The Crooked Ascent is an auto-battle deckbuilder of Chinese cultivation. Combine hundreds of cards that amplify each other, then watch them fight on their own. Easy rules, endless builds. Climb from Qi Refining to ascension on a finite lifespan, among hundreds of scheming cultivators.

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

English language not supported

This product does not have support for your local language. Please review the supported language list below before purchasing

This game is not yet available on Steam

Coming soon

Interested?
Add to your wishlist and get notified when it becomes available.
 

About This Game

Endless builds

Hundreds of techniques, cultivation arts, artifacts and divine powers. No two runs deal you the same hand.

Some players bet everything on a single legendary blade. Others stack a few cards that feed one another into a chain of strikes that will not stop. There is no right answer, only the build you put together this time.

Set it up, then let go

The rules take a minute to read. Before the fight, you arrange the cards. Once it begins, they fight for you.

The same hand in a different order can be a different outcome.

From Qi Refining to Ascension

One life, starting at Qi Refining and climbing realm by realm through Foundation Building, Golden Core and Nascent Soul, all the way to ascension.

Your lifespan is finite. Secluded cultivation, travel, auctions and duels all cost years. When to push for the next realm and where to linger a few more years, every step has to be weighed. Each region unfolds as one great map of fate, crossed with forking roads, and the path is yours to choose. When your years run out, the journey ends.

Six protagonists, hundreds of cultivators

Set out as one of six protagonists. Each has their own origins and something they cannot let go of, and the road slowly unfolds their story.

Your sect has a master who brings you in and fellow disciples you grew up with. Everyone you meet on the road has a name and an agenda of their own: a polite bookkeeper who will lend you years of life, a shill in the auction crowd bidding up the price for the house.

You can climb by any means. But on the day your resolve hits bottom, there is no way back.

Made by one person, updated regularly

This game is developed by a single person. The first playtest is planned once the third major realm is complete. Wishlist it to hear the moment the playtest opens.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

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

This game is made by one person. To make a game of this scope possible for a solo developer, AI tools were used during development: some of the art (e.g. illustrations, backgrounds and visual-effect elements) and some of the music were created with their help. Every piece was reviewed and hand-picked by the developer: most went through several revisions, some through a dozen or more, and anything that fell short was redone from scratch. The game does not generate any content with AI while it is running.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
    • Processor: 64-bit dual-core
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: OpenGL 3.3 compatible
    • Storage: 10 GB available space
    Minimum:
    • Requires an Apple processor
    • OS: macOS 12
    • Processor: Apple Silicon or Intel (Universal)
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Storage: 10 GB available space