Depths of Ascension

Depths of Ascension is a Traditional Roguelike set in a fantasy world inspired by ancient Mesopotamia and the Early Bronze Age cultures, with magic, active gods, and demihuman races. In this turn-based, tile-based, dungeon-delving RPG with permadeath and procedural generation, you explore the dungeons, corridors, and caves of the twisted and ever-changing Mazes of Madness.

A combat system with focus on a variety of possible actions and meaningful tactical decisions

A dynamic lighting system, as well as dynamic sensory system that allow for diverse AI actions and reactions that provide interesting situations

A divinity system that makes the interactions with the gods feel alive and real, and makes for unique divinity-aligned magic and gameplay

A simple Sorcery magic system for people who want to blast enemies with fireballs without having to study the arcane arts

A hardcore magic system based in using the right material components and arcane words to craft powerful rituals and incantations on the fly, with higher risks and higher rewards

The characters you find as you explore react to you, and your actions shape how the denizens of the underworld and other people from the overworld that are also in mission interact with you in the future

Factions and Lairs have their own AI with their own goals that guide the actions of the individual NPCs, providing a more organic simulation of the journey downwards

A rich world with different cultures and a unique history to be found as you explore

The game was designed with Permadeath in mind, but it will feature a Non-Permadeath game mode

A pair of human generations ago, a powerful cabal of mages descended into those mazes to use the highly concentrated mana of the place to create a mechanism that allows mortals to become gods. That so-called Mechanism of Ascension was used by the group’s leader to ascend to godhood, and then stopped to function. It was abandoned, but now it started working again, sending some hummings through the magical weaves. All sorts of organizations took notice of it, and are now trying to get to the mechanism.

All factions want to use the mechanism for their own ends, and are sending their best adventurers to secure it before the others. You’ll create and customize your character, choose the faction that sent you into the dungeon, and your backstory. Those things will affect how the NPCs see the player and interact with them, creating situations that call for diplomatic solutions, rather than combat solutions.

The Mazes of Madness are a place where the telluric magic energy is so strong that it is constantly distorting reality, changing the layout of the natural caves and the dungeons that were built in it. Some sentient species learned to live in that environment, calling it home and building their own Lairs in there. Those Lairs are social groups whose main focus is to just survive the harsh environment, and they are a bit overwhelmed and stressed with the wave of pesky adventurers.