Planned Release Date: Q1 2027

About This Game

The ad didn't lie this time.

You know the ones. A hero stuck under a pin full of lava. A crowd running through a "x3" gate. A tower that only grows if you pick the right number. You download the app, and it's a completely different game.

Clickbait Arcade is every one of those fake ads, built as a real game. Walk through a neon arcade, step up to a cabinet, and play.

12 games, one arcade

• Pull the Pin: pull pins in the right order to send the gold where it belongs and keep the lava away from the hero.

• Math Gate Runner: steer your crowd through the best gates, then smash the enemy army.

• Wave Shooter: a roguelite run. Shoot, pick upgrades, survive the waves.

• Peg Balls: drop balls through the pegs to break the wall. A roguelite with perks.

• Power Tower: beat every enemy weaker than you, grow, and take the tower.

• Merge Army: merge soldiers into stronger ones and win the battle.

• Pick the Item: one of three items saves the hero. Sometimes the right answer is hiding in the interface itself.

• Draw to Protect: draw a shield before the bees, arrows and floods arrive.

• Keep Them Warm: place heaters and throw fuel so no house freezes through the winter night.

• Crowd Cannon: fire your crowd through x2 and x3 zones and overrun the enemy base.

• Choose the Door: climb floor by floor. Treasure, a key, a lion or fire. Look for the hints.

• Dig Down: dig a path for the gold, the water or the hero. Don't dig into the lava.

A story about the ads

In Story mode you play Dev, the one developer who made the ads true. Now BaitCo, the biggest fake-ad studio in the world, wants the laptop with the source code. Run, hide, rally and strike back across 13 chapters, with Ducky the rubber duck in your ear and the Retention Team on your heels. Collect leaked BaitCo memos along the way.

What you won't find

• No ads.

• No energy, lives timers or "watch a video to continue".

• No pay-to-win. Tickets are earned by playing and spent on cosmetics and unlocks.

Features

• 12 games, from handmade puzzle levels (30 each in Pull the Pin and Power Tower) to roguelite runs

• Story mode with comics and a villain who is very upset about all this

• Neon arcade hub you can walk around

• Customize Dev with cosmetics bought with earned tickets

• A game that knows it's a game

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Clickbait Arcade was made by a solo developer with help from AI tools. AI assisted with game code, level design, story and in-game text, the 3D models and store art, and the procedurally generated synth music and sound effects. The developer directed, reviewed and edited all of it. The game does not generate any AI content while you play.