Grow
Plant seeds that become walls, ramps, bridges and canopy. Seeds grow on any soil your team controls, so territory and terrain feed each other.
Ironleaf Games presents
ROOT
BOUND
A 4v4 competitive arena for your phone, where the map grows, burns, and freezes as you fight. Shape the battlefield. Uproot the enemy.
Coming soon toiOS
Coming soon toAndroid
- Teams
- 4 vs 4
- Seasons per match
- 4
- Match length
- About 10 min
- Platform
- iOS and Android
Every ability either grows the world or grinds it down.
You pilot a Warden — an ironwood construct bound to a living arena. Two teams of four fight over one shared map that changes every second: walls sprout, bridges grow, cover gets sawn apart. No two matches end on the same terrain.
Most competitive games give you a fixed map to memorize. Rootbound gives you a map to argue over. The best teams don't just win fights — they decide where the fights happen.
Grind
Saw, burn and splinter the enemy's growth. Every wall you break turns their soil back into neutral ground — ready for your own seeds.
Uproot
Each team guards a Heartroot. Tear out theirs for an instant win — or hold more living soil when Winter ends.
Four seeds, endless layouts
Before each match, every Warden picks a seed loadout. What your team brings decides what the map can become.
Wallseed
Raises a wall of living wood. Blocks shots and movement until someone cuts it down.
Bridgeseed
Grows a walkway across water or gaps. Opens new routes — for both teams.
Rampseed
Builds a slope up to high ground. The fastest way to take a ledge the enemy is holding.
Canopyseed
Spreads a leafy roof overhead. Hides your team from snipers and blocks high-ground sightlines.
How a match plays out
-
1
Draft
Both teams lock in four Wardens and pick a seed loadout: more walls, more bridges, or more canopy.
-
2
Claim
Spring opens. Everyone spreads out to plant seeds and grab soil before the other team can.
-
3
Clash
Through Summer and Autumn, teams fight over key ground while the map keeps shifting under them.
-
4
Uproot
Winter freezes all growth. Whatever terrain is left is what you fight on in the final push for the Heartroot.
Built for your thumbs.
Rootbound is designed for phones from day one. Every system — moving, aiming, growing, grinding — works with two thumbs on a touchscreen.
Twin-stick controls
Left thumb moves, right thumb aims and fires. Simple to pick up, with plenty of room to master.
One-tap growing
Tap Grow to place a seed where you're aiming. Hold to preview it first. No build menus to dig through mid-fight.
Matches that fit a break
A full ranked match takes about 10 minutes. A Thicket match takes about 5 — short enough for a bus ride.
Play with friends
Invite friends to your squad with a code or link, whether they're on iPhone or Android.
Four roles. One living map.
Every Warden has a grow ability, a grind ability and a passive. Each one peaks in a different season, so the balance of power shifts as the match goes on. Pick one to see how they play.
Builder
Sower
Shapes the map before the fight starts. A good Sower decides where every battle happens.
Build
Damage
Support
Mobility
- Grow ability
- QuickrootRaise a full wall of living wood in under two seconds.
- Grind ability
- PruneRecall your own growth to refund seeds and reposition.
- Passive
- Deep RootsAnything you plant takes longer for enemies to cut down.
- Best season
- Spring, when seeds are cheap and growth is fast.
Everyone has a counter
The four roles form a loop. No Warden is safe from everyone, so drafting smart matters as much as aim.
- Sower beats ThornWalls and canopy shut down long sightlines.
- Thorn beats GrafterSupports standing still to heal are easy picks from range.
- Grafter beats CutterBark armor and healing outlast a brawler's burst.
- Cutter beats SowerA saw arm turns a builder's hard work into firewood.
Team builds to try
Fortress
Sower, Sower, Grafter, Thorn
Claim soil early, wall it off, and make the other team come to you. Wins on soil count when Winter ends.
Wildfire
Cutter, Cutter, Grafter, Thorn
Ignore building and tear through everything. Peaks in Autumn, when fire spreads through every wall you've cracked.
Full Grove
Sower, Cutter, Grafter, Thorn
One of each. No big weakness, no big spike — a team that wins by adapting to every season.
The arena ages while you fight.
Every match runs through all four seasons, each lasting a couple of minutes. The rules shift with each one, so the team that wins Spring isn't guaranteed Winter. Reading the next season and preparing for it is half the game.
