v3.98 — The road folds wider
Teleport Scrolls do more than reach the havens now. Open the map and tap any place you have already been — town, ruin, or boss-gate — to fold the road straight to it. And when you fall, you can recall to your remains: from the map travel bar, or right off the death screen, tear a scroll to step back where you died and reclaim what you dropped. One scroll a jump, from level 10, as before.
v3.97 — Temper the mind
The Mastery now lets you pour surplus Skill Points into Max MP as well — Temper Focus, +9 Max MP per point — alongside Strength, Intellect, Agility, and Max HP, at the altar or wherever you spend.
v3.96 — The pack, at full height
The familiars are redrawn at four times the detail — the ember wisp, the hound, the dusk raven, the water-sprite, the drakes and the solar wyrm, the warg and the direwolf, the shade-winged thing, and the crowned owl of the Night Sovereign. Each was rebuilt inside its own colours, so every tamed variant that borrows their shape — the Hollow Mote, the Marrow Hound, the Voidling and the rest — takes the new detail too. That completes the art: every sprite a player sees up close now stands at full height.
v3.95 — The faces, with more care
A second pass on the portraits. Each face is properly sculpted now — light on the brow and cheek, shadow at the jaw and under the brow — and framed by hood or hair rather than floating bare. The elder, the green witch, the blind seer, the visored warden, the mourning widow, and the rest read as people again, only larger and clearer.
v3.94 — The faces, redrawn
Everyone you speak with is redrawn at four times the detail. Elder Maren grey at the beard, the green witch under her hat, the blindfolded seer, the visored warden, the veiled widow, the capped merchant, scarred Voss, the masked bandit, the hooded dark-mage with his burning eyes, and the cracked stone face that watches the dark. The portraits stand larger now to carry it.
v3.93 — The whole bestiary, at full height
Every creature and every named foe — all seventy-nine — is redrawn again at four times the detail, to match the heroes. Shadowed knights with shaded plate and visored helms, hooded shades over woven robes, the deep horrors with their many eyes, the colossi, the stags, the burning motes, the wyrm. They stand larger and clearer in the dark now. (The grid icons — gear, items, gems — stay as they were; they are never shown large enough to gain from it.)
v3.92 — The Ashbound, at full height
The three classes — and their ascended forms — are redrawn at four times the detail. The Embermage stands hooded over a burning sigil, ember-staff in hand; the Ashblade bears a greatsword down its plate; the Duskwalker moves under a wind-thrown cloak with paired blades. Promote, and each comes into its full power: the Cinderlord crowned in flame, the Emberbrand gold-clad with a molten blade, the Nightstalker crowned in cold light. The heroes now carry the same weight of detail as the world around them.
v3.91 — The bestiary, finished
The art pass reaches the last of the bestiary. Every named foe and boss — the wardens and graveknights, the duelists, the hooded shades and the lich, the deep horrors and the things beyond, the colossi and the slag-brute, the Reach kings, the stags, the wyrm, the treant, and the little burning motes — was still drawn at the old small size while the common creatures had been redrawn. All seventy are now redrawn at full size, in the same hand as the rest. The dark is fully illustrated.
v3.90 — The deep places, at last
A buried bug undone. Thirteen of the deepened scenes — the Ashen Verge, the mended sky, the wastes, the gilt, the spire, the gloammoor and its lantern-edge, the forge, the trial-grounds, the unmaking, and the rest — were being quietly overwritten by their old flat versions and never showed. They show now. Cross the Verge or stand beneath the mended sky and you will finally see them as they were meant to be.
v3.89 — True colours
Two scene fixes. The time-of-day light — dusk, dawn, and the Hollow Night — was shifting every colour as it dimmed, which turned the new deep-dark places a sickly green and bent the others off their proper hues. The light now only darkens and cools; each place keeps the colour it was painted. And the things that stand in a place — the shards, shrines, market stalls, bounty boards, haven fires, and the braziers of a boss — have all been redrawn to match the deepened world.
v3.88 — Every place its own
Until now, fourteen of the world’s regions all wore the same haven’s face. No longer. The burning emberwood, the cinder hollow, the great forge, the ashen wastes, the lone spire, the misty gloammoor and its lantern-lit edge, the gilded ruins, the lastlight beacon, the mended haven, the trial-grounds, the unmaking, the verge of the world, and the dreaming dark — each has been given its own sky, its own ground, and its own things standing in the dusk. Every node you can stand on now looks like the place it claims to be.
v3.87 — The places, deepened
Every place in the world has been given depth. The flat sky is now a true gradient; the broken sun burns with a halo; a hazy ridge sits far behind the near one, with mist along the horizon and shadow drawing close in the foreground. Each biome carries its own detail — lantern-lit huts in the havens, reeds and still water in the mire, layered ridges and lava in the peaks, drowned columns in the ruins, the violet-lit throne, and the ember-glow of the deep caves. The same places you knew, seen with new eyes.
v3.86 — The chambers of the hold
The last sprites hiding in the stronghold are redrawn — the Vault, the Forge’s anvil, the Reliquary, and the War Table — brought up to full detail to match the chambers that already wear the new hand. With this, every drawn object in the game has been reforged. What remains is not sprites at all, but the places themselves: deepening the scenes of the world.
v3.85 — Cut and claimed
Two stragglers from the old art are fixed. Gems are now cut and faceted, each its own colour — ruby red, sapphire blue, emerald green, garnet, citrine, sunstone — instead of sharing one stone. And the trophy relics dragged back from the deep places now show a proper trophy, not a stand-in. With that, every drawable thing in the game wears the new hand.
v3.84 — Every last thing
The rest of your satchel has been redrawn at full detail — potions, shards, keys, runes, ore and iron, ash and dust, pelts, books, scrolls, torches, the cook-pot and alchemy kit, and the odd relic — the last of the small icons brought up to match the armoury. With this, every sprite in the world has been reforged. What remains is to deepen the places themselves.
v3.83 — Your pack, reforged
Every familiar has been redrawn at full detail — the ember-wisp, the hounds and wargs, the duskraven, the drakes, the fae sprite, the solar wyrm, the direwolf, the shadewing and the night sovereign — each shape now larger and sharper in the menagerie and at your side, and every colour-variant beast that shares its form is reforged with it. Only the last of the small item icons remain before the art pass is whole.
v3.82 — The faces of the havens
The folk you meet have been redrawn at full detail — Elder Maren, the witch, the seer, the warden, the old man, the widow, the merchant, Voss, the woman, the bandit, the dark mage and the weathered statue — each a proper portrait now, in dialogue and standing in the world. The art pass is nearly through: familiars and the last of the item icons remain.
v3.81 — Things in the dark
Every beast has been redrawn at full detail — the drifting ember-wisp, the loping hound, the clawed ghoul, the coiled serpent, the tattered wraith, the armoured revenant, the ravenous maw, the hollow knight and the crowned sovereign — the shapes shared by every creature you meet, from the havens to the deep. They now loom larger and meaner in battle and in the bestiary. Next the art pass turns to the folk of the havens.
v3.80 — The Ashbound, redrawn
Your hero has been redrawn from scratch at full detail — all three callings (the hooded Embermage cradling its fire, the iron Ashblade with its rune-lit brand, the shrouded Duskwalker and its paired knives) and their Ascended forms, each crowned and gilded to match its risen power. Same grim hand as the new armoury. The folk of the havens and the beasts of the dark are next in the art pass.
v3.79 — The armoury, reforged
Every piece of equipment has been redrawn from the ground up at four times the old detail — weapons, armour, shields, helms, crowns, rings, amulets and the legendary and Sovereign sets all rendered in full, with deep shading, sharp highlights and the grim hand of the world. Each still takes its own colour by rarity and material. This is the first wave of a larger art pass; your hero, the folk of the havens, the beasts of the dark and the rest of your pack are next.
v3.78 — Armour & boots, properly drawn
A second pass on armour and boots — redrawn larger and with real shading. Plate now reads as a true cuirass: pauldrons, collar, a worked chestplate and gold belt; cloth as a draped, hooded robe with a sash and folded skirt; and boots as a single angled leather boot with a cuff, buckle and sole. Heavier detail, deeper shadows and brighter highlights, each still coloured by its own rarity and material.
v3.77 — Better armour & boots
More of the loot redrawn. Body armour now reads as real gear — plate cuirasses with shoulders, a collar and a belted waist; cloth and light pieces as belted tunics with a proper hem — and boots are a clean pair of cuffed leather with soles instead of the old smudge. Each piece still takes its own colour by rarity and material, in the grim hand of the rest of the world.
