Descent into the Burning Depths
A pixel action RPG in the spirit of the classics. Three heroes, eight depths and one village to save. Free to play in your browser, on your phone or your computer.
No download and no account needed. Your hero saves as you play.
Tristhaven was never meant to be a battlefield. It is a village of wells and lanterns, built over old cellars where its founders kept their grain and laid their dead to rest.
Then the ground beneath it began to breathe heat.
Long ago a sorcerer-king named Malgrath went looking for a way to outlive death. He carved a throne for himself far below the earth, beneath the catacombs and the crypts, where the stone glows red and nothing grows. He found what he was looking for. He became Malgrath the Undying, and for centuries he slept on that throne while the dark gathered around him.
Now he stirs. As he wakes, the dead in the halls above rise to serve him. Skeletons walk the Forgotten Halls. Ghouls crawl through the Bone Pits. And on the fourth depth waits a thing stitched together from everything that ever died down there: the Flesh Warden, who guards the way to the deeper dark.
Elder NSCx has read the signs. Spiritsong tends the wounded, FireMusha keeps the forge hot, and a trader named Wool keeps a ledger in the plaza and deals in NIM. What Tristhaven lacks is someone willing to go down.
That is you.
Descend through eight depths, from the Cellars to the Throne of Malgrath, and put an end to the Undying. But the dark does not give up easily. Strike him down and the dungeon is reborn, crueller than before. And for those who slay him even then, a red portal opens beside the pond in Tristhaven: the Endless Abyss, which has no bottom. Only how far you dare to fall.
Beyond them: Nightmare, where the depths are reborn deadlier, and the Endless Abyss.
Four souls stayed when the ground began to breathe heat. You will meet them all in the plaza.
The Sage
The oldest voice in Tristhaven. NSCx kept the village records for forty winters and was the first to notice the cellars running warm. The Elder reads the signs, sends heroes below and, when they come back carrying gear nobody can name, reads that too.
The Healer
Spiritsong came down from the hills with the first refugees and never left. Any hero who walks back out of the dark is made whole again, poison and all, and the Light asks nothing in return.
The Blacksmith
The forge by the east road has not gone cold since the dead began to rise. FireMusha sells good steel, sound armour and strong drink for gold, and judges a hero by the dents in their shield.
The Broker
Wool rolled into town with a cart, a ledger and no interest at all in the dark below. He runs the Trading Post, where heroes sell what they cannot use and buy what they need in NIM, and he keeps the Ledger of Heroes so the whole town knows who went deepest.
Three classes, each with four skills of its own. Every level brings stat points and a skill point to spend.
A hardened veteran of many wars. Master of melee combat, with high life and crushing blows.
Life 60 · Mana 15 · Str 30 · Dex 20 · Vit 25 · Ene 10
A swift hunter of the wilds. Strikes from afar with bow and trap, and dances out of reach.
Life 50 · Mana 20 · Str 20 · Dex 30 · Vit 20 · Ene 15
A scholar of the arcane arts. Fragile but devastating, wielding fire, frost and lightning.
Life 45 · Mana 40 · Str 15 · Dex 20 · Vit 20 · Ene 35
Skill numbers shown at level 1. Each point you spend makes a skill stronger.
Spiritsong heals you for free, FireMusha buys and sells, and the Elder offers advice.
Every depth is built fresh: new rooms, new monsters, new loot.
Gear comes as normal, magic, rare and unique. Rares and uniques arrive sealed, and Elder NSCx reads them for you at no cost.
A Scroll of Town Portal opens a way back, and the portal folds away once the trip is over.
No auto-attack on a computer: every swing is yours. It is a phone aid, since a thumb cannot aim like a mouse.
Beat the Undying and the depths are reborn, deadlier and richer than before.
Slay Malgrath on Nightmare and a red portal opens in town: floors without end, a guardian every fifth floor and a ladder for the deepest descent.
One shared floor for everyone, every day, with a boss at the end and a roll of honour for the first three to clear it.
Come back each day to keep your streak. Supplies wait for you, with bigger rewards on milestone days. Heroes staking with the ImpactZero validator earn 1.5x vigil gold.
A player-run market in NIM. Sellers pay a 5% listing fee and buyers pay the seller directly, in one payment.
Post a notice for the whole town to read, for 1 NIM.
Fifteen feats to earn, from your first kill to the bottom of the Abyss.
All-time, weekly, vigil and Abyss leaderboards, with your hero's name on them.
Sign in with your Nimiq wallet and your hero follows you from device to device.
Fourteen unique items and more than forty magic properties, from fire-touched blades to life-stealing rings.
NIM is optional. Every depth, boss and feat can be reached without spending anything: NIM pays for conveniences and the player market, never for power or progress.
Runs in any modern browser. Wallet features use Nimiq Pay or the Nimiq Hub.