Grimm Forge

How to Play

Grimm Forge is a roguelike deckbuilder set in a world where death is a bargain and survival is a craft. Each run is a single descent into the miasma. You build a deck, fight your way deeper, and decide when to extract before the corruption takes you.

Build your Grimm's arsenal

Deckbuilding

Every run begins with a starter deck shaped by your chosen discipline. As you fight deeper into the miasma, you earn new cards at combat rewards and purchase them from in-run shops. No two runs share the same deck. The cards you draft, upgrade, and remove define how your Grimm fights.

Cards belong to four disciplines (Combat, Flame, Stone, and Storm), but nothing stops you from mixing them. A Grimm who started in Flame can unlock Stone cards through guild training and build a hybrid deck that burns enemies while hiding behind walls of block. The choice is yours.

Browse the Card Library →

Quick Reference

Starting hand size5 cards
Starting energy3 per turn
Disciplines4 (Combat, Flame, Stone, Storm)
Card typesAttack, Skill, Power
RaritiesCommon, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary

Know when to leave

Extraction

The miasma is not a dungeon to be cleared. It is a resource to be harvested. Every floor you descend increases your potential reward, but the miasma pressure builds with you. At certain nodes you will find an Extraction Point: a chance to leave with everything you've gathered.

Push too far and the miasma will erode your maximum HP, weaken your healing, and corrupt your stats. Die, and you lose everything in your active inventory. Only items stored in your Secure Pouch survive death. The decision to extract or push deeper is the core tension of every run.

Quick Reference

Extraction pointsAppear at certain map nodes
Secure PouchSurvives death (limited slots)
Miasma pressureIncreases with depth
Death penaltyLose active inventory
Guild RankNever lost on death

Turn-based card combat

Combat

Combat is turn-based. Each turn you draw five cards and receive three energy. Play cards to attack, build block, apply status effects, or trigger powerful combos. Enemy intent is always visible. You can see what each creature plans to do before you decide how to respond.

Block expires at the start of your turn, so you cannot simply stack it indefinitely. Status effects like Vulnerable, Weak, Poison, and Burning interact with each other in meaningful ways. Elites and bosses have multi-phase patterns that reward pattern recognition over raw damage output.

View the Bestiary →

Quick Reference

Turn structureDraw → Play → End Turn
BlockExpires each turn
Enemy intentAlways visible
Status effectsVulnerable, Weak, Poison, Burning, Strength, Dexterity
BossesMulti-phase patterns

Your Grimm grows. Your guild grows.

Progression

Successful extractions earn Guild Rank, a permanent account-wide progression that unlocks new vendors, expands loot pools, and grants passive bonuses to every Grimm you create. Your individual Grimm also earns XP, which can be spent to unlock new disciplines and expand your card pool.

When a Grimm dies, the character is gone, but the guild rank remains. A new Grimm starts with access to everything your guild has unlocked. Progression never resets entirely; each death is a setback, not a wipe.

Explore the Disciplines →

Quick Reference

Guild RankAccount-wide, permanent
Grimm XPPer-character, lost on death
Discipline unlockRequires Guild Rank 3+
New GrimmInherits all guild unlocks
VendorsUnlock at Guild Ranks 1–5

A branching path through the miasma

The Floors

Each run generates a branching node map. You choose your path through combat encounters, elite fights, events, shops, rest sites, treasure rooms, and extraction points. The deeper you go, the fewer safe nodes appear and the more dangerous the encounters become.

Floor depth is tracked as a miasma pressure level. At level 30 and above, your maximum HP begins to erode. At level 50, healing becomes less effective. At level 70, enemy stats are significantly amplified. The abyss does not reward hesitation.

Quick Reference

Node typesCombat, Elite, Event, Shop, Rest, Treasure, Extraction
Miasma 30+Max HP begins to erode
Miasma 50+Healing weakened
Miasma 70+Enemy stats amplified
MapBranching paths, your choice

Ready to descend?

Enter the Forge

Create your Grimm, choose your discipline, and begin your first descent. The miasma is waiting.

Play Free →