v3.76 — Tidier familiar panel
Small fix: the Dismiss and Name buttons on the familiar panel were crowding the stats. They now sit on their own line, clear of the name and damage readout.
v3.75 — The wyrm, for real this time
A fix: the redrawn familiars from v3.74 weren’t actually reaching the screen — an older sprite layer was quietly overriding them at load, so your companions still wore their old shapes. That override is gone. Every familiar and each evolved form now renders in its proper redrawn likeness, at full size, with its own colours.
v3.74 — Call them by name
Your familiars were redrawn once, and it wasn’t enough. Now every one is built from scratch at full showcase size — the same scale as your hero — so the Ember Wisp, the hounds and wargs, the drakes, and the great corvids read clear in the Menagerie instead of as smudges. And they’re truly yours now: name any familiar from the Menagerie or your sheet, and it carries that name into battle. Two older oversights are mended too — runes are clay tablets again, keyed ember-orange, iron-grey or venom-green by their kind, and leg armour finally wears the same grim plate-and-shadow hand as the rest of your gear.
v3.73 — Nothing left unforged
The reforging is finished. The last items have been redrawn — the legendary Sovereign relics, the forged sets, and every material, key, and oddment in your bag now wear the grim hand of the world. And your familiars are reforged too: every companion and each of its evolved forms, from the Ember Wisp and its Solar Wyrm to the Dusk Raven’s Night Sovereign, redrawn to stand beside you in the same style as the world they fight through. Hero, kin, foe, gear, and familiar — one look, top to bottom.
v3.72 — Every blade and bauble
The art pass reaches the last of it: your gear and loot. Weapons, armour, shields, helms, robes, rings, charms, potions, ores, and the rest have been redrawn with the grim outline-and-shadow hand of the world, and the whole item palette has been pulled down out of its old brightness into something darker and more cohesive. Every piece still takes its own colour, so your hoard stays as varied as ever — just grimmer. The legendary Sovereign relics keep their unique forms. That completes the reforging: hero, kin, bestiary, and gear all share one look now.
v3.71 — The bestiary reforged
The art pass reaches the rest of the bestiary. Every creature in the game — from the cinder motes and gloom hounds of the early road to the drowned wardens, glass-wrights, hollow seraphs, and the Crownless dead of the deep — has been redrawn in the grim, detailed hand of the rest of the world. Beasts, specters, skeletons, liches, wardens, golems, and the things with too many eyes now share one cohesive look. Gear is the last to be reforged.
v3.70 — The bestiary stirs
The creatures begin to change. The first beasts you meet on the road have been reforged in the same grim, detailed hand as the rest of the world — the ember wisp, the gaunt hound, the clawing ghoul, the coiled serpent, the hooded wraith, and the skeletal revenant. The deeper bestiary still wears its old skin for now; more will be reforged in waves, and then the gear after that.
v3.69 — The faces of Ashvale
The art pass continues. Every person you meet has been redrawn in the same grim, detailed hand as your own kind — Elder Maren and the hooded folk of the square, the witch, the seer, the warden in his helm, the weeping statue, and the colder faces you meet on the road. Creatures and gear are next to be reforged.
v3.68 — The shape of power
The three classes have been refined further — and now your form changes when you ascend. Where once you bore the plain look of an apprentice, knight, or scout, ascension reforges you: the Cinderlord’s crown of flame and fire-wreathed hands, the Emberbrand’s horned helm and molten greatsword, the Nightstalker’s deeper shroud and twin glowing blades. Your portrait now sits at the top of your character sheet and changes the moment you ascend.
v3.67 — A grimmer face
The first of a long art pass. The three classes have been redrawn with far more detail and a darker, grimmer cast — a hooded Cinderlord cradling an ember, an iron Emberbrand with a rune-lit blade, a shrouded Nightstalker and his paired knives. More of the world — its folk, its monsters, and its loot — will be reforged in this style over the coming updates.
v3.66 — Mana has weight again
Spells now draw mana in proportion to your power. Early on, nothing changes — but as your mana pool grows, your spells cost more to match, so even deep into the dark a cast is a decision, not a reflex. Ascended sustain still mends a little mana each turn, yet no longer enough to fuel an endless barrage. When the well runs low, raise your guard to catch your breath, or carry a draught.
v3.65 — No turning back, lightly
Beginning a New Game+ now asks you to confirm first. It is an irreversible step — you keep everything you have earned, but the tale resets to the first dark and the world grows harder — so a tap no longer commits you by accident. Choose Walk it again to begin the next cycle, or Not yet — there is more to find to stay where you are.
v3.64 — Readable in the dark
Two combat-screen fixes for the deep end. When you face several foes at once, their HP readouts no longer run together — each stays inside its own card. And your gold no longer spills off the edge of the screen once it climbs into the millions. Very large numbers are now shown compactly (26.9K, 1.01M) wherever space is tight, so the HUD stays legible no matter how deep you’ve gone or how much you’ve hoarded.
v3.63 — The kit, set right
A pass over the equipment screen. Two trinkets now equip and display correctly — the second was landing, but the screen wasn’t refreshing to show it. Your backpack now groups gear by type — Weapons, Armor, Legs, Helmets, Boots, and the rest under their own headings — so finding a piece is quick. Tap an empty equipment slot and your pack opens filtered to exactly that kind of gear — tap an empty trinket slot and you see only trinkets. And crowns are helmets now: the Crown of the First Dark, and anything else that is a crown, sits on your head where it belongs rather than around your neck — if your character was wearing one in the old slot, it has been moved for you.
v3.60 — A second trinket, and a pack
The equipment layout has been reworked. You can now wear two trinkets at once — one to either side of your legs — doubling the small edges a single charm or relic used to give. Where the old trinket slot sat, in the top corner, there is now a Backpack: tap it to open your pack at any time. Your existing characters keep whatever trinket they had equipped; the second trinket slot simply opens, empty, ready for another.
v3.59 — A place for greaves
A new equipment slot joins the others: legs, sitting between your armour and your boots — head, chest, legs, feet, the way it always should have been. Leg armour now turns up across the whole journey, from Worn Greaves in the first town to the Voidforged Tassets torn from the Grief That Walks (and from its daily hunt). And every set now wears its own legs — the Emberforged, Gravewarden, Duskwoven, Glassforged, Dawnforged, Hollowforged, and the Sovereign Regalia all gain a matching greave, craftable or won the same way as the rest of their pieces. Completing a set with its legs unlocks a new full-set bonus on top of what you already had — your old set bonuses are untouched; the legs simply add a deeper tier. Your existing characters lose nothing: the new slot opens empty, waiting to be filled.
v3.58 — The hunt comes round again
The bosses that keep a familiar no longer fall only once. Best one of them — a Warden of the Descent, the Sunwright, or the Unmade — and it joins your new Daily Hunts in the Atlas, rising again once each day for another chance at the familiar it guards. The odds are far kinder now, and a long run of bad luck can no longer last forever — keep facing a boss and its familiar is certain in time. Each rematch scales to your strength so it stays a real fight, and pays a little gold, Void Shards and Bounty Marks besides. The rarest companions in the Cinderlands are, at last, worth the hunt.
v3.57 — The deep, fully its own
Every creature in the Reach is now bespoke. The regions no longer borrow shapes for their packs — each has its own dwellers, drawn from nothing: Gaunt Wardens and Bone Pikemen in the Marches, Drowned Choristers and Weeping Lurkers in the Deep, Unmade Husks and Watching Voids in the Beyond, Cinder Motes and Cinderhounds in the Wastes, Drowned Watchers and Sunken Sentries in the Vigil, Vault Shades and Sentinels in the Vault, and Hollow Courtiers and Crownguard Knights at the Throne. Each fights to its own nature and carries its own weakness, and all of them join the Bestiary. The Reach is, at last, entirely its own place.
v3.56 — The deep gets a face
The seven bosses of the Reach are no longer borrowed shapes wearing a name — each is now its own creature, drawn and built from nothing: the Gaunt Herald of the Marches, the Choirmaster of the Weeping Deep, the Unmade of the Beyond, the Ashen Maw of the Cinder Wastes, the Tideborn of the Drowned Vigil, the Vault-Keeper of the Starless Vault, and the Crownless King of the Sunless Throne. Each fights its own way — the Maw burns, the Tideborn drowns and stuns, the King guards his throne and crushes — and each has its own weakness for those who learn it. They join the Bestiary as you fell them. (Bespoke creatures for the regular packs follow, region by region.)