-
Phase 1
Spring
Seeds are cheap and grow fast. Both teams race to claim soil and wall off lanes.
Rule change: seeds cost half.
-
Phase 2
Summer
Canopy closes overhead. Sightlines shrink and close-range ambushes take over.
Rule change: vision range drops under canopy.
-
Phase 3
Autumn
Leaves fall. Cover thins, long lanes open up, and fire spreads through dry growth.
Rule change: fire jumps between connected growth.
-
Phase 4
Winter
Growth freezes and iron turns brittle. No more building — only the final push.
Rule change: no new growth; Wardens take extra damage.
Three arenas at launch.
Each map starts bare and gets built by the players. The layout below is just the bones — the match decides the rest.
Rustgrove
Tight corridors
An abandoned iron foundry swallowed by forest. Narrow halls, collapsing catwalks, and old furnaces that roar back to life in Autumn. A brawler's map — Cutters thrive here.
Hollowmere
Water and bridges
A flooded basin of drowned trees. Wardens can't swim, so the middle only exists if someone grows a bridge across it. Lose your bridges, lose the map.
Spire Thicket
Vertical fights
Stone spires wrapped in vines rise out of the forest floor. Grow ramps to climb them and fight for the high ground. In Winter, a Thorn on a Perch can see almost everything.
Built for ranked. Fun at any size.
Uproot
The full four-season match, about 10 minutes. Queue solo or with your squad and climb the ladder.
Thicket
Smaller maps and faster seasons, around 5 minutes. Perfect for a quick match on the go.
Arbor Lab
Lock any season, test builds against bots, and run private lobbies for scrims and community tournaments.
Grow your rank.
Six ranked tiers, from first sprout to ancient forest. Your rank tracks how you play, not just whether you won, so carrying a hard match still counts.
- Sapling
- Bramble
- Grove
- Ironbark
- Heartwood
- Elderwood
Fair play, built in
No pay-to-win
Every Warden and ability is earned by playing. Anything you can buy is cosmetic.
Match replays
Rewatch any of your ranked matches from any player's view to see how the map was won.
Leaver protection
If a teammate quits a ranked match, the rest of the team loses less rank.
The forest remembers the iron.
Long after the last cities went quiet, the forest came back — and it grew straight through everything people left behind. Foundries filled with roots. Rails became vines. Iron and wood fused into something new.
Beneath it all lie the Heartroots: ancient roots that keep the land alive and answer to whoever holds them. The old Wardens were built to guard them. Now those same Wardens fight over them, and every arena where they clash ages a whole year in a single battle.
- The Heartroots
- Living roots that power the land. Pull one out and the soil around it dies with it.
- The Wardens
- Ironwood constructs, half machine and half tree. They can't die — only be pruned back and regrown.
- The Turning
- When Heartroots are contested, the land around them races through the seasons. That's why every match runs from Spring to Winter.
Strong as iron. Alive as a leaf.
Ironleaf Games is an independent studio making competitive games where skill decides the match and the world never sits still. We started Ironleaf because we love games where the best players win by thinking faster, not just shooting faster, and we wanted to build one where the battlefield itself is part of the strategy.
Our name says what we care about: games with a solid, fair competitive core, and worlds that feel alive enough to surprise you every match.
We build in the open. Playtesters shape every Warden, every map and every season before launch.
Questions
When does Rootbound come out?
We haven't set a date yet. Playtest sign-ups will hear about it first.
What platforms will it be on?
Rootbound is coming to iOS and Android phones.
How do I get into the playtest?
Sign up with your email below. We'll send invites in waves as each closed test opens.
Will it be free to download?
We'll share pricing details closer to launch. Whatever we decide, Rootbound will never be pay-to-win.
Can I play with friends on a different phone?
Yes. iPhone and Android players can team up and play against each other.
Can I play solo?
Yes. You can queue alone and matchmaking will put you on a team, or queue with friends as a group.
Do I need to be good at building games?
No. Growing terrain is one tap per ability, not a construction menu. If you'd rather fight, pick a Cutter or Thorn and let your Sower do the planning.
Is there a story?
Yes. The world has its own history — the Heartroots, the Wardens, and why the seasons race by in every arena. You'll find it told through maps, Warden profiles and seasonal events rather than a campaign.
Is it pay-to-win?
No. Everything that affects gameplay is earned by playing. Anything you can buy is cosmetic.
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