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Flarebound

A tactical roguelike where you throw flares to briefly pierce the darkness, draw a path in pitch black, and race dripping lava following you through the volcanic tunnels. Plan fast, dig deep, and descend to the safe place before the lava swallows everything.

All Reviews:

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Release Date:

Coming soon

Developer:

Marc Grabow

Publisher:

Marc Grabow

	Interface	Full Audio	Subtitles
English	✔	✔	✔

Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Flarebound is a handcrafted passion project being developed by a solo dad during nights and weekends. Early Access gives me a chance to involve players directly as I shape the game’s world, mechanics, and balance. Your feedback will help refine the core loop, uncover fun strategies, and shape how deep into the darkness the game should go. This is also a way for early supporters to get in at a lower price and influence development from the start.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Flarebound will remain in Early Access as long as it needs to reach its full potential — though I’m aiming to keep development focused and scope-controlled. I want to grow the game responsibly without getting stuck in a cycle of never-ending updates. Somewhere between 3-6 months is my plan.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The core gameplay — exploring in darkness, throwing flares, and drawing your path while time is stopped — is already in place. The full version is planned to include more of everything that makes Flarebound shine: additional enemy types, more environmental variety, expanded upgrades, new trap mechanics, and possibly some light story or progression structure. Nothing is promised, but the goal is to expand the challenge and discovery without losing the tight, focused feel.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version includes a fully playable core experience with:

The complete time-stop and path-drawing mechanic
Procedurally generated levels in the dark
Several enemy types, including spiders and snakes
A light upgrade and progression system (flares, helmet light, etc.)
A minimal but atmospheric art style and audio direction
The game is stable and fun — but still evolving in terms of content depth, polish, and balance.

”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Yes. Early Access is available at a lower price to reward early supporters. Once the game leaves Early Access, the price will increase. The Early Access discount will not return after full release, though occasional event-based sales may apply to the full price in the future.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“I’ll be listening closely to player feedback on Steam forums, social media, and through direct messages. I will send out surveys from time to time to make data-driven decisions about game features, what is fun gets improved and what isn't gets cut. ”

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About This Game

You play an archaeologist who has to save all the artefacts deep underground next to an erupting volcano. Because that's what sane explorers do.

Yes you are an archaeologist but no, you do not have a whip, why does everyone ask me that? What would an archaeologist do with a whip?

Once you start digging, the volcano erupts and from here on there is only one way - down.

Deep down flares are your only hope to make it through the darkness. Flarebound is a tactical roguelite. You play in short bursts:

Move: Your archaeologist runs and digs along the path you drew.
Freeze: The world halts automatically - lava hangs, enemies pause, everything stops.
Plan in the Dark: In this calm pocket of frozen time you can throw some of your limited flares and draw the next path for your miner. Or save your flares and draw blindly - but that can have serious consequences.
Resume: Once the path is drawn, time snaps back to life and your archaeologist commits to the path, for better or worse.

Each pause is a small puzzle: Will that flare reveal treasure, a wall of granite, or a waiting spider? Or save flares and just dig? No matter what you do, the lava is always behind you.

Every section ends with a gate that provides random upgrades that will improve your equipment and give you better chances to make it all the way down.

Helm-lamp upgrades, brighter bouncing flares, and path-length boosts become vital as you dig toward harsher biomes filled with snakes, skittering spiders, and stranger predators the deeper you go.

Earn coins, unlock permanent gear, learn how different creatures react to light—and try again.

I am making Flarebound in my spare time after kids’ bedtime, so every update is a labour of late-night love of game development.

Wishlist if you’d like to follow the journey down into the dark.

Key Features

Draw-and-Go Movement
Trace tiles in darkness to plan the way and then watch how it plays out.

Dynamic Flares
Upgrade burn time, radius, stickiness, bounces, pulses, infrared vision, and more.

Dripping Lava Pressure
Constant time limit keeps every choice tense.

Upgrade Gates
Upgrade your archaeologist after each section; pick one of three run-defining perks.

Vault Rooms
Optional side gates with riches unlocked by scarce keys: extra loot vs. valuable seconds.

Treasure Chests
Mid-segment rewards: flares, coins for meta-progression, or keys for vaults.

Pixelated Atmosphere
Retro 2D pixel art, dynamic lighting, and reactive soundscape.

One-More-Run Loop
Permanent upgrades, collectible fossils and more. Just one more dig!

Roadmap to Release

Demo & Next Fest
I will participate in the upcoming "Steam Next Fest" if I manage to get a stable and fun demo together until then.

Early Access
Flarebound will be released at the end of 2025 in Early Access for community-driven balancing and to start the development of new biomes/volcanoes.

1.0 Launch
Date unclear, depends how early access goes and how much time I have, but some time in 2026. When launching the full version you will be able to complete the descent in many volcanoes and have proper Steam integration for achievements and trading cards etc.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

As a single indie developer I had to use AI to help with creating some of the assets for store pages and logos.

System Requirements

Minimum:

OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core i3-7100 or AMD FX-6300
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 / NVIDIA GT 1030 / AMD Radeon R7
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 500 MB available space
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
VR Support: Not supported
Additional Notes: Requires a mouse

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