.
A Bone Colossus walks into fire and frost before the wall in Marrow March, its bar at the top of the screen.
A Bone Colossus, one of the lords of the dead.
The wall is breached in Marrow March: the horde pours through the gate onto the causeway, where soldiers hold the road at night.
With the Inner Ward, a breach moves the fight onto the road behind the wall.
The Marrow March Essence Tree grown wide: six disciplines of permanent upgrades opening outward from the heart.
The Essence Tree grows each time the wall falls.
The Ancestral Sky in Marrow March: three lanes of lit stars climbing from the night sky into the void.
The Ancestral Sky: thirty stars of the ancestors, lit with Legacy.
The March, the campaign map of Marrow March: Age V, The Hunt, twenty assaults along a winding road, and Ages VI to X beyond.
The March: ten ages of twenty assaults; five are open in Early Access.

The story

Every night the dead march on the last wall. You are its commander. When the wall falls you raise it again, stronger, and when your Essence Tree is whole you rise to the ancestors and your heir takes the wall, born knowing all you knew. Ten ages. One wall. The Marrow March does not stop.

The March

Ten ages, each with its own sky, its own host of the dead and a lord waiting at its end. In Early Access, Ages I to V are open; VI to X wait in the dark for later updates.

  1. IThe Barrow Night
  2. IIThe Iron Dead
  3. IIIThe Calling
  4. IVThe Ossuary Court
  5. VThe Hunt
  6. VIThe TitansLater update
  7. VIIThe Long WinterLater update
  8. VIIIThe Black BannersLater update
  9. IXThe Hollow CrownLater update
  10. XThe Last SiegeLater update

What is new

Version 0.5.17 ·

A smoother siege

Crowded assaults draw half as much and run far smoother, a slow computer gets lighter graphics by itself, and the wall’s guns cover the whole field from the first.

  • Performance: a crowded late assault draws half as much each frame, and looks the same. On our test machine the worst frames came twice as fast, and with the processor slowed four times the game went from 50 to 73 frames a second.
  • New: when your computer cannot keep a battle at 30 frames a second, the graphics step down a preset by themselves and say so. Change any graphics setting and they stay yours.
  • New: the wall’s sockets open from both ends toward the gate: the lowest, then the highest, then the second lowest. Your first guns cover both halves of the field. Thank you, SilverEyes.
  • Soldiers draw at their own pace: an archer’s aim is no longer hurried, and the rate of fire is the same.
  • Fixed: a whole tree’s heart, read in the middle of a run, says a retreat opens it too, not only a fall.

The whole changelog

Questions

What is Marrow March?

Marrow March is a free incremental tower defense game for the desktop browser. You hold the last wall against a skeleton horde; every fall grows the Essence Tree, and a whole tree lets your commander rise into the Ancestral Sky while an heir takes the wall, stronger.

Is Marrow March free?

Early Access is free to play in your browser and open to everyone, with no account and no password.

Do I need to download or install anything?

No. Marrow March runs in a desktop web browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. There is no account and no install; your progress is saved in that browser, in three save slots.

Can I play Marrow March on a phone or tablet?

Not yet. Marrow March is built for a desktop browser with a mouse and keyboard, and there are no touch controls in the game.

Is Marrow March an idle game?

Partly. It is an incremental tower defense: you place and train your army yourself, and progress compounds through the Essence Tree and the Ancestral Sky. A star of the sky, Marching Orders, sends each assault out by itself.

How long is Marrow March?

Early Access has 5 ages of 20 assaults each (100 assaults), the Essence Tree holds 100 upgrades in 205 steps, and the Ancestral Sky 30 stars. Growing a whole tree and lighting the sky takes many hours; Ages VI to X arrive in later updates.

What happens when the wall falls?

The run ends, and that is the loop: the fall pays Essence, the Essence Tree opens, and the next run begins on the assault that broke the wall, with the gold you had earned before it. Once your line has lit the Inner Ward in the Ancestral Sky, a breach moves the fight onto the road behind the wall instead.

How do I start playing?

Open play.marrowmarch.com, or the Play page on this site. The game starts in your browser with no password and no sign-up, and the first night teaches every control as you play.

Who is making Marrow March?

Enes, an independent solo game developer.