DA_RL is a traditional roguelike dungeon crawler. You pick a class and descend into a procedurally generated dungeon where you'll fight monsters, find loot, and try not to die.
Pick a Class, Play Differently
DA_RL has five classes, each with their own stat spread and a unique ability that changes how you approach every floor.
The Fighter starts tough and gets one free Second Wind per floor. A 50% heal when things get desperate.
The Mage is fragile but has the highest mana pool in the game and gets reduced spell costs.
The Rogue lives and dies by crits and dodges. Hit while you're invisible and the damage doubles.
The Cleric mixes combat with a Divine Healing ability that restores 30% of your health on a 10-turn cooldown.
The Ranger is built around ranged combat, getting extra range on every ranged weapon they pick up.
The Gods Are Watching
There are five gods in DA_RL and each one has an opinion about what you're doing down there. You gain favor by killing the kinds of enemies they like, interacting with their shrines, and generally playing in a way that aligns with their values. Build up enough favor and they start helping you. Let it drop too far and they start punishing you.
Ferrus is the god of war. He likes it when you kill things.
Arcanus is the god of magic. He favors spellcasters and rewards magical playstyles.
Umbra is the god of shadow. She's fine with poison, darkness, and things most gods would find distasteful.
Luminos is the god of light. She rewards healing and hates the undead.
Sylvan is the god of nature. He likes it when you let the dungeon's natural dangers do the work.
Each god also has a rival. Worshipping at a rival god's shrine costs you favor. Pick one and commit to it, or don't worship anyone and go it alone.
Spells, Scrolls, Wands, and More
DA_RL features a lot of items and lots of item interactions. Potions can heal you, poison you, make you invisible, put you to sleep, or cause you to hallucinate and see things that aren't there. Scrolls do everything from revealing the map, to teleporting you across the dungeon, to summoning an ally, to just killing you if you read the wrong one. Wands give you a limited-use version of spells like Fireball or Drain Life.
Then there are spell books. Find one, read it, and that spell is yours permanently. The full spell list has basics like Magic Missile and Frost Bolt to more crazy stuff like Meteor Swarm, Death Ray, and Void Sphere. You need mana to cast them and many have cooldowns, so managing your resources matters.
Weapons and armor can also be enchanted. A sword of flaming adds fire damage, a ring of regeneration heals you passively, and armor of protection bumps your defense. But some items are cursed. A cursed item might glue itself to your hand so you can't unequip it, drain your stats, or keep you perpetually confused. The remove curse scroll exists for a reason.
A Dungeon Full of Things That Want You Dead
The monster roster is large and they all want to kill you. Bats, dragons, goblins, undead, elementals, giants, demons, mythical creatures, and more. Each enemy family has multiple tiers that show up at different depth ranges, so the enemies you face on floor 5 are not the same ones you're dealing with on floor 25. A regular Bat gives way to a Cave Bat, then a Shadow Bat, then a Vampire Bat, and eventually a Demon Bat. That pattern repeats across every family. The deeper you go the stronger the enemies become.
Enemy behavior varies too. Most enemies chase you down, but some fight at range, and some can be charmed into fighting for you temporarily. Status effects apply to enemies the same way they apply to you. Freeze one in place, set it on fire, poison it, or confuse it into wandering in the wrong direction. Most of the time though, it just comes down to whether you can kill it before it kills you.
The Dungeon Itself
Each dungeon floor is procedurally generated, so no two runs are the same. The deeper you go, the better the loot pool gets and the nastier the encounters become. There is no end to the dungeon, so try and get as far down as you can.
Some rooms are pitch black. Without a light source your vision drops to a handful of tiles, and whatever is in that room with you already knows you're there. Watch where you step too, because traps are hidden throughout the dungeon. Some you can dodge, some you can save against, and some just drop you straight to the next floor. Walls aren't always what they look like either. Some of them are secret doors. Searching finds them, and high Intelligence characters start to sense when something is nearby.
On top of combat, you need to manage hunger. Stay in the dungeon too long without eating and you will start taking damage from starvation.
Key Features
5 playable classes with unique stats and abilities
5 gods to worship with a full favor and boon system
Turn-based, tile-based movement and combat with saving throws
Procedurally generated dungeon floors with scaling difficulty
Dark rooms, hidden traps, and secret doors
Full controller support
17+ potions, 19+ scrolls, wands, rings, and spell books
18+ learnable spells from Magic Missile to Void Sphere
30+ weapons and armor pieces, many with enchantments or curses
Multiple ranged weapon types (bows, crossbows, blowguns) with ammunition types
Dozens of enemy types across multiple monster families
Hunger system, status effects, field of view
Full save system with Steam cloud support
