How to play Order Automatica

Order Automatica looks like a board game you could explain in a minute. You place a few occult portraits on a 3x3 grid, press End Preparation, and watch both sides fight. The first collapse usually happens because unused Essence vanished, a unit attacked the lowest cell number instead of the portrait you were staring at, or you treated candles like a health bar you could ignore. This page is the day-one loop: title screen, tutorial, shop, fight, unlock.

The game is a single-player tactical roguelite autobattler from New Beings. It launched worldwide on 4 September 2026 for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. There is no cooperative mode. You are always drafting against a mirrored ritual that uses the same units, items, and rules.

Title screen and tutorial

From the candle-lit menu choose Continue Ritual or start a fresh one. Codex, Settings, and Quit sit underneath. The tutorial is easy to miss if you mash into a ranked run; open it on purpose the first session. It teaches three things you will still need at Adept:

1. Drag two units onto your grid. Hover a portrait to read its trigger (When Battle Begins, Upon Death, When Damaged, When unit levels up, and so on).
2. Cell numbers are attack order. On the player board the right-hand column is 1-2-3 (top to bottom), the middle is 4-5-6, and the left is 7-8-9. Front hits first.
3. You and the enemy each start a rank with a set of candles. Extinguish theirs across several battles. Lose yours and the ritual resets.

After the first fight the game reminds you that units resurrect as they were at the end of the last preparation. Combat damage does not persist. Shop decisions do.

Order Automatica demo walkthrough covering the tutorial and early ranks

The preparation screen

Most of the game happens here. Top-left is the Essence orb (your gold). Candles stack beside each grid. The shop row along the bottom sells units and items. Buttons around the board:

• Draw Again refreshes the shop for Essence.
• Discard removes a unit from the grid (some items care about this).
• Hold parks one unit between battles so it can keep a persistent effect.
• Cell Effect spends Essence to stamp a tile with a temporary bonus or penalty.
• End Preparation starts the automatic fight.

Unused Essence is lost when the fight starts. If you have three left and a unit costs three, buy it. If you have two left, Distill, Hold, or Cell Effect are often better than dying with coins in the orb. Details live in shop, Distill, and merge.

How a fight resolves

You do not click during battle. Units act in cell-number order, attack according to the current targeting rule (lowest numbered occupied cell on the enemy board in the modern build), and fire printed abilities. Adjacency is cardinal: up, down, left, right. Diagonals do not count. After both boards empty or one side is wiped, the winner snuffs a candle. Speed controls (1x / 2x / 3x and Auto-Play) only change how fast you watch.

If you lost because a backline Mage never fired, you probably sat them in cell 7 when cell 1 was empty. Read grid and positioning next; it is the page that turns the tutorial into a plan.

First purchases that do not brick the run

Early Initiate shops are cheap on purpose. A simple opener:

• Put a high-stat body (the bald Featureless-style tank, Silent Executioner, or any 3+ defense portrait) in cell 1 or 2 so it eats the first hits.
• Put an on-death summoner (Hermit, or any unit that fills empty spots in its row) in a row that still has empty cells.
• Give the first item to the unit whose trigger matches the item. Column-buff books go on a unit in that column. Taunt pieces go on the tank. Poison is not a beginner item unless you already own an Upon Death unit you are willing to kill in the shop.

Do not spread six different 1-cost units across the board. Two upgraded bodies with items beat a full grid of leftovers. Merge copies when the shop offers them; the extra stats and the stronger ability numbers (the 1 / 3 / 6 style scaling you see on Blood Keeper) are how Initiate stays comfortable.

Candles, ranks, and the Codex

Each rank asks you to win a set number of battles. Initiate is the teaching rank. Penitent adds nastier enemy units and more Curses. Adept is where random shops stop being free. After an honorable victory you can continue in endless mode or accept the win and unlock Codex pages. The Codex on the title screen lists Units, Items, Indulgences, +Cell Effects, Enemies, −Cell Effects, and Curses. Launch shipped 20 player units, 17 enemies, 19 items, 18 cell effects, 24 Indulgences, and 9 Curses.

Protecting candles is its own skill. See candles and Curses once you have died to a Heavy Stone occupying your only empty cell.

Controls in one paragraph

Mouse is native: drag portraits, click buttons, hover for tooltips. Full controller support shipped before launch, so a gamepad can move a cursor and confirm with the south button. Steam Deck works; the developer originally recommended left-stick-as-mouse and now supports a proper gamepad map. Full tables are on Controls.

What to open after this page

• Grid and positioning for attack order, adjacency, and cell effects.
• Shop, Distill, and merge for Essence math.
• Ranks walkthrough for Initiate through Adept.
• Unit tier list once you have seen Madame, Imp, Pig, and Baker in the shop.
• Synergy builds when you want a named plan instead of vibes.
• Launch review if you are still deciding whether the $5.99 ritual is for you.

Play the tutorial once without pausing, then play a second Initiate run where you refuse to End Preparation with leftover Essence. That single habit is the difference between a 20-minute collapse and an honorable victory.