Before the Pyre

The village you save may be the one that turns you in.

Before the Pyre is a single-player, turn-based card strategy game set in a medieval world of plague, war, and witch hunts. Lead a secret coven, study forbidden magic, and navigate dangerous politics to keep your witches alive.

Study forbidden magic

Study forbidden books and experiment with ingredients to discover potions and rituals across six schools of magic. Heal the sick, hide allies, alter memories, or bargain with ancient spirits. Each discovery offers new ways through a crisis. Using that power can expose those you protect.

Lead your coven

Decide who studies, who gathers next week’s supplies, and who risks leaving the refuge. Each witch has her own talents, loyalties, and limits. Settle disputes and weigh the coven’s needs against promises to its members. Their trust, freedom, and lives depend on your choices.

Stay ahead of the hunt

A witness, a strange wound, a forbidden object: small traces can become a case against one of your witches. Investigate accusations, challenge evidence, seek political protection, or plan a prison break. Establish safe houses and relocate when a refuge is no longer safe. An investigator’s death does not erase their records.

Make allies. Bear the cost.

Villages need medicine. Nobles need support. Priests may offer protection at a price. Trade supplies, secrets, and promises for help. Choose which debts to honor, demands to refuse, and enemies you can afford. Plague, famine, crusades, and succession struggles can upend every agreement.

Shape your coven’s future

Choose from three origins and pursue one of five main ending paths. Keep your knowledge hidden, negotiate a place in society, found a realm for witches, or seek power beyond the human world. The people you protect, discoveries you make, and commitments you take on shape your coven’s future.

Keep them alive. Give them a future.