Rouge Process

Rouge Process is a real-time grid-conquest game about a rogue process trying to survive inside a hostile computer. You spread your code across circuit boards, capture data to power your expansion and defenses, and breach gateways to descend through 20 sectors. Reach the Kernel, defeat its three-phase battle and escape the machine.

Spread through the system

Drag to paint your infection across the board, where it also spreads outward on its own. Each cell you claim adds territory and power. Gold Data Nodes provide compute, which you spend on claiming ground, building defenses and opening gateways; taking too little can stall your expansion, while taking too much can leave territory you cannot defend.

Each run features a different map, upgrade choices and defensive decisions. The procedurally generated descent has 12 visual themes. After every breach, choose one of three subroutines, including build-defining cards and ammunition upgrades, and get one reroll. You can also take optional sector contracts for bonus compute.

Defend your territory

The system sends different antivirus units against you: Sentinels rush your core, Scrubbers consume data, Daemons swarm quickly, Splitters fork when killed, Shielded units absorb fire, Phantoms cloak, Leeches drain compute and Sappers target turrets. The feature list also names armored tanks, blinkers and carriers among the 11 antivirus archetypes. Every few sectors, one of three bosses appears: the grinding ICE Guardian, the minion-summoning Warden or the self-repairing Compiler, which regenerates and erodes your territory in pulses.

Build and upgrade eight subroutines on your cells: Turrets, Pulse novas, Amplifiers, Mines, Slow fields, Walls, EMP stun coils and Repair nanites. Walls can funnel enemies through corridors, and flow-field pathing lets you shape their routes. You can also trigger PURGE, a screen-clearing shockwave, or FORK, an instant burst of code spread.

Manage your defenses

Inspect buildings to see their range, actual damage and kills. Set them to target the nearest, strongest or weakest enemy, or the one closest to your core; upgrade them or reclaim them for 70% of their compute cost. PLAN mode freezes time while you study threat lines and position defenses, and combat speed can switch between 1x and 2x.

Runs and progression

Earn CORE FRAGMENTS during runs and spend them on eight permanent perks. Choose from three difficulty modes, ranging from a gentle boot to Nightmare. Sector checkpoints let you save and continue later from the start of the current sector.

Rouge Process also includes a rotating electronic soundtrack, procedural synth sound effects, a glowing circuit-board aesthetic with bloom and an optional CRT filter, and a score chase with 23 in-game achievements.