What if your army was made of cards that could bleed, grow, and become something far stronger?
In The Eighth Squad, you don’t control heroes in battle.
You build the squad that survives it.
Recruit living cards. Place them carefully. Train them. Fuse them. Break them. Rebuild them.
Every decision you make before combat echoes through a brutal real-time battle where your strategy either comes to life... or falls apart in seconds.
This is not a game about quick reflexes.
It’s a game about building something clever, powerful, and slightly unhinged.
So... what do you actually do?
You assemble a squad from a pool of units, each with its own role, strengths, and scaling potential.
You decide who stands in front, who stays protected, who carries the run, and who gets sacrificed for a bigger plan.
Then the battle begins automatically.
If your formation makes sense, your synergies click, and your upgrades were smart, your squad rolls forward like a machine.
If not, it dies exactly as it deserved.
Why are the units cards?
Because cards are readable.
In the middle of a run, you should be thinking about decisions, not squinting at tiny fantasy blobs crashing into each other.
Each unit is a living card that shows you what matters: role, stats, progression, and power at a glance.
Less clutter.
More strategy.
Fewer excuses.
What makes one run different from the next?
Runs evolve around what you find, what you invest in, and what kind of squad you dare to commit to.
Sometimes you build a disciplined frontline that refuses to die.
Sometimes you create a glass-cannon backline that melts everything first.
Sometimes your whole run mutates around a fusion or synergy you didn’t expect.
The point is not to repeat a script.
The point is to discover how broken your squad can become before the abyss finally pushes back.
Can units actually change, or do they just get bigger numbers?
They change.
You can improve them, specialize them, and transform ordinary recruits into much stronger forms through training and fusion.
A unit that starts as disposable can become the center of your entire build.
That means your squad is not just a roster.
It’s a project.
Do my choices matter, or is the game mostly watching combat?
Your choices are the game.
Positioning matters.
Matchups matter.
Investment matters.
Synergies matter.
A single bad purchase can weaken an entire run. A single smart pivot can save it.
The combat is automatic.
The responsibility is yours.
What happens when I lose?
You come back stronger.
Each failed run feeds your long-term progress, unlocking more power and better possibilities for the next descent.
You’re not starting over from nothing. You’re slowly building an army that can go deeper every time.
Failure is part of the climb.
You just try to make it useful.
Who is this for?
For players who like:
building clever squads
discovering broken combinations
making meaningful positioning decisions
watching a plan succeed because they built it right
dark fantasy worlds with replayable roguelite progression
Not for people who want to mash buttons and pretend that counts as tactics.
KEY FEATURES
Dark fantasy squad-building roguelite
Living card units that keep combat readable and tactical
Real-time autobattles where preparation decides the outcome
Meaningful positioning that changes how fights play out
Training and fusion systems that transform weak units into build-defining threats
Replayable runs shaped by synergies, upgrades, and hard pivots
Persistent progression that makes every defeat part of your climb