Shadowcrawl: The Dark Pilgrimage

About this game

Every night you are haunted by visions of your death in ancient ruins to hordes of nightmare creatures. The NEXUS, a Hyper-Dimensional Holy Ruin, barrages Dreamers with such visions for years until the nightmares drive them into a mad frenzy.

Seeking to avoid this fate and having learned of these stories, you've hunted down an entrance to the ruins; a rift into the back-stage of reality from which there is no return.



However you've also learned of another story. It is said that from The NEXUS one can access Transcendental Planes of Reality, and that a pilgrimage to the Gods would grant you the ancient secrets of these ruins.

It feels like like you've stood here among the ruins before, all those battles in your dreams... preparing you for the real challenge ahead. The time is now to steel yourself and ENTER THE NEXUS!


Your Experience Points and Skills are not the only things that survive beyond death in Shadowcrawl. Elements of your game world can also be changed in permanent ways that will persist between playthroughs, and some of them even between save files!

Completing quests permanently adds new weapons, armor, and enemies to the game. Unleashing secret mini-bosses and allowing increasingly powerful loot to appear in Gold Chests.

Some quests even replace entire groups of enemies with stronger overpowered ones for the ultimate difficulty spike. Aid Miya the Blood Knight in exterminating the Goblins and you will only succeed in unleashing their true form as all Goblins in your game world are forever replaced by the mighty Orcs! This can be done with every enemy set in the game.



Shadowcrawl is not your standard Roguelike, with quests, cults, factions, multiple endings, unlockable enemies, hidden game modes, secret levels & more! We've taken the classic 80's "Free-Turn" roguelike formula and updated it with modern game design lessons to add layers of depth as well as shift the gameplay focus towards player skill. Because of this, Shadowcrawl is less about luck or collecting loot than it is about strategy.


As you accumulate perks and abilities your character will take on traits that let them adapt more effectively to different features of the maze generator. Forcing you at all times to use spatial awareness of your environment so you can manage the massive swarms of enemies that hunt you in the NEXUS and overcome impossible odds.

STEALTH

Some characters even have the ability to move through the shadows carefully in order to avoid detection. In low to minimal lighting conditions the Shadowmeld Perk makes players much harder to detect and even undetectable if standing quietly in total darkness.

Combine with the Assassin Perk to reap devastating attack bonuses from stealth attacks, or the Maze-Master Perk to keep enemies on their toes.



Shadowcrawl takes place in a dynamic world that is driven by Dark Gods and Occult Forces, all of which can be tampered with. Should a player find and kill the Goddess that governs the Health mechanic, then all characters (enemy and player alike) across all save files (even new characters) will be forever turned into living piles of undead meat! Thrust into a new health based economy they must steal meat from others while protecting their own to survive.

LUNAR CALENDAR

This is just one of the Gods and corresponding Forces in Shadowcrawl. That being said Shadowcrawl also has a functioning Lunar Calendar that detects the current actual phases of the moon! During periods of high lunar energy various in-game characters will attempt to harness this power for their own means. In the best cases this causes in-game events to occur, however some enemies will attempt to enact dangerous, game altering rituals that make Shadowcrawl actually risky to play on nights of high lunar energy!

PAGAN WHEEL OF THE YEAR

Shadowcrawl also celebrates the entire yearly Pagan calendar with special events running every 2-4 weeks. These events reveal hidden features of the game and add special enemies, quests, cults and much more as the balance of power between the Gods ebbs and flows. You can even alter the course of the Wheel by tampering with the natural forces.

CULTS

In Shadowcrawl, various Gods and other powerful entities can be worshipped by the player for massive bonuses. Join cults to gain new perks and powers as well as to access new faction specific quests, enemies & loot. You can even worship some beings in secret without violating existing pacts, if you don't get caught.

CORRUPTION

Betraying the game-world mechanics can release terrifying secret enemies into your game. Things like killing the Omnipotent, collapsing dimensions in on themselves, or just generally warping space-time will unleash the deadly "Glitch" enemies into your game.


