Timeless/Arena

The Arena is a gamemode in Timeless. It involves players having to fight against special zombies in unique locations, while using only special kits. Their objective is to survive all the waves of enemies, and to eventually reach a boss that they will have to take down, allowing them to earn special rewards and unique items. It is also the only way to register certain zombies, deemed as , and often not seen anywhere else. Surprisingly, it is deemed as canon by the game, but how did the characters ended up here is unknown

In-game description
''Welcome to the arena ! Here, you will have to fight off hordes of undeads and bosses, on arenas filled with deadly traps and special enemies. Prepare for one heck of a fight !''

Joining
Players simply have to select the icon in their menu while they are in their hub. Then, they will have access to a "playlist" of arena fights, with each one having their own difficulty. Players have access to all of these, but they are ranked by difficulty and most players won't be able to complete every trial

Gameplay
In this game, players will first choose their characters, just like a normal game. However, instead of choosing their weapons, they will have to choose sets of equipments ; one may have a spear and a shield, while the others has a sword and a javelin. It can't be changed in-game, and will usually be linked to the theme of the arena.

Waves
These will be more numerous, offering special challenges for any kind of players. While most are basic waves, bigger waves will appear every 5 flags, and ambushes can appear like in any other level. Bigger waves can bring mini-bosses, which are simply considered as bigger ennemies. In certain cases, Special waves can occur. These are tied to a specific theme, and will spawn zombies accordingly, with sometimes a music playing specifically for this wave, similarly to certain waves of Garden Warfare. At the end of the level, a Boss wave will occur, playing a special music an releasing fewer zombies but also the final boss of this trial, which needs to be defeated if the players want to win. Some waves may triggers gimmicks

Enemies
Enemies here are often equipped with weapons, spawn in specific numbers and formations and will be a bit less numerous. Some arenas will have exclusive zombies, that can be registered into the almanac as such and will often have special abilities

Gimmicks
Returning from classic levels, these will bring a twist, often making the battles harder or simply adding a special effect. In certain arenas, these can change the current progress by a landslide ; for example, in Colosseum, a complete flooding may occur, possibly eliminating allmost every players if they cannot find a place to stay

The Crowd
Since the maps are mostly themed arenas, they will include a crowd of zombies, coming from the same era as the arena and watching the ongoing match. They are mostly basic zombie variants, sometimes with headwear, and can carry various items, usually to support the zombie team or to serve the same purpose as a air horn. They will often react to certain events : They can't be killed or interacted with during the game, but can be seen attempting to throw various objects at players on the game over screen
 * Ambushes
 * Entrance of large enemies or bosses
 * Character dying or getting wrecked by a zombie
 * Bosses/very large enemy getting vanquished
 * Big events like the appearance of a new gimmick

Bosses
Bosses are the last enemies players will fight, hoping to defeat it and complete the trial. Most of them are unique zombies, only seen here, and have special abilities, a good amount of HP and can interact freely with the decor, or do some peculiar actions like flying. Here is a list of planned bosses :

Knight Drake (Dark Ages)
A dragon looking zombot, with a heavy knight armor and the ability to spit deadly flames. Isn't very competent with flying but is efficient in close combat

Sloth Zombot (Frostbite Caves)
A large robotic sloth, with a high amount of health and gigantic claws that can easily rip-off enemies and use his weight against them

Defensive End (Present)
A heavier Gargantuar, with an All Star armor and a large pole, made for deadly swings when used in tandem with his deadly abilities

Frozen Wyvern (Viking Invasion)
An enormous ice wyvern, with large icicles growing on her body. Ice restricts her movements but she can use it at her advanatage whatever how far you are

Mechaneuropsis (Ovegrown Carboniferous)
A dragonfly-like zombot, more akin to an helicopter and able to shoot balls of decaying matter and to strike with its claws, but is vulnerable when it falls down

Zombie Seismosaurus (Jurassic Marsh)
Mainly seen by their enormous rotten bodies, they will try to crush you and require good climbing skills to be put down

They will only appear in their specific arenas, and will give rewards usually linked to them

Arenas
These are the areas where players will play the Arena mode. Linked to a certain world, they all have a few things that they share : The Arenas are quite limited sometimes, but more are added for new Seasons to change a bit Here is a list of the areas planned :
 * First, they are smaller than normal maps, and often follow a circle-like shape, with crowds surrounding the area and not many pieces of scenery, usually just enough for the public to see you but also enough for you to be able to hide, run and escape from zombie hordes
 * They all have a peculiar thing, whether it is their very broken landscape, or even just ice-cold winds storming through the area
 * You can interact with the environment, like making rotten trunks and icicles fall, provocating termites and destroying their mounds
 * They have ennemies and bosses relative to their environment

Icebound Battleground (Frostbite Caves)
A medium-sized arena, with an intense blizzard, large icebergs and a few rocky formations. Its main gimmick is the Frost, which stays the same as it is in Frostbite Caves

Dark Castle (Dark Ages)
An old enclosed castle, with a small village and some indoors parts. It will suffers attacks from catapults outside, launching damaging projectiles that can hit everyone and sometimes graves can spawn, requiring certain items to be destroyed

Ruined Stadium (Present)
A large weathered stadium, with a massive amount of debris and structures inside. It won't have any gimmicks

Colosseum (Roman Empire)
The eponymous roman arena, with a few obstacles crashed around. From time to time, the area can get flooded, requiring the players to stand on wooden platforms to survive

Joustarium (Dark Ages)
A large wooden arena, with a low ceiling made out of mesh and various arrays of seats for zombies, reminescent of a jousting fight. There is only wooden obstacles which may break, but otherwise there isn't any gimmick

Seasons
Seasons are special events, happening every 3-4 months, that brings special rewards, arenas and even bosses under a spotlight. They will usually have special rewards for completing the special levels proposed, but they are very tricky and thus won't be accesible to everyone. Some seasons may also bring special challenges, such as a Boss Rush, or trials following a certain theme, with for example only pirates or sport-related stuff as ennemies.

Rewards
When completing a level, the players will earn a corresponding Treasure Chest, containing currencies, objects, customization items, pieces of equipment, seed packets, etc ... Players can also earn special rewards linked to the boss they defeated, usually unobtainable by other means. This include the aforementioned items, but also Trophies, which are purely cosmetic collectibles

Trivia

 * This mode was originally supposed to be akin to the eponymous feature of Plants vs Zombies 2, but this was scrapped for being too unoriginal