Planned Release Date: 2026

About This Game

Under the Goldcrest Hills, the gnolls of the Ashmane Clan hold a warren that goes deeper than anyone who went down to look has come back to say. Ashburrow is a third-person action RPG with a roguelite heart: one life a run, a world that remembers where you fell, and a party of up to six to go back down with you.

Every run is one life. When your character falls, the run is over. The gold they carried is banked in full, a headstone marks the spot, and the next character to reach it recovers half of everything the fallen one learned. Banked gold buys tiles on a 34-tile upgrade tree, and each tile you own opens the ones beside it. Start as a Human, Lutrin or Umbrel Champion, Lightbearer or Thief, and work your way toward seven more races, five more classes and permanent perks that carry into every run after.

Play it flat, or play it in a headset — VR is optional. Put on a headset, and the character you have been playing is standing in the world with your weapon in your hand. Swing your arm to strike. Bring your shield up inside a creature's wind-up and the blow is turned aside and the creature staggers, which is a thing you do with your arm rather than with a key. A bow takes both hands: nock the arrow, draw, aim down the string and let go. A caster makes a spell in their free palm, holds it, and throws it.

Every swing is a decision. Blows sweep an arc in front of you and spend endurance, so a flurry is something you commit to. Press hard enough to break a creature's guard and it staggers, taking double damage while it reels; raise a shield to turn a blow aside, or out-reach a gnoll's claws and step back before it answers. Casters prepare spells into runes and sit with the spellbook open to recover, drawing from forty-six spells of healing, warding, charming and ruin.

A world that keeps its own hours. Four connected regions: the Goldcrest Hills, the Ashburrow warren beneath them, the snowbound Frostspire Reach and the Rimehold under its glacier. The creatures that live there keep a day and a night of their own, with ghouls and bats abroad after dark and orcs holding the hills by day. A creature facing away from you never sees you coming, and a thrown rock pulls one gnoll off a camp of three. Now and then, a rare named creature stands where an ordinary one should be.

Ten races, eight classes, and a party to take them down with. Every race plays differently: a Grimalkin's purr heals a resting friend faster, an Irbis pounces for a quarter more on a creature that has not noticed it yet, a Tuskar gets its wind back from every kill worth the fight. Play alone, or host up to six players online with Steam or over LAN by IP address. Friends can join mid-run with the character they are already playing, are raised to the session's level while they stay, and keep everything they find.

Look off the road. Eighteen chests are hidden across the world each run, drawn from forty-six hand-placed spots, so half the places you remember are empty today. Each takes a key and deals a choice of three boons, and the one you take lasts the rest of the run. Illusory walls and hidden levers guard side chambers, and some of what is worth finding sits under water you will have to hold your breath for.

And at the bottom of it all, a dragon. Vorgrath the Cinderwyrm waits in a cavern of lava beneath the burrow, five levels past anything a character can reach. The Eternal Judge holds the top of the Old Keep and the Hollow Jarl rules the Rimehold. Some fights are meant to be taken together.

Feature list

• Third-person action combat: swing arcs, an endurance pool, shields, staggers, critical hits and knockback.

• Roguelite runs: death ends the run, gold is banked in full, and a grave returns half the fallen character's experience to whoever reaches it.

• A 34-tile upgrade tree of races, classes and permanent perks, bought with banked gold.

• 10 races, each with its own trait, and 8 classes, with 3 of each available from the start.

• Co-op for up to 6 players with Steam online or over LAN by IP address, with mid-run joining and level syncing.

• 46 learnable spells prepared into runes, and abilities that improve the more you use them.

• Four connected regions, from a sunlit valley to a gnoll warren, a snowfield and a giants' hold under a glacier.

• A day and night cycle that changes which creatures are abroad.

• 18 hidden chests a run, drawn from 46 hand-placed spots, each dealing a choice of run boons.

• Stealth by facing, thrown rocks to pull a single creature, and hirelings to recruit at the gate.

• 17 named creatures, and bosses beyond the level cap, the Cinderwyrm among them.

• Optional VR: the same game in first person on a streamed PC headset, with the weapon and shield on your own. hands, a bow drawn with both of them, and a spell made in the palm and thrown.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

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

AI was used during development to help with visual and sound effects.