Samsara

Samsara is a souls-like action RPG rooted in Buddhist mythology and based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead. You awaken in the Bardo, the intermediate state between death and rebirth, trapped in the mysterious afterworld of Kamadhatu. You have 49 days to escape the cycle of death and rebirth; otherwise, you remain bound to it.

The cycle of rebirth

Your actions in combat, dialogue and exploration grant positive or negative Karma. When you die, that Karma crystallises into Karmic Seeds, which act as experience points you can spend on stats, abilities and equipment for your next life. Your Karma also determines which of six listed avatars you are reborn as. Death is part of your progression, and each new life gives you another chance to find a way out.

The avatars have different abilities and playstyles:

• Manusya: smaller and weaker but balanced, this is the only avatar capable of escaping. Its protective gestures can shield, immobilise and contain enemies.
• Deva: reborn through acts of mercy and kindness, Deva glide through the air and wield magic for healing and damage. They can create illusions and use air-element abilities.
• Asura: multi-armed beings whose power increases as they diminish. They use physical strength and elemental magic, can summon all five elements to damage enemies, make themselves invulnerable and weaken enemy defences.
• Naraka: hellish beings with potent combat abilities, including ranged attacks. They use fire to engulf, weaken and ensnare foes, and can summon others of their kind.
• Tiryag: animalistic hunters with keen instincts. They can travel astrally, call on nature, sense enemies through their surroundings and slow time in combat.
• Preta: driven by greed, these beings can sense hidden treasures, drain enemies’ health and damage or weaken them over time.

Combat and choices

Combat asks you to dodge, parry, block and strike precisely to build Focus, which protects you and increases your power. Mantras—magical chants with special effects—help you build Focus faster, while Mudras, or hand gestures, unlock more powerful spells and abilities. You can combine different weapon types, spells and elemental effects, and customise your avatar with equipment and skills gained from defeating enemies, finding hidden treasures or speaking with others.

You can take a violent or pacifist approach to conflict, with your choices affecting the Karma you gain. Conversations bring you face to face with apparitions of strangers in desperate circumstances. These beings are manifestations of your Karma, and you can listen to their pleas or ignore them. The Challenges of Mara present moral dilemmas: you can help these figures or conquer them, gaining their help or taking their power. Your choices can change your path, though many lead back into the cycle.

The world of Kamadhatu

Kamadhatu, the Desire Realm, is a vision created by your dying mind: a hostile, dying world at the end of its cycle. You cross interconnected dreamscapes filled with violent enemies, cryptic characters and deadly traps. Fractal anomalies reveal non-Euclidean shortcuts, while portals connect distant places.

At the world’s centre stands Mt Meru, flanked by the Four Great Continents. Vast bodies of water and impassable mountain ranges separate them. You can travel through tropical jungle and ancient ruins, cross the scorching dunes of a sunken oasis, climb an ice- and gem-covered mountain, and leap between precarious perches above the lakes of an apparently abundant paradise. Your route may lead upward toward the gods atop sacred Mt. Meru, or downward through frozen and fiery hells to the gold-laden deep root of the world.