Fighter
The tank
Sword and shield. Hold the shield up against what's coming from the front, then answer with Shield Bash, Heavy Blow, Cleave and Whirlwind. Tough but light on damage early, it comes into its own with items and a build.
Delve together. Carve your runes.
A co-op dungeon-crawling action RPG. Hand-painted dungeons, real-time fights, a boss in every lair: alone, or with up to three friends.
The game
Down into the dark, and back with something
Runecarver is an online action RPG for Windows and Linux, played solo or in a party of up to four. Make a fighter, an archer or a wizard, walk round the town at night with everyone else online, and go down into hand-painted dungeons: caves, crypts, camps and forges full of sleeping monsters, each with a boss waiting behind a gate in its lair.
Every hit you take was telegraphed: read the arc, roll through the lunge, raise your shield. Every attack you make roots you for a moment, so the rhythm is step, attack, step. What you kill drops gold, gear, materials and essences, and the town's Smith, Runecarver and Enchanter turn them into power.
Archer
Damage at range
A bow and quick feet: picks one target apart from a distance. Power Shot through a whole line, Aimed Shot for the big hit, Multishot and Volley for a crowd.
Wizard
Fire and frost
A staff and spells that lean towards areas. Firebolts and Fireballs set enemies burning, Flame Burst clears the space round you, Frost Bolt and Ice Lance slow what's chasing you.
Eighteen dungeons, levels 1 to 20
From the Rat Warrens to the Hollow Throne: sewers, an ossuary, a goblin camp, a wizard's shattered tower, a frozen barrow, a dwarven forge still burning. Monsters sleep in groups until you come near; some patrol, and the clever ones shout for help. Every dungeon ends in a boss arena: step through the gate, it shuts behind you, and the boss makes its entrance.
Loot by hand
Each kill's drops wait on its body, and chests wait in the side chambers: open them and take what you want, while the fight goes on round you. Your bags, character sheet and talents open over the fight, so a better sword goes on the moment you find it.
Items, refining, runes and the Enchanter
Items come in families and bands, in four qualities from Normal to Rare, Enchanted and Rare ones with affixes. In town, Haldrin the Smith refines any weapon or armor from +0 to +10 with the materials monsters drop; Ysolde the Runecarver turns a monster's essence into its rune, one socket per item; and Maelis the Enchanter polishes, rerolls or lets you choose an enchantment, or breaks an item down into Arcane Dust. Each of them has a short questline before their door opens.
Elements and resistances
- Fire
- Frost
- Lightning
- Poison
- Shadow
Bites and blades are physical, and armor cuts those. A hexer's fire, a wight's frost bolt or the Hollow King's lightning go through it: only a resistance to that element does, up to 75%. Your fire sets enemies burning; frost slows whatever it hits.
Parties online
Invite up to three others, ready up and go in together. Experience is split with a fifth on top, and loot is personal and fair: each drop goes to one of you, drawn from a bag of marbles, so over every round everyone gets as many. The server runs every dungeon, and your own character answers the moment you press.
The lairs are waiting
Play in the browser with nothing to install, or download the game for Windows or Linux: its launcher keeps it up to date.