Escape Ruin

Escape Ruin is a dark-fantasy roguelike deckbuilder about exploring a place between life and what comes after. You travel through interconnected Lairs, manage a limited number of Steps, build your deck, pursue quests and decide how far to push each expedition. The Ruin is ruled by twisted False Gods and the creatures that serve them; you challenge their followers, hunt powerful beings and uncover the truth as you seek to escape.

Explore the Ruin

Each Lair contains interconnected rooms, and there is no single route through the Ruin. Choose where to go as you search for enemies, events, shops, places to rest, quests and secrets hidden deeper within. Every movement costs Steps, so you must weigh pushing farther for better opportunities against pursuing important objectives before the expedition ends. You can also look for ways to extend your journey.

Fight, sneak or speak

Finding an enemy does not always mean fighting. You can try to sneak past dangerous encounters and continue deeper into a Lair, or speak to those you meet. Some have nothing to say, while others offer interactions, opportunities or consequences you might not discover by drawing your weapon. When stealth and conversation fail, you fight using your cards.

Build your deck

Collect cards and relics as you explore, and shape your strategy around what you find. Spend Gold during a run to expand your arsenal, create synergies and prepare for enemies deeper in the Ruin. Gold disappears when a run ends, but you can bring Soul Slivers back to the Hub and invest them in permanent upgrades.

Progress between runs

Spend Soul Slivers on lasting upgrades that change future runs. At the Forge, you can upgrade cards; from then on, their upgraded versions become the cards you can encounter on your adventures. You can also unlock permanent powers that stack with upgrades you have already earned, changing the possibilities available to you from run to run.

Choices and quests

Decisions can echo beyond the events that prompted them. A choice may unlock an opportunity later, close off another path or draw the Ruin’s attention, and you may not know when it will return to help or haunt you.

Some quests span multiple rooms or expeditions. Progress through them across different runs to uncover secrets, encounter new threats or open routes to areas of the Ruin that were previously inaccessible. Death ends an expedition, but it does not erase what you have discovered.