The Drawn Hour

The Drawn Hour is a roguelike deckbuilder presented in multicolor ASCII art with a CRT effect. You play as an operator descending through three corrupted sectors of a haunted dial-up BBS, choosing a route, fighting with cards and collecting what you can carry as you make your way toward something waiting at the bottom.

Operators

Each operator has a distinct approach to combat:

• The Sysop: a defensive bruiser who turns block into a weapon and outlasts enemies.
• The Daemon: uses poison, bleed and self-sacrifice, and thrives on Corruption that harms other operators.
• The Phreak: builds tempo and combos by chaining zero-cost cards into an explosive turn.

The Daemon and the Phreak unlock when you clear chapter bosses.

Corruption

Damage and dark cards raise a risk gauge called Corruption. Some cards scale with it, but crossing a threshold shuffles a Glitch curse into your deck. You can push your luck or cleanse Corruption at a safe node.

Descend through the sectors

The game has three chapters, each with its own enemies, atmosphere and boss: The Carrier, The Gatekeeper and MOTHER. Branching maps let you choose between fights, elite encounters, black-market shops, anomalies and safe nodes. You collect relics, upgrade cards and receive weighted rewards to shape your build.

Online co-op

Two to four players can play online using Steam friend invites or direct LAN. You share a map and fight side by side in the same turn; if the party is wiped out, the dive ends for everyone.

Challenges and progression

Each operator has a 15-level Ascension Ladder with stacking difficulty levels. The Daily Challenge uses one fixed seed, gives you one attempt and sets a score to beat. A Bestiary and Codex catalogue everything you have seen, while achievements and Steam Cloud saves support progression.

Audio and display options

The game features procedural chiptune and modem-era sound. You can reduce or turn off the CRT effect, and accessibility options include colorblind palettes, text scaling, key rebinding and reduced motion.