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Run of the Nine
A serene but tense Sudoku roguelike. Draft powerful relics, unlock unique character classes, and solve evolving grids under strict HP constraints as you journey through stylized Japanese gardens. Blends meditative puzzle-solving with high-stakes, risk-reward roguelike strategy.

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Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔
German ✔

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?

“While our core Sudoku roguelike loop, 8 distinct classes, and major gameplay modes are fully implemented and functional, we want to involve players to help refine the delicate balance of our structural modifiers and relic combinations. Early Access allows us to gather vital gameplay feedback on high-level difficulty layers (like Floor 3+ modifier stacking) while we prepare first-class integrations for platform features like Steam Cloud save and achievements.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We expect to remain in Early Access for approximately 6 to 12 months. This timeline will give us ample time to optimize the generation pipeline algorithms on varied hardware configurations, expand our built-in puzzle selections, and incorporate community feedback into the final balancing and progression systems.”

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

“The full version is planned to be a more robust, polished, and fully integrated experience. Our target roadmap includes:

Deeper onboarding tutorials covering advanced mechanics like relic-stacking, curses, and pressure waves.
Fully integrated platform services, including verified Steam achievements and Steam Cloud save support.
Enhanced custom puzzle creator features, with potential external file import/export capabilities.
Fine-tuned puzzle generation budgets and optimizations for seamless play on a broader range of hardware (including portable devices).
Expanded catalogs of procedural music styles, sound effects, and additional visual palettes.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version is already incredibly featured and fully playable. It includes:

The complete core gameplay loop across 5 unique garden floors with beautiful ambient pixel art animations.
8 unique playable classes with progression mechanics, custom passives, and persistence across three local save slots.
Over 30 modifiers, positive floor effects, curses, relics, and shops to create dense roguelike replayability.
A built-in solver system supporting boards from 5x5 up to 9x9, including standard rectangular, alternate, and highly irregular jigsaw layouts.
Professional English and German localizations fully supported at runtime.”

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

“Yes. To reward our early supporters who help us shape the game, we will launch at a lower promotional price. We plan to moderately increase the price at the official 1.0 release to reflect the additional content, features, and platform integrations implemented during Early Access.”

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

“Community feedback is at the heart of our balancing loop! We will actively monitor player run scores, progression data, and general impressions through our Steam Community Hub and Discord. Player feedback on modifier synergy, class passives, and accessibility scaling (especially text scaling/German translation formats) will directly drive our balance adjustments and priority roadmap.”
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About This Game

## ABOUT THIS GAME

Run of the Nine is a serene but tense Sudoku roguelike journey through five stylized Japanese garden spaces.

Step onto the branching gravel paths of Zen gardens, seek quiet wisdom, and face the guardian spirits of the thresholds. In this journey, every solved Sudoku board is a deeper step into a Kyoto-inspired landscape of raked sand, mossy stones, and quiet waters. But do not let the tranquil scenery deceive you—underneath the elegance lies a game of strict mechanical pressure, where every mistake chips away at your vitality, and your pencilmarks are finite.

Will you complete the offering at the summit, or will the garden reclaim your spirit?

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### KEY FEATURES

  • A Roguelike Sudoku Journey: Navigate through 5 distinct garden floors, deciding between Calm or Risk routes. Encounter branching paths filled with standard puzzles, shrines with relic choices, cursed altars, merchant shops, rest areas, and high-intensity Elite nodes.

  • Progressive Board Evolution: Face boards that evolve in real-time. Puzzles scale from compact 5x5 boards on Floor 1 all the way up to complex 9x9 layouts on Floor 5. Swap between standard grids, alternate rectangular boxes, and highly irregular Jigsaw/Irregular templates.

  • 8 Playable Classes with Unique Passives: Unlock and level up different tactical archetypes, each bringing their own HP pool, starting pencilmarks, relic slots, and powerful passive traits to change how you approach the grid.

  • Risk-Reward Stacking & Cursed Altars: Accept voluntary curses at dark altars for massive score/gold payouts—or play safe. Face up to 5 modifier constraints simultaneously at boss gates where you select your path's difficulty.

  • Calm Aesthetics, Tense Rules: Enjoy a beautifully minimal, high-frame-rate pixel art landscape with looping ambient effects (drifting bamboo petals, lantern glows, water ripples) and a synthesis-built atmospheric soundtrack—contrasted with a strict combo-streak scoring system that resets the moment you slip up.

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### THE SCENIC PATHS YOU WILL WALK...

  • Floor 1: Bamboo Courtyard — Tread upon raked sand and pass through bamboo gates with patient, meditative opening puzzles.

  • Floor 2: Moss Garden— Seek reflection beside quiet koi ponds where water ripples match the peaceful rhythm of your solves.

  • Floor 3: Koi Terrace— Cross ancient wooden bridges over bottomless black waters mirroring structural patterns.

  • Floor 4: Stone Lantern Walk — Feel the thermal crimson glow of autumn lanterns as tactical pressure mounts.

  • Floor 5: Shrine Summit — Transcend the mists and make your final offering to the ancient summit spirit guardian.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

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

I used generative AI tools (specifically Fooocus) to help paint and generate my static 2D game backgrounds and concept/icon art. I also utilized AI-collaboration platforms to assist with audio synthesis composition and programming codebase layouts. All generated assets were fully curated, conceptualized, and processed under my own direct creative control and creative direction before building.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
    • Processor: Intel Core i3 or AMD equivalent (with SSE2 instruction set support)
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: DirectX 10 capable GPU (Shader Model 4.0+)
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
    • VR Support: N/A
    • Additional Notes: Optimized for 16:9 aspect ratios. Playable on integrated graphics.
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
    • Processor: Intel Core i5 or AMD equivalent
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 / AMD Radeon HD 7850 or better
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
    • VR Support: N/A
    • Additional Notes: Optimized for 16:9 aspect ratios. Playable on integrated graphics.
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