v3.55 — The Sovereign Regalia
A new region opens at the bottom of the Reach for the Ashbound of level 250: the Sunless Throne, where the Crownless King waits. Best him and hunt his hold and you will gather the Sovereign Regalia — a four-piece legendary set with a weapon cut for your path (a wand for the Embermage, a blade for the Ashblade, a bow for the Duskwalker) and a helm, treads and torc for any. Wear them together and the regalia answers — rising bonuses to your health and all your might as the set comes together. The deepest gear in the world, for those who have gone deep enough to take it.
v3.54 — The Atlas
A new 🗺 Atlas opens from the journal — one place to see every region of the Sunless Reach: its depth, its foes, its apex, the rewards it guards, and your own progress through it (culls, apex slain, deepest Threat held, trophies and familiars claimed), with a button to travel there and hunt. And every region now offers a rotating Contract — cull its foes, slay its apex, or clear it at depth — paid in Bounty Marks. Directed work, and at last a single map to find all of it.
v3.53 — Into the deep places
Three new regions open off the Sunless Reach: the Cinder Wastes (Lv 120), the Drowned Vigil (Lv 170) and the Starless Vault (Lv 220). Each is its own hunting ground with its own foes, its own cull-bounty, and an apex guardian — the Ashen Maw, the Tideborn and the Vault-Keeper — who yields a prestige trophy for your Collection Log the first time it falls, and at long odds a unique familiar to fight at your side: the Cinder Imp, the Tide Wraith and the Void Maw. Like every region of the Reach, they scale to whatever Threat you bring, so they are worth hunting at any depth. More places to become.
v3.52 — The Eternal Ashbound
New Game+ now culminates. After unmaking the First Dark at NG+III, your character rises Eternal — a permanent ascension granting +10% damage and +10% max HP, a windfall of 5 stat points and 2 skill points, and the ♾ mark on your sheet. The cycle closes there, but your character does not: there is no level cap, the Sunless Reach answers any Threat without end, and the deeps keep their gear and their dead for those strong enough to take them. NG+ was the story — from here on, the becoming is the game. (Characters already past NG+III keep their cycles and ascend on their next load.)
v3.50 — The deep bites back
A balance pass for high-level play. The world no longer stops scaling at a fixed point — the further you outlevel an area, the harder its creatures hit and the more they endure, with no ceiling, so a powerful character is finally tested instead of trivializing everything. The Sunless Reach and its three deeps were re-tuned to be genuinely lethal at their Threat, and Endless now climbs into a real wall. Very high-level kills grant slightly less XP, to keep the climb honest. None of this touches the early or mid game — it is the deep end that bites now.
v3.49 — Filter the log
The action log can get loud, so it now has filters. Tap the chips above it — 💬 Story, ⚔ Combat, ✧ XP, 💰 Loot — to hide or show each kind of message. On a long grind, turn off Story and Combat and watch only the spoils and XP roll in. Your choices stick between sessions, and nothing is lost when hidden — it is only filtered from view.
v3.48 — Mindfire shows its work
The Mindfire Draught was always doubling your kill XP — but the combat log printed the base number, so it looked like nothing was happening. The log now shows the real amount gained and flags the ×2 while the draught burns, so you can watch the fire work. (Your XP totals were correct all along; only the readout was wrong.)
v3.47 — The phantom in your bag
Some bags held a ghost item — shown as undefined with a plain flask icon — a leftover from an older version that granted an item no longer in the game. It was harmless (it couldn’t be used, worn, or sold), just clutter. Your bag now clears any such leftovers automatically the next time you load, and the grant bug that created them is fixed so it can’t happen again.
v3.46 — The Reach, ranked
The Sunless Reach now keeps a ledger. A new 🌑 THE REACH board on the leaderboard ranks every Ashbound by the deepest Threat they have cleared — a single climbing number with no ceiling, so the contract you survive is now something the whole world can see you standing on. Sync your character to stake your depth. (Requires the latest cloud update.)
v3.45 — The bracketed deeps & the gear of the dark
The Sunless Reach splits into three named deeps, each opening at its own depth: the Ashen Marches (Lv 100), the Weeping Deep (Lv 150) and the Sunless Beyond (Lv 200). Each has its own dead to cull for bounties, its own apex — the Gaunt Herald, the Choirmaster, the Unmade — and its own signature gear, won by undoing that apex or torn as a rare spoil from its hunts. Six new pieces, each with a level requirement and a sprite of its own: plate, carapace and a void-forged aegis for the body; a band, a pendant and a crown-relic for the rest. The deeper you go, the greater the gear — but it answers only to those strong enough to bear it.
v3.44 — The Sunless Reach
For those who have outgrown the world: beyond the Long Dark, past the Unmaking, a new hunting ground opens to the Ashbound of level 100 and above — the Sunless Reach, the floor beneath the floor. Here you set the danger yourself. Name a Threat Contract — 100, 150, 200, or an Endless band that climbs past your deepest clear — and the dark rises to meet it. Higher Threat means deadlier packs and richer spoils, scaled without limit, so the hunt stays a real fight no matter how strong you have grown. The first of many deeper reaches; more dark to follow.
v3.41 — Tidier towns & rune art
Town squares no longer scroll forever. The things you do in a haven — the market, your hearth, resting, the Proving Grounds, the Wager and the rest — now gather in a compact grid beneath your story choices, so what matters reads first and the amenities sit a tap away. And the runes finally look like runes: small clay tablets marked with a glowing sigil — ember-orange, iron-grey or venom-green by their kind.
v3.40 — New item sprites
A wave of hand-drawn item icons. Relics, trophies and gear that once shared generic art now have their own: the Heart of the Deep is a heart, the Shard of the First Dark a black sun-shard rimmed in gold, Rune-Dust a grey heap, and the crowns and halos — Stag King’s, Hollow, Glassforged, Emberforged, Dawnforged and more — each wear their own colour. Bows, maces, runed staves, logs and fresh-caught fish are drawn true to what they are.
v3.39 — The Mindfire Draught
A new elixir for the ambitious: the ⚗ Mindfire Draught. Drink it and your mind kindles — for fifteen minutes, every creature you slay grants double XP, with a live countdown riding in your status line. Found in the deeper markets, and earned anew each week by winning sixty battles. The fire does not pause for rest or menus, so drink it when you mean to hunt.
v3.38 — Leaderboard in reach
The 🏆 Leaderboard now opens straight from the in-game menu, beside the Bazaar — no need to return to the title screen to see where you stand.
v3.37 — Profession leaderboards
The 🏆 Leaderboard gains five new boards — ⛏ Mining, 🎣 Fishing, 🪓 Woodcutting, 🍳 Cooking and ⚗ Potions — each ranking the most accomplished crafters by profession level. Cloud-sync a character and train a craft past level 1 to claim your place; your standing shows on each board. (Characters already in the cloud appear once they next sync.)
v3.36 — Mining & gathering fix
Fixed a bug where working a mine, quarry, fishing or woodcutting spot would silently do nothing on a successful swing — no materials, no profession XP — so gathering professions could never level. Working a spot now properly yields its goods and Mining, Fishing and Woodcutting XP again.
v3.33 — Familiars Evolve
Your familiar grows with you. Wild familiars are now found from level 10 (any you already keep stay yours). And at level 40 and again at level 80, your familiar evolves into a new and greater form: the Ember Wisp becomes the Ember Drake and then the Solar Wyrm; the Ash Hound the Cinder Warg and then the Ashen Direwolf; the Dusk Raven the Shadewing and then the Night Sovereign — each evolution hitting harder and fighting fiercer, the final forms gaining a second way to kill. Boss familiars grow stronger at those same milestones too. Evolution is permanent and carries through New Game+.
v3.32 — Streak Rewards & Weekly Goals
The Daily now rewards the long haul. Your day streak — which climbs each day you play — now pays milestone rewards at 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days, claimable from the Daily screen, with gold, draughts, Void Shards and Bounty Marks that grow the longer you keep the fire lit. Above the daily charge sit new Weekly Goals: slay 200 foes, win 60 battles, fell 5 bosses, slay 15 champions, complete 4 daily charges — bigger objectives for bigger prizes, reset fresh each week. Keep coming back, and the Cinderlands keep paying you back.
v3.31 — Chase Drops & Boss Familiars
The deep bosses now guard rare prizes. At long odds, the four Wardens of the Descent, the Sunwright and The Unmade each yield a unique boss familiar — the Hollow Mote, Drowned Sprite, Marrow Hound, Grief Wisp, Forge Drake and Voidling — that fight at your side just as your tamed familiar does, each with its own way of killing (some burn, some strike twice, some drink life back to you). They are sidegrades, not strictly stronger: collect them for the choice and the chase. Set your active companion in the new Menagerie in your stronghold, now unlocked as their gallery. The deepest foes — the Sentinel of the Deep and The First Dark — guard prestige relics for your Collection Log instead. Almost no one will hold them all.
