"ATMAN digitized everything human. But the soul refused to convert. Your strike proves it still exists."

One Shot. One Kill. — Build your machine, survive the onslaught, then press the button and break the cycle.

About

SOUL STRIKE is an ultimate-only machine-combat game where every fight ends with a single decisive blow.

In a post-cyberpunk world, the corporate AI known as ATMAN controls humanity through neural implants. Pain has been removed. Struggle archived. Even death itself processed away. You pilot a Machine forged by the MUDRA — a resistance of pilots who severed their own neural links and channel their unconverted soul through forbidden combat frames.

Each battle is a countdown to your ultimate: survive long enough to charge it, press the button, and obliterate your enemy in a single strike. A hidden probability system decides whether the blow lands as a devastating critical. Aura colours, rush chains, and prediction glyphs tell you what is coming — but never everything. Read the signs. Trust the glow. One shot is all you get.

The core thesis is stated at the start: "ATMAN digitized everything human. But the soul refused to convert. Your strike proves it still exists."

Beneath the broadcast, a second signal hums. The official voice insists the soul is data — that nothing escaped the catalogue. The game asks you to listen for what the catalogue could not hold. The transmitter is dead; the signal kept ringing. This is Echo Theory, the philosophical engine running underneath every line of in-game text.

How it works

1. Select INDRA — Episode 0 of the planned trilogy ships with INDRA, the close-range fist Machine, as the playable frame. Three other MUDRA Machines (GOLIATH-414, LILITH, MUMEI) appear locked as COMING SOON teasers.
2. Build your loadout — click shop cards to auto-equip parts into INDRA's blueprint. Modules, implants, chargers, boosters, and soul parts each glow with their category colour. Buy the same part twice and the slot ★-merges into a higher tier.
3. Battle — combat runs automatically. Your Machine takes hits, charges the ultimate gauge, and waits.
4. ULTIMATE — when the gauge fills, time freezes and a SOUL STRIKE mandala button appears. Press it. The pachislot core decides whether the strike lands as normal or critical. The button glow itself broadcasts the aura tier — no text, just colour.
5. Survive the campaign — pick Easy (5 rounds) or Hard (10 rounds) at Title. Easy is INDRA's introductory fall; Hard is the canonical Episode 0 arc, climaxing in ATMAN's enforcer.
6. Restart with R at any time.

SANCTUM — meta-progression

Between runs, return to the SANCTUM screen unlocked from Title after your first battle. Spend scrap (earned from each run's leftover gold) to consecrate persistent buff items. Consecrated buffs auto-equip at the start of your next run, layering across attempts. Death is not the end; it's research.

The 4 Machines (Episode 0 scope)

• INDRA — playable. Right-arm gauntlet frame. 9 balanced slots. Piloted by a former soldier who tore his own refine-circuit out.
• GOLIATH-414 — coming soon. Heavy full-body frame, maximum slots. A child rides inside its hollow chest.
• LILITH — coming soon. Speed-type kick frame. Fewer slots, faster charge. Piloted by an off-grid scavenger who never had an implant to sever.
• MUMEI — coming soon. Tech frame whose soul-tendrils anchor to the boy who pilots it.

5 part categories

• Module — Core combat systems (weapons, targeting)
• Implant — Defensive augmentations (armor, shields, regen)
• Charger — Energy and speed systems (cooldown, charge rate)
• Booster — Enhancement gear (synergy triggers, stat multipliers)
• Soul — Forbidden tech (ultimate damage, lifesteal, special effects)

Hit resolution system

The ULTIMATE button hides a probabilistic core beneath its surface:

• Silent ticks — during combat the system privately advances a hit probability every frame.
• Rush state — once it triggers, critical rates multiply and aura colours blossom.
• Aura escalation — white → blue → yellow → green → red → rainbow mirror the depth of your soul's resonance. The colour is shown only by the mandala button's glow; no labels, no words. Read the colour, decide.
• Continuation — a rush can chain across multiple rounds if you keep striking in time.
• Prediction glyphs — rainbow button cycle, mandala flash, red flash, lightning bursts, screen glitch. Each glyph carries a different trust signature. Learn to read them.

Synergy halo (escalating visual)

Active synergies — both placement (slot-pattern) and category (part-count) — add a layered halo around your machine in battle. The aura grows in three stages:

• 3+ active synergies — inner white ring breathes around the silhouette
• 5+ active synergies — middle gold mandala layer (golden ring + rotating tick reticle)
• 7+ active synergies — outer orange storm (wide ring + 8 radial spokes + sparkles)

Push for the orange tier and your machine fights inside a slow rotating shrine of light.

Controls

• Click shop cards to buy + auto-equip parts (no drag-and-drop)
• Space / Click the SOUL STRIKE mandala to fire your ultimate
• S to cycle battle speed (×1 / ×1.5 / ×2)
• R to restart at any time

HOW TO PLAY (TL;DR)

• Click parts to buy. They auto-equip into the first matching slot.
• Survive long enough to charge SOUL STRIKE. Press it. One shot decides the round.
• Banked gold becomes scrap. Spend it at SANCTUM between runs to keep buffs across deaths.

Features

• INDRA's blueprint with 9 part slots — each parts category has its own glyph + colour
• 25 parts across 5 categories (module, implant, charger, booster, soul)
• Hidden probability hit determination with aura, rush, and prediction effects
• Multi-stage ultimate cut-in (panel sweep → portrait stamp → ULT name → shockwave)
• Tiered synergy halo on the player machine (white / gold / orange escalation at 3 / 5 / 7 active synergies)
• SANCTUM meta-progression: scrap-based persistent buff shop unlocked after the first battle
• Two campaign lengths — Easy (5 rounds, mid-boss climax) or Hard (10 rounds, big-boss climax)
• Click-to-buy shop with auto-placement and ★-tier merging on duplicates
• Full-page character view on Select screen with INDRA + 3 COMING SOON teasers
• Post-cyberpunk narrative: ATMAN AI vs MUDRA resistance, rooted in Buddhist mandala lore
• Smooth HP trails, damage popups, camera shake, and combo counters
• Series opener: Episode 0 of the planned CIRCLE OF SAMSARA trilogy. Stay after the final blow for a glimpse of what comes next
• Echo Theory layer: residual signals threaded across Title, Select, broadcasts, and endings. The transmitter is dead; the signal kept ringing. Read the source essay

Made with

• Phaser 4 (stable 2026-04)
• Vite 6 + TypeScript 5.7 + Bun
• Cursor + Claude Code for development
• kima-core governance layer (data-as-code architecture)

Jam notes

Theme: Machines. Every mechanic ties back to machines — machine bodies as assemblable slot layouts, a hidden probability engine deciding critical hits, and a corporate AI (ATMAN) as the ultimate machine-god enemy. The data layer is entirely authored in TypeScript const objects — no spreadsheets, no build step, no drift between design and code.

Known Issues (Jam Build)

Disclosed for transparency. Both are non-blocking — the game is fully clearable on Easy and Hard. Post-jam fixes planned.

• Last Wish (soul part) has no effect. The "survive lethal hit at 1 HP" behavior described on the part card is wired in data but the combat handler was never implemented in the jam build. Equipping it does nothing — avoid spending gold on this part for now.
• SANCTUM call-to-action missing on Hard defeat screen. The prompt that nudges players toward the meta-progression shop after a Hard run wipe never triggers due to a regression in the death-payout calculation. SANCTUM itself works perfectly — access it via the Title-screen button after your first battle.

Links

• Mirror: machines.risingore.com
• Developer: @risingore