Cinderwake

Cinderwake is an isometric hack-and-slash action RPG in which you click to move, fight enemies and collect what they leave behind. The fire that once warmed the kingdom now burns it: the Cinder Matron summons her ashlings in a cathedral, a buried king wakes beneath the glass dunes, and a drowned abbey rings its bell at night. On the Frostspine, a stair of ice climbs toward the sky. You take one of five heroes into the places where the ash falls thickest.

The five classes

Each class has three skill trees with more than 25 skills, and skills gain new effects at milestones. A healer in each town can return skill points in exchange for gold, so you can change a hero’s build.

• Arcanist: wield fire, frost and storm, combining elements to make them resonate through skills such as Frozen Maw, Flame Wave and Eye of the Storm.
• Ravager: fight with rage rather than mana, chaining crushing blows and pulling enemies in with hooks and shackles. Use a great axe or a weapon in each hand.
• Huntress: mark prey, coat arrows in ember, rime or venom oil, and set traps. Hunt alongside an Ash Bear that grows with you, or become the bear yourself.
• Gravecaller: spread hexes between foes, raise bones and a Grave Lord, bind spirits, and make offerings that turn the dead into power.
• Oathsworn: swear an oath that charges a crushing Judgment, use hymns to aid the whole party, and summon wheeling hammers of dawn.

Loot and equipment

Items come in common, magic, rare, set and unique rarities, with random affixes, sockets, gems and runes. Put the right runes in the right order to inscribe an item; rare uniques can change the rules of a class, while charms work from your bag. At the smith, you can reforge items and add sockets, and your heroes share a stash. You can also filter the loot you see.

Item requirements matter: a heavy weapon is dead weight in weak hands. Buy and sell equipment, gamble for items, hire a helper and gear them up too.

Four acts and secrets

The four acts take you through Hollowmere and the ashen heaths, Dustreach and the tombs beneath the dunes, Greywater and the drowned abbey, and Hearthwatch and the frozen peaks of the Frostspine. Maps are newly generated for each game. Waypoints and town portals help you travel, and the world has three levels: Smolder, Blaze and Firestorm.

Bosses warn before they strike, giving you a chance to read the ground, move aside and hit back. After the acts, the Pyre offers an endless endgame through their burning memory, with a guardian every tenth tier.

Exploration can uncover breakable walls, hidden rooms and glades, treasure thieves who flee with their gold, gleaming monsters, side quests, lore stones and a secret level for those who find the bell.

Pets that loot

Every hero starts with the Soot Fox, which picks up and carries loot, then runs to town to sell what you do not need. Feed it and it grows from pup to alpha. You can also find pups belonging to four hounds, each with its own perk, and keep them in your kennel.

Play together

Up to 8 players can join a game over Steam, and each player can go where they want. Form a party to share experience and quest credit, as well as auras and heals. The game also includes built-in voice chat.