v3.30 — The Stronghold
Your hearth is now a home you build out. From the hearth, Enter your stronghold — a keep of chambers you raise with gold, Void Shards and Bounty Marks, each tap showing a room’s perk and cost. The Vault deepens your stash; the Reliquary is a garden you tend daily for gold, draughts, materials and — at its height — Void Shards; the Forge lets you craft from home at a smith’s discount; the Apothecary brews Greater Draughts on demand; and the War Table runs your bounties from home and pays you better Marks for it. The Hearthfire and Trophy Hall you already know sit among them, and a Menagerie waits, locked, for the beasts still to come. A home worth coming back to.
v3.29 — Charms & the Collection Log
Two ways to chase completion. Bestiary mastery now pays off: as you master creatures in the Field Journal, you earn permanent charms at milestones — Hunter’s Vigor (+25 Max HP) at 5 mastered, Scavenger (+5% gold) at 12, Bloodscent (heal on each kill) at 22, Keen Study (+5% XP) at 35, and Apex Predator (+40 Max HP) at 50. They are drawn from your kills, so they can never be lost. And a new 🗒 Collection Log tracks every distinct item the Cinderlands has ever given you — gear, consumables, runes, gems, materials and more — with completion counts by category and overall. What you already carry and have stashed is credited automatically. Gotta find them all.
v3.28 — The Bounty Master’s Ledger
Bounties are now a true hunter’s trade. Every contract you fulfil pays ◆ Bounty Marks on top of its gold — more for harder work, more as your rank climbs from Cutthroat toward the Unending, and more the longer your streak of completed contracts runs (tear one down and the streak breaks, unless a Streak Seal holds it). While a contract is active you earn bonus gold from the marked beasts. Spend Marks at the new Bounty Master’s Ledger: permanent perks (more gold and XP from every kill), Marks-only gear — the Reaper’s Brand and Warden’s Cloak — Streak Seals, and supplies. Dislike a contract? Reroll it for a few Marks and keep your streak.
v3.27 — The weight of things
The bottomless pack is gone. You now carry a bag with limited slots — 20 to start, +1 every level, up to a cap of 60. Consumables, materials, gems, runes and tools each take one slot per stack no matter how many you hold; weapons and armour take one slot per piece. Worn gear, key items and Sunshards never count. When the spoils of a fight won’t fit, a new Spoils screen lets you choose what to carry and what to leave in the dirt. Your stash at the hearth is far larger now (60, and more with each hearth upgrade) — lean on it. The squeeze bites hardest early; that is the point.
v3.26 — The Bazaar, with room to breathe
The Open Market is now the Bazaar — same trading, truer name. Its window and the Ashen Wager’s den have both been enlarged, with more room to read listings, weigh a wager, and watch the cards turn.
v3.25 — The Ashen Wager
A gambling den has opened its low door in Ashvale Square and at Lantern’s End — the 🎲 Ashen Wager, where the house always remembers what it is owed. Two ways to lose your coin: the Fool’s Ladder, where you stake your gold, call each turned card higher or lower, and watch the pot climb — walk away with it, or press your luck one more rung and risk the lot; and the Bones, a quick throw against the house where high total wins even money and ties go to the dark. Feats await the bold and the broken. The house keeps an edge, as houses do — wager only what you can stand to lose.
v3.24 — The Open Market
Ashbound can now trade with one another. Open the 🪙 Market from the menu — anywhere, any time — to list your spare gear, potions, materials, gems and runes at a fixed price for any other Ashbound to buy, and browse what others have put up — sorted, filtered by kind, and searchable by name. Listing costs a 10% fee paid up front. Gold from your sales and anything from cancelled or expired listings waits in your Collect box until you claim it. The market is cloud-bound — link your character to take part. Key items, Sunshards, the Amulet of Life and dream-forged gear cannot be sold.
v3.18 — The dream has teeth
The Dreaming now ends in a reckoning. Each visit, a named horror waits at its heart — the Unsleeping King, the Mirror That Walks, the Last Lullaby, the Hollow Hour, or the Drowned Choir — drawn anew each time, each with its own ways of hurting you. Best one and it surrenders gear found nowhere else in the Cinderlands: the Crown of the Sleepless, the Shroud of the Unwaking, the Pendant of Two Dreams, the Charm of the Deep Dream, or the Duskstride Boots. Once you have wrested it from the dream, it is yours to keep — and only waking remains.
v3.15 — Feats & the Dreaming
Ten new feats join the roll: Monster Slayer (1,000 kills), Old Campaigner (level 50), The Beginning (your first Sunshard), No Stone Unturned (complete the Codex), Untouchable (win a battle untouched), Master Blacksmith (forge 15 items), One Against Many (10 foes in one encounter), Boss Breaker (a boss on the first attempt), and two hidden ones for those who finish everything.
And a new way to risk it all: with the world walked once over (New Game+), a wandering merchant may rarely sell a Dreaming Draught. Drink it abed at your hearth and you slip into the Dreaming — three to five shifting dreamscapes, never the same twice, each guarding spoils. Sink deeper for more, or wake whenever you like and keep what you have gathered. But the dream has teeth: fall here and it keeps one or two things from your pack, for good — though you will always wake, even in Hardcore. Bespoke dream-horrors and dream-forged loot are still to come.
v3.12 — The world keeps pace
Outrun an act’s expected level and its creatures no longer roll over. When you push deeper than your level should allow — or grind well past where an act expects you — the things that live there firm up to match: more health, more bite, the further ahead of the curve you are, up to a cap. Stay on the path at the level an act intends and nothing changes; this only ever catches a player who has outpaced the world. The deeper acts were always tougher — now being over-strong stops being a free pass.
v3.11 — Vials & Tonics
The merchants stock a deeper shelf now. Healing climbs past the old flasks with the Grand Draught and a Heartblood Philtre that restores half your maximum HP no matter how high it climbs; mana finally gets a full ladder — Deep Brew, Grand Mana Brew, and a Mindspring Philtre — alongside an Ashen Restorative that mends both at once. New battle draughts let any class drink a buff mid-fight — more damage, less damage taken, or sudden evasion — and a line of tonics raises your STR, INT, or AGI for your next few battles, so you can brace yourself before a hard fight. Find them in the deeper markets, and watch your status line for the tonic that’s riding with you.
v3.10 — A cleaner name
Names that join the public boards and the Hall of the Fallen now pass through a profanity and slur filter — checked the moment you forge a character and again on the server, so the leaderboards, duel lists, and death feed stay safe for everyone, including the younger Ashbound. If a name is turned away, you’ll simply be asked to choose another.
v3.09 — Into the Deep
The Descent is no longer a single button repeated ten times. Every floor now carries a mood — the dark may hunger (foes hit harder, but the floor is richer), rage, lie thin and over-generous, or fall to a grieving hush — that bends the fight while you stand there. Each act has its own encounter: a void-cache that might bite, a guttering light to feed, a drowned thing offering its grief, a reliquary that may be a mouth, a rift to gamble a shard into. Shrines in the deep let you spend void shards on run-long boons — Umbral Edge, Ashen Ward, Hollow Greed — that hold until you climb out. A lore fragment on every floor tells, piece by piece, what the Hollowing really is and where it began. And four named Wardens — the Hollow Throat-Warden, the Drowned Mourner, the Warden of the Marrow, and the Grief That Walks — guard the deep floors for those who go looking, each richly spoiled. (Warden and event-fight balance is a first pass — feedback welcome.)
v3.08 — Crossroads
The Tally now has teeth. Moral crossroads are seeded through every act of the journey — from a beggar-child in Ashvale to the first Ashbound at the bottom of the Descent. Mercy tends to cost you; cruelty tends to pay. Each crossroad is faced once and remembered, and your choices carry you toward the Merciful or the Ashen.
v3.07 — The Tally
The dying world has begun to keep a reckoning of you. Certain acts of mercy or cruelty now shift your standing on a hidden axis — go far enough either way and you earn a stark epithet (the Merciful, the Ashen, and their like), shown in your Chronicle and carried to your grave. The most resolute souls, for mercy or for ruin, are ranked on the new ✦ The Resolute board. Your reckoning carries across New Game+. (A first seed — more moral crossroads will be carved into the road ahead.)
