Wyrmhold

Wyrmhold

A fortress grown out of a crag, and a dragon sits at the top of it. Every run is a road up through its holdings: the forest at its base, the caves in the mountain, the crypt beneath it, the cemetery at its walls, and at last the castle itself. You walk the rooms in first person and choose your path. How you fair is decided by the cards and how you use them.

Combat

Turn-based and card-driven, and every card you play is a blow your hero actually throws. A slash is a slash, a shield raised is a shield raised, a fireball leaves the staff and lands. Enemies telegraph their intent a turn ahead; you answer with the hand you drew. Block, Bleed, Burn, Strength, Weak, Vulnerable and each hero's own trick decide who is standing when the dust settles.

Four heroes, four decks

• The Warrior absorbs punishment and gives it back. Sword and shield, and the only hero who heals between fights.

• The Elf takes an extra action every turn and has far too little health to waste one. Twin daggers, throwing knives and a longbow; feints that make the enemy miss.

• The Valkyrie begins every fight already braced, and profits from being swung at. Spear and shield, a parry that stops a blow whole and answers it, and wounds that bleed.

• The Wizard draws a sixth card every turn and hits hardest per card. Fire that burns, illusions that miss, and a spell that melts an enemy's armour into damage.

Die, draft, climb again

Every fight won offers a card to your deck. Every level cleared makes the next one harder, and carries half of what you built into it. Chests, potions and trinkets along the way; a boss at the end of every level, some with more than one life to take; and the wyrm at the top.

What you get

• First-person dungeon crawling between card fights: rooms you walk, doors you choose, things you break open.

• Every card animated on the hero and on the enemy it hits.

• Four heroes with distinct decks, mechanics and weapons.

• Procedurally assembled runs no two the same.

• Unique and punishing Bosses.

• Permadeath runs with card drafting between fights.