Codex Mortis

Codex Mortis is an isometric horde-survivor bullet hell built around a roguelite spell-deckbuilding loop. You play as a necromancer, assembling a deck before each mission and taking it into battle against the undead. You can play alone, in local co-op with a friend, or online in a party of up to four.

Build your deck

Before each mission, you choose a loadout from the spells you own; once the fight begins, you must work with that deck. A Summoning-focused deck can crowd the field with skeletons that absorb attacks while you cast, while Blood Magic deals harder hits at the cost of your life. Points earned during runs buy booster packs, which add spells to your collection and give you more options for later decks.

Mutations alter the skills you carry. They can change a bone spear’s attack pattern, make a summon call another undead archetype, reshape the area covered by a spell or give an aura its own character.

Schools of magic

The collection contains 200 spells across ten schools, and every school combines with every other:

• Necromancy: bone spears, corpse explosions and skeletal prisons.
• Summoning: raise undead armies and bone golems.
• Blood Magic: sacrifice life for power.
• Soul Magic: harvest essence and phase through enemies.
• Curses: break enemy will and spread terror and confusion.
• Harvest: cull the horde with the scythe.
• Death Knight: use close-quarters swordplay, spectral armor and war cries.
• Spiritism: perform forbidden rites and use spirit turrets and sacrificial urns.
• Desolation: use sand shades and zones that punish the living.
• Apothecary: practice dark alchemy with elixirs and blight.

Heroes and progression

There are 31 playable heroes, many built around two or three schools at once. Ravena Bloodscythe pairs Blood Magic with Harvest, while Seraphon Wraithblade combines Harvest, Death Knight and Soul Magic. Heroes have their own abilities, and you can equip Artifacts for powerful bonuses. Progression lets you upgrade damage, cooldowns, health, speed and more.

Levels and modes

The game has three modes and 14 levels: Forgotten Graveyard, Sand Tomb, Cursed Catacombs, Bone Cathedral, Void Sanctum, Soul Nexus, The Throne Room, North Pole, The Overgrown Grave, Chapel of Perpetual Bloom, The Garden of Returned Flesh, The Golden Rot, The First Mercy and The Road to Blood Bath.

The final six levels are part of Apocrypha, the second chapter of the story campaign. The final four can also be played in Survivor mode. The Road to Blood Bath ends with a three-phase boss with 600,000 HP. Worlds are procedurally generated, so each run is different.

Co-op for up to four

Online, you can host a game through Steam or join an open session hosted by a friend. You can lock a lobby with a password or share its code with invited players. If someone crashes or disconnects mid-run, they can rejoin while the rest of the party continues playing. Local co-op is also available.