v3.06 — Support the embers
Added a ♥ Support the Game link beside the Facebook and Discord links. Cinderlands is free and always will be — but if it has its hooks in you, you can now name your own price on itch.io to help keep the shared world’s servers lit and the game growing. No pressure, ever.
v3.05 — The Proving Grounds, made flesh
Duels are now fought, not simulated. Your challenger appears across the ring as a living foe — built from their real stats, gear, and spells — and you fight them yourself, with every attack, ability, potion, and rune at your command, exactly as you would any creature in the dark. The ring is sacred ground: you enter whole and leave whole, win or lose. Nothing is spent and no one truly dies in the Proving — even the hardcore walk away. Yield or fall and you simply step out, the bout marked on the ⚔ Duelists board.
v3.04 — The Proving Grounds
Cloud-bound Ashbound can now duel one another. Step into the ⚔ Proving Grounds at Ashvale Square to face a random challenger near your strength, or call out a rival by name. Each duel is fought as an exhibition — a blow-by-blow contest of your build against theirs — and your wins and losses are tallied on the new ⚔ Duelists board. The dead echo of your foe fights with their own gear, skills, and spells; victory is no small thing. (Duels require a cloud-linked character. Outcomes are self-reported in this first cut, so the Duelists ladder runs on honor for now.)
v3.03 — True class & hardcore boards
The class tabs (Embermage, Ashblade, Duskwalker) and the ☠ Hardcore tab on the Leaderboard now rank their full population, not just whoever happened to land in the overall top 60. A mighty Embermage who sits outside the global ranks will now show on the Embermage board where they belong — and your own standing is counted within that board, not the whole field.
v3.02 — The living world
The title screen now carries a faint pulse of the whole world: how many Ashbound have been forged, how many have fallen (and how many in the last day), how many still bear all seven shards, the deepest anyone has gone in the Trial, and more. Tap ✦ Living World for the full tally. It is drawn from every cloud-bound character across the Cinderlands — a reminder that you do not walk the dark alone.
v3.01 — The Fallen feed
The dead now keep a shared roll. Whenever an Ashbound falls anywhere in the Cinderlands, the fall is recorded — name, class, level, and what took them — and on your own death screen and in your Chronicle's The Deaths you will see others who lately fell across the land. There is nothing to switch on; the roll simply keeps itself. Names are filtered. (This is separate from the Hall of the Fallen, which still keeps your own hardcore dead on this device.)
v3.00 — Mastery is earned, not idle
The Mastery sink (spending surplus Skill Points on permanent STR, INT, AGI, or Max HP) now opens only when your skill tree is truly complete — all ten Tiers unlocked, including the three ascendant Tiers that Ascension grants. Before, it appeared whenever you simply had nothing left to buy at your current rank, which let it surface far too early. Surplus Skill Points are never lost; they wait until the tree is finished.
v2.99 — The roads warn before they wound
The base world stays open — you may still walk the Sunshard hunt in any order — but the two unguarded paths out of the Mires (north to the Emberwood, west to the Gloammoor) now give the same counsel the gated roads always have: if a region’s dangers outmatch your level, you’re warned and asked whether to press on or turn back. Wandering into the deep is now a choice made with open eyes, not an ambush.
v2.98 — The Trial sealed until its hour
The Trial of Ash is Act VII content and no longer opens to a first-step wanderer. The rift in Ashvale stays sealed until you have gathered all seven Sunshards (cleared Acts I–VI), bested the Sovereign, or carried a finished tale into New Game+. The deeper Acts (the Verge, Forge, Unmaking, and the whole Descent) were already gated behind their bosses and New Game+ tiers, and the base game’s regions remain gated by the Sunshard each demands.
v2.97 — Class weapon sprites
The class weapons now carry their own pixel-art, Tibia-inspired: the Emberwand’s glowing tip and the Stormglass Wand’s blue crystal, the Ashblade’s steel Warsword and radiant Dawnforged Greatsword, and the Duskwalker’s crossed Duskfang and Nightglass daggers — each distinct in the shop, your bag, and the item view.
v2.96 — Class weapons
Each class now has signature, class-locked weapons — only your class can wield its own. Embermages wield wands (the Emberwand, then the Stormglass Wand): their strikes draw on INT instead of brawn, and the wand amplifies spell power, so a mage’s weapon finally matters. Ashblades claim heavy warswords (STR & vitality); Duskwalkers, paired daggers (AGI & edge). Find the first tier at the Cinderpeak trader, the greater ones at the Mended Sky market.
v2.95 — Equipment prices rebalanced
Gear was far too cheap for the gold you earn, so equipment now costs what it’s worth. Prices scale with a piece’s actual power and its region — modest early (~150–300g), a real investment by the wastes and the mended sky (~570–880g). Sell values rose to match, so trading in old gear still pays. Consumables are unchanged.
v2.94 — Path Helper guidance & fixes
The Path helper now guides through normal play, not just at the big milestones: it lights the single unexplored way forward through dungeons, corridors, and one-exit junctions — and still stays silent (rather than guess) when several ways are open or you’ve already cleared the path ahead. Also removed the amulet-renaming option.
v2.93 — Path Helper
A new Path helper toggle in Settings (off by default). Turn it on and the choice that continues the main story is marked with a glowing ➤ — a quiet guide for when you’re unsure where to go next. It points only when it’s sure of the way forward and stays silent during open exploration, so it never sends you backward.
v2.92 — Home Village & Teleport
When you fall, you now wake at your home village — set it at any market town (Ashvale, Cinderhollow, Gilt, Lastlight) with Make this your home village. If you carry a Teleport Scroll, the death screen offers to tear one and wake at the hub nearest where you fell instead — a short walk from your remains. And Teleport Scrolls finally reach the deep: the Ashen Verge, the First Forge, the Unmaking, and both Descent gates are now fast-travel destinations.
v2.91 — The Death Log
Your Chronicle now keeps The Deaths — a roll of every fall: where you died, what felled you, and at what level and cycle. (The Trial\u2019s endless deaths and Amulet-of-Life saves don\u2019t count; only true falls in the world are recorded. Hardcore deaths still end the tale outright.)
v2.90 — New Game+ Gating & the Descent in the Quest Log
The \u201cbegin the next cycle\u201d option no longer appears the moment you fell the Sovereign. Each New Game+ now opens only once you\u2019ve finished everything that cycle unlocked: NG+ after the mended sky, NG++ after the Acts Beyond, NG+++ after the Descent\u2019s first half (Acts XI\u2013XV), and a deeper cycle after the Descent\u2019s root (XVI\u2013XX). The same rule now governs the NG+ button on the character-select screen. And the Quest log now carries a The Descent section, tracking Threnody and the First Dark alongside the Sunshards and the Acts Beyond.
v2.89 — Deep Bosses: Toughened Back Up
Last patch\u2019s fix to the deep bosses overcorrected — they\u2019d become too soft. Bosses from the Acts Beyond onward now hit about 35% harder and carry roughly 35% more health, landing between \u201cimpossible\u201d and \u201ctrivial.\u201d A starting point; easy to tune further from here.
v2.88 — The Descent Bosses Were Impossible (Fixed)
The Descent\u2019s difficulty curve climbs steeply by design — but on the deep bosses (Threnody, the First Dark) it stacked on top of already-huge boss stats and the New Game+ multiplier, pushing the First Dark to over 100,000 HP with hits that could end you in one blow. No amount of skill could win it. Bosses from the Acts Beyond onward (Act VIII and deeper) now take a tuned dampener to both health and damage — the difficulty still climbs the deeper you go, but the deep fights are winnable now instead of impossible. Nothing in the base game (Acts I–VII) was touched.
v2.87 — A Felled Boss Lets You Pass
Fixed the deepest progression trap. The route to each new tier ran through its boss — so once you\u2019d defeated the Unmade or Threnody, that doorway closed, and a death that sent you back left you unable to reach the next gate or the final boss again. Now a felled boss stands aside: the Unmaking opens onward to the Descent, the Drowned Choir opens onward to the deep Descent, even with the boss already silenced.
v2.86 — Death No Longer Strands You in the Deep
Fixed a long-standing disconnect: falling to a boss in the Acts Beyond or the Descent used to throw you all the way back to the base-game Throne, with no clean road back to the fight. Now you wake at the safe hub of the region you died in — the Ashen Verge, the First Forge, the Unmaking, or the Descent's threshold — the boss still waiting and your remains where you fell. The same fix mends deaths at the mended sky and the Ashen Spire. And once you've run the base road in a New Game+ cycle, every haven now also offers ✦ Return to the Mended Sky, so the Acts Beyond are never more than a couple of taps away.