Unlike normal enemies, the "Glitches" can jump between your save files and show up in any universe for any character. Worshipping powerful Glitches can even invoke the “Age of Glitches” which affects all save files everywhere and thrusts you into a twisted world of glitched and overpowered enemies.


The “Glitches” can potentially be stopped however,. Killing "Glitches" you have freed will kill them for good, until you unleash some more. If you have freed too many however you might have to seek the aid of a God who can fight the Corruption.

Latest news

• Community & Events·28 Oct 2022Official

  Steam Scream Festival& Samhain Event - The Death of All Things

  Hey I hope everyone is well, it’s been a while as 2021-2022 was a crazy year. But I am back and working on a whole bevy of new updates. Today we are celebrating being a part of the Steam Scream Festival with a discount and a special in-game event. The balance of the Gods has shifted, the power of the Goddess of Life has faded away! Leaving yourself and all other enemies as undying piles of meat. Experience the hidden "Undeath Mode" as the power of the Goddess of Life has faded away. You can steal meat from others but must protect your own causing all characters to be thrust into a deadly health-point economy where all the health in the game moves to the top, and you'd better hope that's you! This game mode changes everything about how status effects, melee attacks, your perk loadouts, elemental damage etc etc works! Take advantage of the powers granted to you in this new world to become the ultimate monster! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31510873/31a2bb2ff66cb8625b6b802b0f6fde88b42e1cc1.png What's worse is a familiar and powerful demon has seized the throne of the Gods and filled the NEXUS with his Demonic spawn! Find your way to Hastur's throne and you will encounter this mighty usurper. The Spawn of Michael now fill the dungeon halls stalking you at every turn, can you repel the tide of demons long enough to survive?
  Read full article on Community Announcements (alex.d.osuna)

• Community & Events·31 Oct 2019Official

  Samhain Event - The Death of All Things

  The balance of the Gods has shifted, the power of the Goddess of Life has faded away! Leaving yourself and all other enemies as undying piles of meat. Experience the hidden "Undeath Mode" as the power of the Goddess of Life has faded away. You can steal meat from others but must protect your own causing all characters to be thrust into a deadly health-point economy where all the health in the game moves to the top, and you'd better hope that's you! This game mode changes everything about how status effects, melee attacks, your perk loadouts, elemental damage etc etc works! Take advantage of the powers granted to you in this new world to become the ultimate monster! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31510873/31a2bb2ff66cb8625b6b802b0f6fde88b42e1cc1.png What's worse is a familiar and powerful demon has seized the throne of the Gods and filled the NEXUS with his Demonic spawn! Find your way to Hastur's throne and you will encounter this mighty usurper. The Spawn of Michael now fill the dungeon halls stalking you at every turn, can you repel the tide of demons long enough to survive?
  Read full article on Community Announcements (alex.d.osuna)

• Announcements·16 Jul 2019Official

  The Full Moon Is Here! (And Many Other Updates)

  https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31510873/8dcdec57b17ae409c83fe3ae992767939251fa0c.jpg Hey everyone we've just finished this year's Midsummer event and we are celebrating Shadowcrawl's first ever Full Moon Lunar Event all day today and tomorrow! As we near the upcoming Shadowcrawl v1.1 update I have been adding so many new features I don't even know where to start so I might as well go with the one I just mentioned first: Lunar Calendar Shadowcrawl now tracks the real lunar phase and will run events on nights of high Lunar Activity (full, half, new moons etc). Lunar Rituals There is a lot of stuff going on during the Lunar events, to the point that it can actually be dangerous to play the game during them: The New Moon - On the night of the New Moon, the Butcher gains the ability to complete his "Undeath Mode" ritual. Upon reaching floor 9 or higher, the player's save data will be altered to activate the dreaded "Undeath Mode." You must then find and kill the Butcher on Floor 10 before the New Moon is over to return your world to normal. WARNING Should you fail to stop the Butcher before the night is over then the only way to deactivate "Undeath Mode" will be by performing a Dark Ritual at a Fountain of Anima. The Full Moon - On the night of the Full Moon the corruption level will be high forcing Glitch enemies to run rampant. This does not affect the player save data though. However should you kill Hastur then the Glitches will stop and give way to much more terrifying occurences. One of several rituals will be selected based on certain player information, each requiring an immediate quest or pilgrimage to prevent. Avatar of Lunacy - Besides the Glitch enemies there will also be Werewolves running rampant during the full moon. The Elder Beasts however seek to invoke a cosmic deity mired in Lunar Energy to create a seemingly "Permanent Full Moon" leaving the NEXUS overrun by Lunatics and open to any number of Dark Rituals. THE END -...
  Read full article on Community Announcements (alex.d.osuna)

