Planned Release Date: Feb 16, 2027

About This Game

The Root took the coven. Five witches climbed back out.

Something old woke under the coven's hill and put down roots. It took the chapel first, then the bridge, then the wood, and the sisters who tried to stop it became its gardeners. Five witches got out. Each of them lost someone to the briar. Each of them is going back in.

Coven of Thorns is a dark-fantasy roguelike deckbuilder with one twist at its heart: you never climb alone. Your familiar is a second fighter with his own cards, his own turn and his own grudge, and the Root's children know exactly who to hunt first.

Five witches. Five ways to climb.

Every witch has her own starting deck, sigil and card pool, and a familiar who fights beside her.

• Morwenna Blackthorn, the Hexcrafter, with Vesper the ash cat. Her hexes rot; her cat finishes what they start.
  
• Isolde Vey, the Gatekeeper, with Grimald the armored toad. Her thorns are a wall; what pricks her feeds her.
  
• Seraphine Lull, the Siren, with Nightingale the bone bird. She doesn't fight the Root's children; she makes them fight each other.
  
• Kezia Ashgrove, the Pyromancer, with Cinder the ember fox. She burned her own grimoire and fights from memory, a page at a time.
  
• Nyx Hollowell, the Beastmistress, with Ursk the scarred bear. Barely a caster; she doesn't need to be.

Two fighters, one bond

After your witch acts, your familiar draws his own hand and spends his own energy: scratches, pounces, hisses and ambushes that set up or finish what the witch began. Charms and cards let the two feed each other, and the strongest builds make them inseparable.

The Root knows it. Hounds bred to hunt familiars go for him first. If he falls, your witch is wracked with Grief: more Power, but every card costs more. Keep him alive, or make the Root pay for taking him.

Three acts of thorns and candlelight

• Act I - The Cursed Wood: Rotlings, root hounds and bramble swarms under a canopy that hasn't seen the sun in years.
  
• Act II - The Thorn Bridge: Drowned acolytes, bog nuns and the Lantern Nun, who still prays. It still answers.
  
• Act III - The Candle Chapel: A thousand candles, wax ghouls, the Wax Matron, and the Gardener at the altar.

Nine floors on a branching map of fights, elites, events, merchants, treasure and campfires. You choose the path. Every run is a new map.

What's in the run

• Build your deck from each witch's own card pool; unlock more by cutting bosses.
  
• Charms that change the rules: Lover's Knot feeds your familiar energy, Wax Doll heals when he falls, and dozens more.
  
• Enemy intents on every creature, with passives you can read before you commit a card.
  
• Events and curses: bargains in the dark. Some give; some leave Doubt in your deck.
  
• Standard, Daily and Custom climbs: your own map, the day's seeded map everyone races, or a seed you share with a friend.
  
• Ascension: every victory adds teeth and new cards to find.
  
• Compendium and Records: every card, charm and creature you've met, plus your runs, wins and best times.
  
• Full controller support and text sized for Steam Deck.

Free demo February 2

Climb the Cursed Wood with two witches before launch. Demo progress carries into the full game.

Developed and published by Revenant Machine, Austin, Texas.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

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

Coven of Thorns uses generative AI tools during development to assist artists in the pre-visualization: character and creature portraits, and some marketing images and trailer animation. All generated assets are selected, edited, composited and integrated by the Revenant Machine team before they ship. Game design, code, writing and card rules are authored by hand. The game does not generate any content with AI while you play.