Trying to explain AP Thomson’s Titanium Court is a bit of a tough nut to crack, because the more you try to simplify it, the more you risk glossing over what actually makes it interesting. It is, at its most fundamental level, a match-three puzzle game like Candy Crush Saga. However, it’s also a strategy game, a roguelike, and something much closer to a narrative experiment, as it’s seemingly keen on metatext. Even its Steam page drifts into meta territory, with screenshots that aren’t actually screenshots of the game and a final one that breaks the fourth wall. Together, all of those things might sound like a lot of disconnected ideas, but early reviews of Titanium Court have been describing it as a cohesive experience that’s difficult to describe without actually playing it.
That’s clearly not accidental, either. Critics have already pointed out that Titanium Court is designed in a way that resists clean categorization, combining mechanics and storytelling techniques that generally don’t exist together. That’s precisely what makes it stand out, though, as the game manages to move between puzzle-solving, strategic planning, and narrative exploration in a gameplay loop that feels unpredictable and yet structurally sound at the same time. Again, it’s difficult to explain, but there is at least a downloadable demo of Titanium Court on Steam where players can get all the answers they need from some hands-on time with it.
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How Titanium Court’s Weird Genre Hybrid Actually Works
This really shouldn’t work. By all conventional logic of game design, combining the flashy, slot-machine gratification of a match-three puzzle game with the punishing, strategic, math-heavy foresight of a roguelike deckbuilder should, in theory, result in an unplayable mess. One genre demands passive flow-state reactivity while the other demands thorough consideration of percentages and turn orders. However, Titanium Court nonetheless forces these two opposing design philosophies into an arranged marriage they weren’t readily available for.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Titanium Court’s Core Features
- MATCH-THREE PUZZLES – Connect tiles to arrange the board in an advantageous way.
- TOWER DEFENSE COMBAT – Deploy units to defend the Court.
- SURREAL META NARRATIVE – Self-aware writing lends to the game’s humor.
- ABSURD CAREER PATHS – Become an arsonist or warlord.
High Tide Is Titanium Court’s Match-Three Preparation Phase
The goal of a run in Titanium Court is to protect the game’s namesake from invading forces, but this is ultimately accomplished through a variety of means. It begins with what the game calls “High Tide,” which is essentially a match-three game of Candy Crush. In this phase, players match tiles on the board, but rather than doing so just to clear it, there are two objectives. One is gathering and managing resources and the other is strategically rearranging the board to ensure the Court is protected and the player’s own units can move around the arena safely and efficiently.
There are quite a few tiles players will encounter during their time playing Titanium Court, but there are 6 primary tiles they’ll see the most: Field, Water, Woods, Hill, Enemy, and Titanium Court. During High Tide, matching certain tiles can grant the player resources that can be spent on units during the next phase of a run. For example, matching three Field tiles rewards the player with food, while matching three Water or Woods tiles grants them water or wood, respectively.
Matching three Enemy or Hill tiles, on the other hand, simply removes those tiles from the board. Hill tiles slow both the player’s units and enemy units down, so they can be strategically positioned accordingly. Enemy tiles, however, are worth nothing to the player, so removing them is generally the best form of action. That being said, it’s generally impossible to remove every Enemy tile from the board, as more random tiles appear when a matched set is removed.
The Titanium Court tile is unique, in that it can be moved on its own without needing a match. This is where positioning really matters, as placing it behind hills or water can help protect it from enemy invaders. However, the catch to this and every move players make during High Tide is that each move depletes a portion of their time, and once their time runs out, they’ll automatically move on to the next phase. Chaining multiple matches can earn them bonus time, but this is still what distinguishes Titanium Court. Whereas most match-three puzzle games want players to move quickly and almost brainlessly, Titanium Court asks them to stop and consider the consequences of each move.
Low Tide Is Titanium Court’s Deckbuilding Execution Phase
Once High Tide has concluded, players will transition to Titanium Court‘s deckbuilding execution phase, Low Tide, which plays out similarly to a game like Slay the Spire. This is where every resource players gathered during High Tide is made useful, as playing a card requires a certain number of resources. For example, a Farmer unit requires one water, while a Soldier unit requires three food, one wood, and one stone.
Whereas most match-three puzzle games want players to move quickly and almost brainlessly, Titanium Court asks them to stop and consider the consequences of each move.
Each unit in Titanium Court also comes with a unique ability or function, like the Farmer, who gathers food from fields during battle, or the Soldier, who attacks enemy units and Enemy tiles. Before battle begins, players deploy their units onto the Titanium Court tile, and upon hitting the Play button, the battle plays out automatically in a fashion similar to a tower defense game. Rather than being required to eliminate every Enemy tile on the board, however, players simply need to survive until the time runs out and the run ends.
Titanium Court’s Stanley Parable-Like Writing Is Icing on the Cake
Gameplay aside, Titanium Court is fun for its humor as well. Just as it is with games like The Stanley Parable, there is plenty of fourth-wall breaking in Titanium Court—like when it points out the existence of a User Interface or is just generally self-aware that it is, in fact, a video game. That self-awareness isn’t limited to a few jokes, either. It runs through the entire experience, presenting the game more like an unfolding performance than a traditional narrative, where characters and even the player’s role are treated as part of the same staged act. Dialogue often veers into absurdity, scenes interrupt themselves, and moments that should feel straightforward make you question what’s actually happening.
That approach ties the whole experience together. The match-three setup, the strategy layer, and the writing all operate on the same principle of constant adjustment. Players are never just solving a board or executing a plan without the game pushing back in some way. But that’s what makes Titanium Court unique, and the one thing it probably needs to set itself apart from the strategy games it’s so easily compared to.
Titanium Court launches on Steam on April 23, 2026. A playable demo is currently available for download on the game’s Steam page.
