🏆 Main story 20-25h·💯 100% 40h+
Guide built on Day 2 of release; community day-one pace was a first clear in one sitting. All bosses, artifacts and dungeon branches run 40h+.
Very Positive ·311 reviews · 87% positive
“The fact that a $10 game is more fun than most modern AAA ARPGs is both hilarious and a little depressing.” — Steam review, 35 👍
Steam →RETRO DARK-FANTASY ARPG · FAN TORCHBEARER
The monsters came out of the dark. So did the maps.
Start the Beginner GuideOfficial store description:
"Nightmarish monsters crawl forth from the darkness, while the Demon Lord lurks beneath the abyss. Venture into the Shadow Dungeon, carve your way through blood and chaos, and forge your own legendary epic."
A dark-fantasy action RPG in a late-90s retro visual style — one developer (OO Cat), $8.99, released August 26, 2026. Dungeons, temples, deserts, haunted ruins, and eventually hell itself; hidden treasures in every ruin, strange artifacts holding secrets. 3.8k concurrents on day one — the torch-carrying crowd arrived fast.
"It looks like my childhood and plays like my nightmares. Five stars." — Steam review
A hex mage with maxed Mana Siphon plus the Bloodrust Ring cycles skills at near-zero cost — turret DPS above every physical build. Half the thread screams NERF; the other half posts clears: the loop has zero forgiveness, one break and you die. Wheelchair vs glass-cannon, unresolved; the dev is silent.
Day one assumed the desert night was cosmetic. Frame-lab verification: at night ALL desert monsters gain +30% attack speed — but drops also +30%. Conclusion: night is not danger, night is a sale. Farming parties now desert-by-night, travel-by-day.
The chained statue in the first hall bears a suspicious silhouette match with the final boss. The magnifier camp found three contour overlaps; the opposition: "stare at any statue long enough and it is the final boss." The thread is 200 floors of frame-by-frame dueling — the fun is the fight, not the verdict.
First three dungeons, lantern/sanity, gold, death etiquette.
Six archetypes tiered, hybrids, and the mana-loop controversy.
Floor maps, trap tables, secrets — week-one cartography.
Phases, tells, working cheese, honest difficulty.
Full list, set bonuses, the three argued relics.
The abyss, the seal, the Demon Lord, two endings read.