v2.85 — The Brand Points the Way
Easier to find the Sovereign. Once you carry the Hollow Brand, every haven now offers 🗝 Follow the Hollow Brand to the Throne — a one-tap road straight to the Hollow Throne while the Sovereign still lives. (The Ashen Spire and its Hollow Crown are an optional superboss — a separate climb from the Sunshard finale at the Throne.)
v2.84 — The Mended Sky No Longer Strands You
Fixed a New Game+ dead-end. After closing the wound and crossing into the Ashen Verge, returning to the Mended Sky could leave you with no way forward — the hub looped you back to the Last Hearth or down to the world. Now, once the Hollow Dawn is unmade in NG+, the Mended Sky always offers a path onward: Return beyond the mended sky.
v2.83 — Packs, Not Waves
Hunting-ground packs are now simply randomized in size — two to four foes, sometimes more often two, occasionally four — fought all at once as a single encounter. The old escalating “press the hunt” waves (a set of 2, then 3, then 4) are gone: clear the pack and claim your hunt cache. Gentler, and closer to how packs were always meant to feel.
v2.82 — Change Your PIN
The old “Passcode” menu button is now Change PIN. For a cloud character it updates your PIN everywhere — your account and this device — so you sign in with the new one on any device. For a character not yet on the cloud, it sets a PIN here and points you to ☁ TO CLOUD to sync it. Enter the new PIN twice to avoid a typo.
v2.81 — Bring Your Old Characters Along
Loading a character that was never saved to the cloud? The game now offers — once — to back it up and give it a PIN, so any character can become a cloud character and travel with you. Tap “Not now” and it won’t ask that character again. The in-app help has also been swept to match the new one-name-one-PIN login.
v2.80 — One Name, One PIN
Logging in is simpler. The title screen’s old “passcode” is now your PIN — the single key to your character. Type your name and PIN and press BEGIN / CONTINUE: if the character is on this device it opens; if it only lives in the cloud (say, on a new phone) it’s pulled down automatically; and if the name is new, you go straight to forging it. You now set the PIN right here on the title screen, so the Forge page is just class, stats, and your fate. Characters made before this still open with whatever ward they had.
v2.79 — Cloud Saving by Default
Every character you forge is now saved to the cloud by default — just set a Cloud PIN when you create one, and you can pick that character up on any device. Your save still lives on this device too, as it always has. Forging while offline? Your character is saved locally and finishes signing up to the cloud automatically the moment you reconnect. Characters made before this update are untouched — back them up any time with ☁ TO CLOUD.
v2.78 — Stoke the Hearth
The hearth can now be raised. Spend gold and Void Shards to stoke it from the Cold Hearth up through the Banked, Stoked, and Eternal Hearth — each tier widens the stash (to 75 slots) and grants a boon: Well-Rested (resting mends you for a few rooms after), a Trophy Hall that displays the bosses you have felled, and a once-a-day provision of gold and draughts. A home worth coming back to.
v2.77 — Hearth & Stash
Ashvale is yours again, and so is the hearth at its heart. From the square, visit your hearth to reach a stash — a chest that holds what your pack cannot, kept safe across every journey and even into New Game+. Rest there to mend. And as the great foes of the Cinderlands fall, the mantel remembers them: a growing roll of trophies for every boss laid low. Upgrading the hearth — for a deeper stash and more — comes next.
v2.76 — The Descent: Acts XVI–XX & the True End
The silence beneath Threnody had a floor — and it, too, gives way. For those who reach New Game+++, the Descent now runs all the way down: the Marrow Dark, the Unlit Expanse, the Grieving Abyss, the Threshold of Nothing, and at the root of everything, Before the First Dawn. A new abyssal foe stalks the deep — the Unwritten — and the true final boss waits: the First Dark, the cold that was struck to make the first dawn and never forgave it. Fell it to claim the Crown of the First Dark, earn the feat Into the Hollow, and stand at the world’s root. Twenty Acts now run from Ashvale to the dark before light. (Note: the bestiary and the “fell every boss” feat now include the Descent’s creatures.)
v2.75 — The Descent: Acts XI–XV
For those who have unmade the Unmade and walked into New Game++, the floor of the world has split. A new entrance opens at the Unmaking — the Descent, ten Acts of abyss beneath everything you have known. This update opens the first five: the Hollow Throat, the Sunless Stair, the Weeping Deep, the Ashfall Vault, and the Drowned Choir, each its own hunting ground, ending in a new finale — Threnody, the Drowned Choir. The deeper five (Acts XVI–XX) and the true end of the dark are being carved now. Bring light.
v2.74 — Cleave the Pack
Fighting a pack one foe at a time was a slog — no more. Your skills now strike every foe you face at once (your basic Attack still picks a single target, for finishing blows). Three new area runes join the Rune-Stones — the Ember Burst, Quaking Iron and Venom Cloud — each erupting across the whole pack regardless of its size, carrying fire, sunder or poison to all. Packs also appear a little less often in the hunting grounds again (~40%), and the battle view no longer crowds the foes with your own banner.
v2.73 — The Hunting Grounds Run Deep
The hunting grounds are now a true test of nerve. Their packs are drawn from a mix of the region’s denizens, and clearing one no longer ends the hunt — the ground falls quiet and you choose: press deeper into a tougher wave for greater spoils, or withdraw with what you’ve claimed. Waves escalate in size and ferocity (and may field a champion), and each completed hunt pays a hunt cache of gold and ground-themed loot that grows the further you press. Know when to walk away.
v2.72 — Hunting Grounds & the Pack
Combat is no longer always one-on-one. In the world’s hunting grounds (the repeatable ↻ grind spots), a fight can now break out into a pack — two or three foes that all attack in the same round. Tap a foe to target it (or use the new Target buttons), strike them down one at a time, and claim each one’s spoils. A real escalation of risk and reward for those who hunt the wilds.
v2.71 — Named Foes Stalk the Cinderlands
Beyond the ★ champions, a rarer breed now walks the world: named foes — unique, titled terrors that can rise in place of an ordinary beast, from Ashvale to the Unmaking. Each is a true threat (marked by a ☠ crimson plate) and each guards a signature prize it always drops, atop a champion-rich hoard. A score of them haunt the acts — tread the roads ready.
v2.70 — Polish: Torches & Conversations
The torch now carries its own flame-topped icon instead of borrowing a potion’s. And talking is tidier: instead of a long wall of “Ask about…” lines, each speaker now offers a single “Ask about…” that opens a clean list of just their topics, with a step-back to return. Newly learned threads appear there the moment you uncover them.
v2.69 — The Corpse Run & the Amulet of Life
Death in the open world is now a corpse run. The gold and XP you lose when you fall no longer vanish — they wait with your remains at the place you died. Walk back to reclaim them (but fall again first and the old remains are lost to the dark). And a new safeguard hangs at the merchants: the Amulet of Life (5,000g, worn at the neck), which shatters the first time death takes you and spares you everything — gold, XP, items, even a Hardcore life — then is gone. Rename it at any merchant to make it your own.
v2.68 — The Unproven Haul
The endless Trial now carries real stakes — without ever risking your character. The great Warden’s hoards won every fifth floor are now an unproven descent-haul: secured only when you climb out alive. Fall, and the rift keeps the haul as a lost cache on the floor you died on — descend back to that depth on a later run and the descent itself becomes the journey to reclaim it. Die again first and the older cache is swallowed for good. Your level, gear and deepest floor are never touched; only the run’s winnings are on the line. How deep do you dare go before you bank?
v2.67 — The Deep Remembers
Falling past your own record in the Trial now marks the moment: break your deepest descent and the rift acknowledges it, with a louder flourish every tenth floor down. Your deepest floor has always been your badge on the title-screen Leaderboard — the 🕳 Trial board ranks every Ashbound by how deep they’ve fallen and climbed back from — and now each new deep is celebrated as you reach it.
v2.66 — Day & the Hollow Night
The world now keeps time. As you travel it turns from the Pale Hours through Duskfall into the Hollow Night and a cold grey Dawn, each casting its own light over every scene. By day the open roads are clear; by night the Hollowing spreads the gloom across the whole world, and you fight half-blind anywhere you stand without a torch or the Everlit Lantern — only the last lit towns hold their hearths against it. A phase indicator now sits beside your status bars, so you always know how near the night is.
