The Shadowed Rune

The Shadowed Rune is an action roguelike in which you climb a danger-filled tower, combine runes into spells and face ruthless bosses. You can play solo or in co-op as you uncover the truth behind the shadows and the evil threatening the world. Each attempt has randomly generated levels, so you never explore the same tower twice.

Story and characters

After entering a forgotten tower, you lose your powers and become trapped. Your hope lies in ancient artifacts given to you by a mysterious voice. Join Maia, Brishen and Veld on a magic-filled climb through the tower, where the secrets of its inhabitants and the ancient Tyran empire await.

In solo play, Neku, a cat you rescue and revive with rune power, accompanies you. Neku follows you on your adventures and lets you store an extra rune.

Combine runes and spells

The rune system draws on seven elements: water, fire, wind, earth, lightning, light and darkness. Equipped runes create synergies that add effects to your spells, with millions of possible spell variations and dozens of handcrafted arcane spells. You can swap and combine runes during combat to discover new elements and equip secondary spells based on the order in which you place them, without pausing the action. Spells can heal you, summon allies, create support turrets or unleash a super bomb, among other possibilities; discovered spells are saved automatically in your Compendium.

Combat is in the bullet hell and bullet heaven styles, with enemies and projectiles filling the tower. Giant bosses test your skill: study their patterns, find their weaknesses and attack with elemental power. Runes also let you interact with the environment, including creating water, activating flying platforms, growing root bridges and manipulating lighting to open secret rooms and find rewards.

Explore the tower

The full adventure spans seven floors with unique biomes, filled with enemies, traps and puzzles. You encounter survivors captured by the tower’s forces; helping them unlocks services and features in the camp. There, you can take on challenges and activities between runs, tend a garden to raise morale, get character and pet outfits, learn the characters’ backstories, befriend survivors and expand the camp.

Camp rewards are cosmetic items, minigames and activities, and do not make later runs easier. Victory depends on your skill.

Play solo or together

You can play alone or in local co-op for two players. Co-op lets you choose from three characters with different elemental abilities; seven characters are planned for the final version. Family mode softens some elements of the game for co-op with inexperienced players, and Steam Remote Play Together supports online co-op.

Early Access content

The Early Access version includes three playable characters, one of whom must be unlocked during your adventures, as well as dozens of spells and artifacts to discover. It covers three tower floors and a final battle. In the camp, you can rescue survivors, rebuild their shops and services, and unlock activities, minigames and cosmetic shops. The version also includes character and pet cosmetics, achievements and clues to collect during tower runs about what happened in the tower and who is behind the evil threatening the world.

Create and share levels

An integrated level editor lets you build rooms, add enemies, make puzzles and create challenges to play solo or in co-op. You can link up to 100 levels together. The editor is available in beta from day one and must be unlocked during your adventures as part of the story.