Mendicant Sea

Mendicant Sea is a real-time creature-containment management game with escape-defense strategy and tactical creature battles. You run a five-floor facility beneath the snowline, caring for and studying PTFs while preparing security for breaches. Each ten-minute shift moves from morning into night as staff, research, weather, combat and breach pressure continue to develop; you can pause to plan.

Run the facility

You purchase and configure containment cells, monitor live needs with the PTF Tracker, assign Scientists and Keepers, and manage wages and supplies. The facility and the external escape field are two active parts of the same site. Fifteen containment positions are available across five immediately accessible floors.

Care involves more than keeping subjects healthy. Hunger, contentment, stress, sanitation, research readiness, habitat affinity and Breach Pressure interact over time. Keepers collect reserved food from storage, carry it through the facility, feed subjects and clean cells. Scientists travel the halls and elevators, remain physically posted, and unlock one of six research procedures. Staff caught in a cell when its subject breaches do not return.

Study the PTFs

You can authorize sealed Nascent Memories without knowing what they contain. Installing one reconstructs a living PTF in the cell you choose, with individual Quotients, provenance, possible rare chromatics, care preferences, combat identity and a record that follows it through life. The searchable Codex starts with unknowns; feeding, changing habitats and conducting research reveal what each species likes, dislikes, resists and becomes. Individual dossiers track each PTF, while the Codex records what the Directorate learns about its species.

The game includes 200 species, each with a combat kit, relic, preferences, research responses and lore. PTFs can appear in Normal, Shiny and SteamID-derived Manager Chromatic forms, with discoveries permanently recorded in the Codex. Each living PTF has four visible relic slots: Head, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder and Back.

Defend the site

Security operates on the external escape field. You position squads, equip distinct weapons and build six emplacements from five turret families: Autocannon, Minigun, Energy Lance, Tesla Tower and Biosprayer. Turrets can be upgraded to improve survivability and output, but none is effective against every PTF. You must weigh Biomic offense, Eidolic defense, routes, conditions and your operating budget when setting the line. Security also has tiered weapons.

When a PTF breaches containment, it becomes an independent incident on the escape field. It can fight Security, destroy turrets, break any one of three gate sections and leave the site permanently. A breach also increases pressure in every occupied cell on the same floor, so one failure can lead to several. Dynamic surface and paranormal weather have operational effects and forecasts.

Battle and trade PTFs

You can take living PTFs into 1v1 or 3v3 Containment Combat. Their authored basic and special moves, passive abilities, conditions, Biomic offense, Eidolic defense, Quotients and equipped relics all affect the fight. Victory pays, while defeat, recovery and forfeiture affect your roster. You can fight randomized local accreditation matches or open a friend-only Steam lobby.

Steam PTF Trade lets two Directors browse eligible living rosters, mark interest and make one-for-one offers. A custody transfer takes place only after both sides confirm the final record. The game also includes six research minigames whose difficulty depends on the relevant PTF and Scientist Quotients.

Records and guidance

The game has three local save slots, account-bound Steam Cloud copies and Steam achievements. A guided first directive and an in-universe Field Manual explain the operation of the facility.