v2.65 — Writings of the World
The Codex’s Writings now reach every corner of the world. A hidden text waits in each region — an apprentice’s last slate sinking in the Mires, a name given to a mountain shrine for safekeeping, a bell-keeper’s plea in the drowned city, an epitaph fought letter by letter from the fog, the Sunwright’s note cooled into the iron of the First Forge, a confession in your own hand at the Verge, and more. Thirteen writings in all, scattered from Ashvale to the Floor of Everything, for the patient to find and read.
v2.64 — The Ember Codex
The world now keeps a book. A new CODEX in the menu gathers the lore you uncover: every thread you ask an NPC about is written down in full — the Shattering, the eight shards, the truth of the Shadow Sovereign, the Hollow Dawn and the hope of rekindling — and writings hidden in the world are added when you find them, from a child’s prayer scratched on the Ashvale hearth to the words the Sovereign himself carved at the foot of the throne. Talk to the living, read what the dead left behind, and fill it.
v2.63 — Voices of the Ashlands
Conversations now reach across the whole world. Every named figure — Hagra in the Mires, Warleader Voss and the Blind Seer in Cinderhollow, Keeper Alder, the Grieving Widow and the Bellwright at Lantern’s End, Wellkeeper Sol, Caravan-Master Reyes and the Gilded Oracle in the wastes, and the Last Lampkeeper at the end of the road — can now be asked about the world, each in their own voice. Three deeper threads open as you press the lore-keepers: rekindling the sun, those who came before, and the Hollow Dawn — and the seers will tell you the truth the elders won’t: who the Shadow Sovereign truly was.
v2.62 — A Living World: Conversations
The people of the Ashlands have more to say. Speak with townsfolk and elders and you can now ask them about the world — the broken sun, the Shadow Sovereign, the Sunshards, the Hollowing and more. Each answer can open new threads to pull, the way real talk wanders, and different people give you different truths: a frightened villager and Elder Maren do not tell the same story. What you learn is remembered — and Ashvale is only the beginning.
v2.61 — Ascendant Mastery
Ascension is now the milestone it should be: it costs 20,000 gold, and in return it unlocks three brand-new skill tiers reserved for the reforged. Tier 8 (Lv 22), Tier 9 (Lv 25) and Tier 10 (Lv 28) add ascendant capstones to every class — the Cinderlord’s Unbroken Sun, the Emberbrand’s Last Oath, the Nightstalker’s Long Dark, plus new passives and power along the way. They cost more Skill Points than anything before them; they are meant to be the long chase of a finished character.
v2.60 — Ascension
Reach level 20 and a new path opens at The Mastery Altar in Ashvale Square: ascend your class. An Embermage becomes a Cinderlord, an Ashblade an Emberbrand, a Duskwalker a Nightstalker — a permanent title carried into every battle. Ascension grants +12% Max HP and MP and, in the Tibia tradition, steady regeneration of HP and MP every turn in combat. It costs gold, but you have earned it.
v2.59 — Quality of life
Rune-stones can now be bound to your hotbar — set a strike rune or a sigil to a slot and fire it with a tap, or with keys 1–6 in battle, just like potions and spells. And scrolls (including Teleport Scrolls) can be bought several at a time — a quantity selector now appears at the merchant, so you can stock up in one go.
v2.58 — Into the dark
The broken sun’s light doesn’t reach everywhere. In caves, drowned ruins, the gloammoor and the world’s dark verges you now fight half-blind unless you carry light — your crit and dodge are halved in the gloom. Buy a Torch (cheap, at any market) and light it from your bag to hold back the dark for a stretch, or seek the Everlit Lantern at Lantern’s End — a trinket whose flame never dies. Your status line shows whether you’re lit or in the dark.
v2.57 — Reading the fight
Critical strikes now look critical — a bigger golden number with a flourish, so you see the big hits, not just read them in the log. And when you slip a blow, a DODGE or MISS pops up where the strike would have landed. Small reads on top of the battle screen’s floating numbers, status chips and ⚠ wind-up warnings.
v2.56 — First steps
New Ashbound now get a guiding hand. A welcome greets you on waking, and gentle prompts appear the first time you level up or pick up gear you haven’t worn — on top of the tips that already explain combat, the map, the forge and more. Seasoned players can switch tips off any time, or replay them from the Game Guide.
v2.55 — Join the Discord
The title screen now has a Join our Discord button beside the Facebook link — come trade builds, compare Trial depths, and tell us what you find.
v2.54 — Teleport, confirmed
Tearing a Teleport Scroll now asks you to confirm first — so a stray tap on the map never costs you a scroll by mistake.
v2.53 — Teleport Scrolls
Fast travel is now earned, not free. From level 10, you can leap between discovered havens on the MAP by tearing a one-use Teleport Scroll — sold at any market for 900 gold. A welcome shortcut across the Cinderlands, and a fine reason to keep some coin in your purse.
v2.52 — A bestiary worth filling
The bestiary is now sorted by region — each Act has its own section, with a tally of how many of its creatures you’ve recorded — and every entry notes where its quarry is found. Three new feats reward the devoted hunter: master half the bestiary, master all of it, and fell every boss in the Cinderlands.
v2.51 — The Bestiary, alive
The bestiary is now a true field journal. Every creature carries a grim line of lore, and entries deepen as you hunt: Studied at 10 kills reveals a creature’s drops and lore, Mastered at 25 completes it — and each milestone pays out XP and gold. Bosses count as mastered the moment they fall. Fill the journal, and little in the Cinderlands will surprise you.
v2.50 — Menu, sorted
Menu buttons are now grouped by purpose — your adventuring tools (Bounties, Bestiary, Feats, Forge, Daily, Chronicle, Map, Guide) sit above the housekeeping ones (Passcode, Settings, Export, Cloud, Title, Report a Bug), divided by a thin line, with Save spanning its own row across the bottom.
v2.49 — Tidier menu
The in-game menu is now a clean two-column grid — every button the same size, with no more mix of full-width rows and side-by-side pairs.
v2.48 — Gem-cutting at the Forge
The rare Raw Gem you turn up while mining, fishing and woodcutting can now be cut at the Forge into the gem of your choosing — Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Garnet, Citrine, or a Sunstone — for a little gold. A dependable, you-pick way to feed your sockets, alongside Hagra’s stall and the spoils of champions and Wardens.
v2.47 — Crossing into new lands
The first time you press into a new Act — the Mires, the Emberwood, Cinderpeak and onward — the world pauses to set the scene. A short vignette names the land you’re entering and what it holds, giving a little more weight to the journey as the Ashlands open around you.
v2.46 — Gems & Sockets
Equippable gear now has sockets — the richer the piece, the more (up to three). Open a piece of gear in your BAG and slot gems for extra stats: Ruby (STR), Sapphire (INT), Emerald (AGI), Garnet (Max HP), Citrine (Max MP), or a Sunstone (a little of all three). Gems apply while the gear is worn and can be pried back out to your bag any time. Find gems at Hagra the bog-witch’s stall in the Mire, and as spoils from slain champions and the Trial’s Wardens.
v2.45 — Tidier top & centred buttons
Button labels are now centred everywhere (menu choices stay left-aligned for easy reading), and the top of the play screen has been cleaned up — your name and save state share one line, your location sits below, and the current objective gets its own full-width line, with more room to breathe.
v2.44 — Colourblind palette
A new Colourblind palette option in ⚙ Settings recolours the game’s health/mana and success/failure cues to a higher-contrast, red–green-friendly set (cool teal for gains, warm orange for harm, a distinct blue for mana). Elemental weaknesses already carry icons and words, so they read clearly either way. Remembered per device.
v2.43 — Champion badges
Champions slain now earn a crown 👑 that rides beside your name on the leaderboards, on the title screen’s save list, and in your standing — climbing in colour as the tally grows (bronze → silver → gold → a burning legend at 50+).
v2.42 — Community & credit
The title screen now links to the Cinderlands community on Facebook — come share runs, deaths, and daily-Trial depths — and carries a small credit: a game by Caleb Holder.
v2.41 — Trial & Daily leaderboards
The 🏆 Leaderboard gains two boards. 🕳 Trial ranks the deepest descents into the endless Trial of Ash. 📅 Today ranks everyone’s depth in today’s sealed Daily Trial — a fair race, since the day’s gauntlet is identical for every Ashbound. Cloud-sync a character to take your place; your standing shows on each board.
v2.40 — Cleaner Skills screen
The Skills tab no longer lists your known abilities twice — the redundant “Known Abilities” list is gone, and the tiered tree below (with ✓ on what you’ve unlocked) is now the single source of truth.
