ZerdMan: Glitchwave
A third-person hero shooter where Zerdly's own characters defend bright worlds from a playful Glitch invasion. Glitches never get hurt - they de-rez into sparkles.
About ZerdMan: Glitchwave
ZerdMan: Glitchwave is an original wave-defence game played over your hero's shoulder. Glitches pour out of three portals and head for the glowing objective in the middle of the arena. Your job is to keep it alive until every wave is cleared, then walk out through the exit portal.
There are three heroes, each with their own kit. ZerdMan is the balanced hero: a steady stream of pulse shots and a Pulse Burst ring that pushes glitches back. Zerdia is quick and protective: fast twin darts and a Decoy Post that pulls glitches away and blocks their bolts. Zerdburger supports: an arcing Splash Lob for groups and a Recovery Zone that heals the objective and slows glitches.
Five Glitch types each ask for a different answer. Nibblers rush in, Pingers fire slow bolts from range, Blockers hide behind a violet shield, Flickers teleport (always to a marked spot) and Core Leeches latch on to the objective. Every attack has a visible wind-up, so you always get a chance to respond. The boss, Prism Tangle, has three phases that each end with its gold core opening for a few seconds.
How to play
- Choose a mode, then a hero and a difficulty. New players start with Episode 1 on Calm, which has a short skippable tutorial.
- Guard the objective: its health bar is at the top of the screen. If it reaches zero the run ends.
- Watch for the coral ring that fills under a glitch before it attacks - step away, evade, or use your ability.
- Core Leeches have a gold chevron above them. Shoot them off the objective first.
- After each wave the game pauses so you can pick one of three boosts (or skip), then the next wave starts after a short break.
- When the last wave is cleared, walk into the gold exit portal or press Continue.
Controls
- Keyboard and mouse: W A S D or arrow keys to move, mouse to look and aim (click the view first; Esc releases the mouse and pauses), left click to fire, right click or Shift to aim closer, Space to evade, Q for your ability, E to interact or continue, R to vent or reload.
- Touch: the lower-left of the view is a floating move stick, drag on the right half to look, and the Fire, Ability, Evade and Interact buttons sit in the lower-right corner. Left-handed mode swaps the sides.
- If the mouse cannot be captured, hold a button and drag on the view to look instead.
- Aim assist (Off, Low, Medium or High) gently bends shots toward a nearby glitch. It is optional and can be changed in the setup or pause screen.
The rules
- You lose only if the objective's health reaches zero. A knocked-out hero comes back at the spawn pad after 5 seconds.
- Glitches only arrive through the three portals, never right next to you.
- Every glitch attack has a wind-up of at least half a second (longer on Calm). Pausing freezes all of them.
- Difficulty changes how many glitches come, how they mix and how quickly they act. It never changes glitch health or damage.
- Prism Tangle takes double damage while its core is open and only a quarter otherwise. If the objective falls during the boss, you can retry from the start of that phase.
Scoring, saving and limits
Score is 1,000 times the objective's remaining health fraction, plus 10 for every glitch de-rezzed and 50 for every wave in which the objective took no damage. Story episodes give a bronze medal for finishing, silver with the objective at 50% or more, and gold at 75% or more plus the episode's side goal. Daily Defense uses the same waves for everyone each day (UTC) at Steady difficulty; scores are kept on this device only.
Progress, medals, best scores, hero mastery and settings are saved in this browser on this device only, under this game's own storage key. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account. The Clear data button in Settings removes only this game's data.
Needs a browser with WebGL 2. There is no online leaderboard or multiplayer. On older phones choose Low graphics quality in Settings for a smoother game.
Accessibility
Every menu is keyboard operable with visible focus, and the game pauses on Esc or when the tab is hidden. Health and objective bars show numbers as well as colour, and a hidden status line announces waves and results for screen readers. Settings include reduced motion, look sensitivity, invert look, camera distance, sound (off by default), touch stick size and opacity, and a left-handed layout. Aim assist is adjustable and never required, and Calm difficulty gives longer warnings.
Questions
- Is ZerdMan: Glitchwave violent?
- No. Heroes fire bright energy shots at geometric glitches, which pop and de-rez into sparkles. There is no blood, no realistic weapons and nothing frightening.
- Which hero should I start with?
- ZerdMan. His pulse shots never need reloading and Pulse Burst is a quick way out of a crowd. Try Zerdia for pulling glitches away from the objective, and Zerdburger for groups and healing.
- How is this different from Beacon Defence?
- Beacon Defence is a tower-defence game where you place towers. In Glitchwave you play the hero yourself in third person: you move, aim and fire every shot, and choose a boost between waves.
- Can I play on a phone?
- Yes. The move stick, look area and action buttons are inside the game view, and the view fits a phone screen. Landscape gives the widest view.
- Does my progress sync between devices?
- No. Everything is stored in this browser only. There are no accounts and no online scoreboards.