• Community & Events·25 Oct 2018Official

  Shadowcrawl Samhain Event!

  https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31510873/7c00393c5159806dc5aeef119dc2ad934216c3d1.jpg Happy Samhain everybody and welcome back! I'm excited to announce that Shadowcrawl is in the heat of its holiday event. The infamaous "Undeath Mode" has been activated, turning everyone everywhere into piles of undead meat and thrusting the world into a "Eat or be Meat" economy where all of the health moves to the top (which had better be you). I've made a huge number of changes with these updates and I'll try to go through a number of them while I'm here Fixed a bug where stun potions didn't work without a weapon equipped. Added a system for selecting ally skills during combat, allowing users with a party to effectively attack twice in one turn. Added the character "Roz" to the Butcher stage. Made the butcher stage act differently while undeath mode is active. Made the nature of "Meat Worship" change while undeath mode is active. Added Rsi to the Shogoth level if you've completed her escort quest. Added Miya to Shub Nug's stage if you've completed her escort quest Fixed a bug where the Demon Michael was invincible and would one-shot players Adjusted the text-boxes to a more user friendly location on screen Added general updates to the functionality of the Samhain event Anyways I'm usually forgetting something but don't worry there will be an entirely new slew of features in the game in the next version too so be sure to keep checking it out and as always feel free to give me any feedback, ideas or suggestions you all might have. Thanks again everyone for playing, I hope you enjoy the Holiday!
  Read full article on Community Announcements (alex.d.osuna)

• Announcements·1 Oct 2018Official

  Major Updates Notes

  https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31510873/3c55ddc35bdbbbe1fe487bfa2e52d2d89c05c9f3.png How's it going everybody? it's been a couple months since launch and I'm really excited to see you all enjoying the game so much. It is definitely a huge passion project to me and something I made just because enjoy playing it so much so it really brings me joy to see that so many other people feel the same way I do about Shadowcrawl. As some of you may have noticed, there has been a constant stream of updates to the game since launch so here I will go into some of the features and fixes that were included in the updates. Shadowcrawl Post Launch Updates Changed how most consumable items work. Changed the Flame Scrolls to shoot a ranged fireball spell. Changed the Stun Potion to be throwable up to 8 tiles. Removed the throwing spike and replaced it with a deployable stun trap. Adjusted all of the stats for all 10 of the Base Mini-Boss enemies (Blood God, Creeping Willow, Goblin King etc). Adjusted Health Stat to Hit Point ratios increasing them for all characters ever so slightly. Dramatically altered how Armor Rating and Defense relate to Damage reduction. Nearly doubling it for Barrier Protection and increasing it somewhat for Health Protection. This has resulted in players being able to manage larger crowds as their Defense hits extreme values later in the game. Performed dramatic general balance fixes all across the board in an attempt to make the combat feel better. Added the Trophy System to the Game as well as the first 5 boss trophies and a sub-menu to interface the trophies that can be accessed from the inventory screen. If you acquire a trophy on a level it now shows you what trophy you've earned at the end of that level. The secret endings used to only depend on player alignment, I've changed them to also require all 5 boss trophies. I made it so lone wall tiles in the maze without any neighbors will be replaced by a "Pillar" graphic spe...
  Read full article on Community Announcements (alex.d.osuna)