Where Ashen Hand stands

The short version

Ashen Hand is a playable prototype. A run takes you down through three biomes, the Cinder Wastes, the Hollow Cathedral and the Drowned Vault, three levels each, with a boss waiting at the end of every one. You choose one of five classes, and your deck is your moveset: strikes, guards, arts, spells and now hexes, played in real time from a hand of three.

• 5 classes, from the Knight to the occult Hexbinder
• 38 cards, each with two upgrade paths
• 37 relics and 39 weapons
• 19 foe types and 3 bosses

Foes that ask questions

The newest foes aren't just tougher. Each one asks you to read it and answer it differently.

• Bulwarks turn blows from the front with a tower shield. Circle to their side, wait for them to swing, or let sorcery wash over the shield.
• Wretches hunt in packs of three. They circle you and dart in the moment you commit to a swing, a cast or a drink.
• Cantors keep their distance and cast. A bolt you can parry, or a sigil on the ground you have to step off.
• The Hollow Abbot now has a real second phase.

Death that feeds the next run

When a run falls, your Ashes stay where you died. A later run that reaches that level finds your Echo waiting in a side room: a pale outline of your past self, fighting with the weapon and the deck you had. Beat it to take your Ashes back, and keep one of its cards.

Hexes, and spells with shape

• Hex cards bring zone control: Brand marks what it cuts, Hex Sigil lays a trap a step ahead, and Detonate bursts every brand at once.
• Spells were rebuilt so each one feels like what it is: bolts that seek, pierce or burst, plus cones, lines, strikes, pillars and pools.
• Every cast now shows where it will land, and each element hits with its own impact and sound.

Balanced by thousands of runs

A balance simulator plays thousands of seeded runs for every class at different skill levels, and a bot checks it against the real game fight by fight. Every change gets measured against written targets instead of guessed at. Right now skilled players win more often than the target, the Hexbinder most of all, so that's next on the tuning list. Real playtests will tell us what the simulator can't.

What's next

• A first-run practice that teaches guarding, parrying, rolling the red-diamond attacks, playing cards and when to drink.
• Clearer cues for newer players on what a card or relic does for their build.
• Rebindable controls, more display options and a credits screen.
• Real art and music. Everything on screen is still placeholder drawn in code, and the sound is synthesized.