The Deep Calls

Beneath the earth, every path leads deeper.

The Deep Calls is a turn based Lovecraftian roguelite Dungeon Crawler built around deeply customizable heroes, punishing expeditions, and lasting consequences. Choose a Quest, assemble a party of up to three heroes, and enter a branching dungeon filled with monsters, treasure, strange encounters, and dangerous bargains.

Once you descend, there is no retreat. The only way home is through the dungeon Boss.

Shape Heroes Beyond a Single Class

Every hero can follow one of three distinct Disciplines, each offering a different starting skill set, combat role, and permanent bonus. Turn the same hero into a stalwart protector, reckless damage dealer, status specialist, healer, or something stranger.

As heroes progress, you can:

• Unlock new Skills and powerful signature Powers.

• Upgrade Skills and attributes using a shared pool of XP.

• Mix learned abilities into custom combat loadouts.

• Equip Weapons, Armor, Helms, and Charms with powerful benefits and dangerous drawbacks.

• Carry a limited selection of consumables into each expedition.

• Build around two Traits that alter stats, change individual Skills, or demand sacrifices in exchange for greater power.

No hero is confined to a single role. Their Discipline provides the foundation. Everything you unlock, equip, and endure determines what they ultimately become.

Forge Effects Together

The Forge is a system for combining mechanics and creating items that could not otherwise exist.

Place two forgeable consumables on the anvil to create a Strong Item containing the effects of both components. Combine different items to produce a flexible tool with multiple effects, or hammer identical components together to intensify their original effect. Strong Items can be returned to the Forge and combined again at a greater Gold cost, allowing valuable effects to be condensed into a single inventory slot.

Equipment can also be fused. The piece placed on the left side of the anvil determines the resulting Equipment type. The finished item inherits the full mechanical effects of both components, including stat bonuses, special triggers, resistances, penalties, and self inflicted consequences.

Transfer an Armor's resilience into a Weapon. Combine two complementary effects into the centerpiece of a specialized build. Stack raw power while accepting every drawback that came with it.

The Forge preserves the bad along with the good. Forged Equipment cannot be reforged, and certain rare objects cannot be placed on the anvil. Every final strike of the hammer matters.

Fight Alone and as a Party

Combat changes depending on what waits behind the next door.

Basic enemies are faced by your currently selected hero alone, testing the strength and independence of individual builds. Elite enemies and dungeon Bosses call the entire party into battle.

During party combat, heroes act in the order you arranged them before the enemy takes its turn. Party order determines when damage lands, when protection becomes available, and whether a wounded ally survives long enough to act.

Use direct attacks, defensive Skills, healing, party buffs, enemy debuffs, and damage over time effects such as Bleed, Burn, and Blight. Build Block to absorb incoming damage, strengthen persistent defenses, manipulate resistances, and combine hero abilities into strategies that no single character could execute alone.

Choose the Next Door

Each dungeon unfolds through branching corridors. Scouting can reveal what lies ahead, but many paths remain uncertain until you commit.

Your descent may lead to:

• Solo and party combat.

• Terrifying Horrors.

• Camps and opportunities to recover.

• Treasure caches and Equipment.

• Merchants, surgeons, and black market traders.

• Strange events with lasting rewards or consequences.

• A final dungeon Boss barring the way home.

Your supplies are limited, health persists between battles, and the safest looking path is not always the one your current party is built to survive.

Accept Quests or Embrace the Challenge

Before embarking, choose a Quest or Challenge that changes what the expedition demands of you.

Quests introduce additional objectives. Defeat extra Horrors, avoid healing items, reach the boss in perfect condition, fight without Equipment, or deliver the final blow through damage over time. Success brings valuable rewards, while failure may cost Gold, XP, or other resources.

Challenges alter the dungeon itself. Enemies may begin with additional Strength, Block, regeneration, or resistances. Your heroes may enter every battle Bleeding, Blighted, Weakened, or starved of resources. Greater risks create new build problems and new reasons to return to the Forge.

Defeating dungeon bosses increases the Quest Level, strengthening future enemies and pushing your roster toward the Chapter Boss waiting below.

Return Home If You Can

Between expeditions, return to the haunted house and prepare for the next descent.

Train heroes in the Gym, grow consumables in the Garden, purchase supplies and equipment, exchange unwanted Traits, unlock new Skills and Powers, and bring hard won loot to the Forge. Every successful expedition expands the possibilities available for the next party.

Heroes are not disposable pieces. When a hero dies, their unlocks and upgrades are lost, and they must be found again before they can return to your roster.

Build boldly. Forge carefully. When the Deep calls, make sure the heroes you created are ready to answer.