GrimKeep

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• Announcements·28 Aug 2026Official

  #8 August Devlog: Alpha Test Results

  #8 Devlog: Alpha Test ResultsHello everyone,This month we had our first ever alpha playtest and Henrik has made a great summary of our learnings and where we go from here. Enjoy! About the Alpha VersionWe did an alpha test of GrimKeep during August. We invited around 50 people, who selected primarily on the basis of them being fans of the roguelite and deckbuilder genres. For an intense two weeks, they played GrimKeep with no particular instructions other than "please play our game". We're extremely grateful to everyone who took the time to play and report feedback. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!The test version contained most of the gameplay features and content we think/thought the game needs for launch. The biggest things missing from the game at that point was a larger set of random encounters, and the player directed progression system (more on that below).The game version at the time had around seven encounters, and we have since added a lot more. David made a tool that makes it easier to implement new ones, so going forward the process of adding more will be much smoother.A Note on Player ProgressionIn terms of the progression system, I called it "player directed progression" earlier, as we already had one progression system in place, but it wasn't apparent to the player. The game has 180+ items that you can use to build your own strategies, but not all of those items are available from the start. The unlock system works by having a starting pool of items where items are drawn at random as post-combat rewards. Once you reach the second map, they're also drawn from a pool tied to that map. Any items you put in your inventory will be 'unlocked', i.e. part of the starting pool. The more you play and use items, the more of them will be available when you start a run. This gradually expands your possible synergies.At this point, we're almost done with the player directed progression. This is a somewhat traditional earn-points-and-unlock-upgrades system, but we...
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• Announcements·23 Jul 2026Official

  #7 July Devlog: What Happens When You Die?

  Hello there,In this month’s devlog we’ll cover what happens when you’re defeated and how Death’s Die might grant you a perk.The Cyclical RogueA roguelite is generally more of a system than a game world. What you explore is the optimization of tools, powers, or rules, rather than a narrative and a fictional world. The setting, story, and art is the backdrop, the scenery. The fiddly gamey bits are the actors, the play. Sure, there is an audio-visual journey and a big boss at the end, but the actual experience is finding all those little bits of game design and seeing what it does.It is this distinction that makes it enjoyable to repeat the game from the start, over and over again. GrimKeep can be "beaten" the first time around, with luck and skill. But to enjoy all the combinations of play that can be found, you'll have to play more than once. Most of you probably know this from playing other games in the genre and to us game designers, this is intentional. It's a reasonable and proven design pattern, maybe even the very core of roguelites. BUT; every defeated player character, every 'death' if you will, is a very common exit point in the player journey.. It's a source of 'churn', i.e. players quitting. Playing DeathWe wanted to try to bridge the gap between defeat and starting a new run. So what do you do? What gameplay is there when you're dead? We were inspired by the Swedish cult legacy movie ‘The Seventh Seal’. The iconic scene portrays a knight asking Death to play a game of chess for a chance at a continued life. Maybe that’s what got us to add a die roll with Death’s Die in GrimKeep. This die might let you continue with full health, or give you various boons for the next game, or simply give you nothing if you're unlucky.The iconic scene from 'The Seventh Seal'.In the first version, Henrik wanted a new take on the character ‘Death’. It ended up being an art-nouveau illustration, albeit darker and less flowery. We like the character, but once it was in the game...
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• Announcements·13 Jul 2026Official

  GrimKeep Gameplay Overview Video

  Let's check out how you play GrimKeep, a roguelite dicebuilder set in a grimdark world!
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• Announcements·7 Jul 2026Official

  Join the Alpha Playtest!

  After a lot of hard work, we're finally at a stage where we can let some players through the gates of GrimKeep. We want to invite you to share your feedback and impact the development.If you like roguelites, deckbuilders, and engineering your way through tough challenges, this might be right up your alley.The alpha starts later in July, and selected playtesters will be contacted with more info. Sign up here!Hope to see you there! — The GrimKeep Team
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• Announcements·25 Jun 2026Official

  #6 June Devlog: Anatomy of a Fight

  Hello again, we're back, again... :P We haven't shared a lot about the GrimKeep gameplay, so let's take a look at the basics. GrimKeep Gameplay You traverse a world via a node map. You'll recognize this style of map from other games in the genre. The majority of nodes on this map will be combats, but there will also be random encounters, various shops, and the much needed recovery of a campfire. (Concept art of the upcoming map iteration)The meat and the beating heart of this game is of course the combats. You, the battle-weary and worn hero, have to face many enemies and defeat them one at a time. As you progress towards the central castle of this corrupted, fallen city, the monsters grow increasingly difficult. You will have to build up your power with the items you find along the way. Do it well enough, and your power grows at a rate to match the enemies, and you will be able to reach the final boss. The combat starts out simple enough. You have 5 dice, that you will roll and re-roll, to achieve a "Combo". These Combos will be familiar to most from games like Yatzy and Poker; pairs, straights, of-a-kind, and so on. The combos give you points that go into your attack, together with the points on the dice. This score will be multiplied by a "Mult", as the final step before dealing you damage to the enemy. Before that Mult however, you might also have "Items" in a small inventory. If you gather these items well, they'll interact with the components of the game, increasing various scores and the Mult, to deal higher and higher damage. There are a few other minor pointsThe enemy will show you what they'll do after your attack. Commonly attack you back, or do a special type of attack somehow. This might affect your decisions. (Enemy will attack you for 40 in its round)The dice you didn't submit in attack will be used in defense, counting combos and dice points in a similar way. You can also fully defend. (Pair left for defense and a Three of a kind used for attack) You...
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