As the commander of the Frontline Alien Resistance Team, you must manage a squad of elite soldiers to fight off a wave of invading aliens. After the first wave, the aliens will attack again with deadlier force - you win if you are able to repel both waves without running out of resources. Having a good variety and spread of defenders is critical to efficiently counter the invaders.
The game is heavily reliant on luck. Despite this, there’s still an undercurrent of subtle strategy, related to concepts of probability and mathematical parity.
Area 52 is a solo tower-defense game played with a deck of regular playing cards, inspired by games such as Button Men and Onslaught. The rules were created by Wil Su and made available free online as part of his "Isaludo" series.