Bound to Rot

Bound to Rot is a dark western hardcore ARPG around one ruthless question: how far can an angel descend before the mortal vessel carrying them rots away?

You are an angel reborn into a Vessel of your choosing, riding down into a scorched desert frontier where the only true light is the Pulse. Clear rooms, gather rare gear, push deeper, or extract while your body still holds. Stray too far from the Pulse, linger too long, and the darkness will collect what you owe.
Die, and the vessel is gone. Everything. Gone.

An Angel in a Mortal Vessel
Reincarnate as a dust-cloaked Pyrrhian gunslinger, with more vessels waiting in the deep: the Myronian unlocks at Depth 10, the Theran at Depth 20. Each vessel carries a passive gift of its own. The soul endures. The vessel does not. The deeper you ride, the faster it rots.

No Levels. Only Loot.
Character power comes entirely from items: the "level" on screen is just the average item level of your gear. Your equipment lives in your organs: Lungs, Heart, Liver, Intestine, Kidney, passive bonuses only, and instead of durability they carry Rot. Let it overtake an organ and it turns ROTTEN, dragging your build down with it.
In the works: a D.E.S.C.E.N.D. attribute system, Fallout-style point growth without the level grind. Seven attributes, one for every step you dare: Dexterity, Endurance, Strength, Cunning, Essence, Nerve, Destiny, grown as you descend deeper into the desert. The deeper you dig, the sharper the soul.
Every drop arrives unidentified: you cannot equip what you cannot name. Cut a card from the poker deck: The Joker identifies (dropped in quarters, complete the card to use it), the Aces upgrade, reroll, overhaul and balance your items, the King of Pikes forces a MYTHIC, the Jack of Pikes duplicates an item as a cursed reflection, and the Queen of Hearts cleanses a rotten organ.
Six damage types: Physical, Fire, Cold, Lightning, Magic, Rot. A spatial grid inventory forces real decisions about what you ride out with. And five legendary uniques, BANG BANG, GLASS CANNON, VAMPIRIC, JUGGERNAUT, SECOND WIND, each rewrites how your build works with red-text mods that never change once they drop.

The Descent
Clear a wave and the Pulse awakens. Touch it to open the Anima Chart: a node-graph of the route down, where you pick your own path to the next checkpoint, and its relic pays out 1-of-3 run-scoped boons. Socket gems into Q, W, E and R for your abilities, keep a T flask charged with one drink per wave, and trust the Entropy System: no streaky RNG, just combat that feels fair even when it kills you.

Features
Permadeath: die in the Anima and the character is deleted, only your best depth survives

Play an angel in a mortal vessel; deeper vessels unlock as your soul proves itself

Power comes entirely from items, no XP, no skill trees, with a Fallout-style D.E.S.C.E.N.D. attribute system in the works

Organ-based equipment with Rot instead of durability

Unidentified drops and a poker-deck currency: identify, upgrade, reroll, force mythic, duplicate

The Anima Chart: choose your route; relics grant 1-of-3 run boons

Gem abilities on Q/W/E/R plus a one-dose flask per wave

Six damage types, five build-rewriting uniques, deterministic Entropy hit system

Scorched-desert frontier: near-pitch-black darkness, spaghetti-western score, a dust-and-gunsmoke look