v2.39 — The Daily
A new 📅 Daily board gives you a reason to return each day. Today’s Trial is a sealed, scaling descent — the same gauntlet for every Ashbound that day — with one scored run, a recorded best depth, and a growing day-streak. Today’s Charge is a single daily goal (slay foes, fell a boss, descend the Trial…) that pays out gold, XP, or goods. Both reset at midnight, and you can also begin the day’s Trial from the rift’s edge.
v2.38 — Larger text, everywhere
The Text size option now scales the pop-out menus too — the Chronicle, quest log, game guide, feats, shop and bag, leaderboard, and the Hall of the Fallen — so the whole game grows with your choice, not just the story and combat log.
v2.37 — Larger text option
A new Text size control in ⚙ Settings enlarges the story, combat log, action buttons, and dialogue — choose Standard, Large, or Larger for easier reading. Your choice is remembered on this device.
v2.36 — The Chronicle
A new 📖 Chronicle button (in the side panel) opens the tale of your hero so far — your class, level, and New Game+ cycle; how far the sun is rekindled and how many Embers you’ve gathered; foes and bosses felled, champions slain, and how much of the bestiary you’ve come to know; the places you’ve walked, side quests closed, and feats earned. Your legend, at a glance.
v2.35 — The Quest log, by Act
The Quest log now reads like a roadmap: the Sunshard spine and its seven-shard checklist at the top, then every side quest grouped under its Act — the Mires, the Emberwood, on through the Mended Sky. And once you enter New Game+, a new Acts Beyond section appears, tracking your Embers of the First Light and the deep quests of the Verge, Forge, and Unmaking. The first time you unmake the Hollow Dawn, a note now explains exactly what New Game+ opens — so the deeper road is never a mystery.
v2.34 — Warp flash & mobile sound
Fast-travelling between discovered havens now blooms with a flash of light as the known roads fold beneath you. And sound now wakes properly on iPhone and iPad — the first tap unlocks the audio, as iOS requires. (Still silent on an iPhone? Check the hardware silent switch on the side isn’t flipped.)
v2.33 — The road to the Acts Beyond
The way into the Acts Beyond is clearer now. In New Game+, once you re-mend the sky, your quest log points you onward — and a standing path, “The wound reopens,” waits at the Mended Sky to carry you into the Ashen Verge (VIII), the First Forge (IX), and the Unmaking (X). No more wondering where the deeper road begins.
v2.32 — Elemental weakness
Every foe now has an elemental nature. Your attacks carry an element of their own — a knight’s steel ⚔, a mage’s ember 🔥, a rogue’s shadow 🌑 (and every basic strike is steel). Strike a foe’s weakness and the blow lands far harder; hit what it resists and it’s blunted. Each enemy now shows its weakness and resistance right on its nameplate — exploit the matchup with the right class or rune, or fall back on a plain steel strike.
v2.31 — Champions stalk the Cinderlands
Some foes now rise as ★ Champions — rare, elite versions wreathed in a golden glow and bearing a title that shapes the fight: Brutal ones strike with furious force, Venomous ones leave you poisoned, Ironhide ones shrug off blows, and Vampiric ones drink your lifeblood to heal. They’re a true threat — but they pay out far richer XP, gold, and spoils. Tread the deeper acts ready for them.
v2.30 — Know before you wear it
Inspect any piece of gear — in a shop or in your bag — and you’ll now see exactly how it stacks up against what you’re already wearing: a clean + / − for each stat against your current piece, right below its own stats. No more guessing whether a shiny new blade is actually an upgrade.
v2.29 — Balance: steel & shadow
Warrior and scout shouldn’t be outshone by spellcraft. Your basic attack now scales with your better of Strength or Agility — so an agile fighter finally hits like one. The Ashblade and Duskwalker also draw a little more focus each level to lean on their own skills. Earthbreaker now arrives at level 9 and costs a touch more — still a hammer, just not an early crutch. The Embermage’s spells are untouched: magic remains its calling. And the climb to each new level is steadier than before.
v2.28 — Strike faster
Attacking is quicker, especially on a phone. Tap the enemy to land a basic attack — no scrolling down a long screen to find the button. On a keyboard, press A or the spacebar to attack. (The 1–6 keys still fire your hotbar items.)
v2.27 — The Leaderboard
Cloud-synced characters now stand on a shared Leaderboard, reachable from the title screen. See the mightiest Ashbound ranked by level — overall, by class (Embermage, Ashblade, Duskwalker), and a board all their own for the Hardcore. Each entry shows name, class, level, the Act reached, shards and NG+ depth; your own character is highlighted, and your overall standing — your rank out of every cloud Ashbound — is shown even when you sit below the visible board. Set a Cloud PIN when you forge a character to take your place.
v2.26 — Find your footing
New players are no longer left to guess. A persistent ◈ NEXT banner sits above your choices and always names your current goal — where to head, what to claim — and counts your Sunshards as you find them. For a freshly forged character it’s joined by a short First Steps checklist (win a fight, equip your gear, open the map, reach level 2) that quietly ticks itself off and bows out once you’ve found your feet.
v2.25 — One life
A new Hardcore mode, chosen when you forge a character: one life, no second chances. Fall in the world and the character is gone — no waking at the hearth, no gold-and-XP toll, just the end. Heroes who made a real attempt — level 15 and up — are kept in the Hall of the Fallen on the title screen. It’s the truest test the Cinderlands offer. (The Trial still spares you — it ends that run, but you walk away.)
v2.24 — Stand your ground
A new Defend action joins every fight: brace for a turn to cut the next blow by more than half and recover a little focus, at the cost of your attack. It’s the answer the game kept hinting at — when a foe winds up a telegraphed ⚠ heavy strike, you can now plant your feet and weather it. The status chips also gained two readouts: when you’re Empowered (◈) and when a foe is Enraged (💢).
v2.23 — Read the battle at a glance
Combat now wears its state on its sleeve. Status chips sit beneath each combatant — guard, afflictions, your buffs, stuns — each showing turns remaining or damage per turn, so you always know what’s ticking. And when a foe winds up a heavy blow, a clear ⚠ banner names the incoming strike a full turn early, giving you time to heal, raise your defenses, or break them first.
v2.22 — Save safety
Two guards against losing progress on phones: the game now asks the browser for persistent storage so it won’t quietly clear your save to reclaim space, and once you’ve made some headway it offers a gentle one-time reminder to back up — to the Cloud or as a save code — for anyone who hasn’t yet. The recovery options were always there; now they find you before you need them.
v2.21 — Settings & reduce motion
A new ⚙ Settings panel (in the side controls) with a Reduce Motion toggle — it stops the screen shake and flash in battle and the drifting particles in every scene, while keeping damage numbers and all the readable feedback intact. The sound toggle lives here too. Your choice is remembered on this device.
v2.20 — At home on a phone
Touch polish: the layout now respects the notch and home-indicator safe areas, a double-tap no longer zooms the screen, taps don’t flash or accidentally select text, and a stray swipe won’t bounce or reload the page. Names, passcodes and the save code stay fully selectable and copyable.
v2.19 — Pouches
Your bag is now sorted into pouches — Gear, Consumables, Runes, Materials, Tools and Key items — each a tappable chip showing how many kinds it holds. Tap one to see just that pouch; reaching for a potion mid-fight opens straight to Consumables. (Bags stay roomy for now — capacity limits may come later.)
v2.18 — Loops, marked
Battles and areas meant for grinding — the ones that loop you right back to the same scene — now show a quiet ↻, so a deliberate loop never reads as a dead end. With ✓ for cleared and ▸ for the road ahead, every choice now tells you what it is at a glance.
v2.17 — Paths remembered
A path to a foe you’ve actually put down now carries a quiet green ✓; everything still ahead of you keeps the ember ▸. Only one-time encounters count — shops, brewing, cooking, carving, resting and anything else you can do again are never marked.
v2.16 — Vignettes
The great beats of the journey now pause to be seen. Lifting each of the seven sunshards, the moment a boss rises to meet you, and every ending earns an illustrated card — an establishing shot of the place and the foe, with a line of its own. Twenty boss introductions and thirteen story beats, base game through Acts Beyond.
v2.15 — A place that reads as itself
Beyond their region, special places now look like what they are: shard chambers blaze with the shard itself, shrines bear a lit altar, markets raise their striped awnings and stacked wares, notice-boards hang with postings, and the safe havens keep a warm hearth burning. And every boss now fights beneath a blood-charged sky flanked by braziers. Layered over all 19 region scenes, base game through Acts Beyond.
v2.14 — A face to every name
Portraits now greet you at every named figure and vendor across the whole journey — Warleader Voss at the banked fires, the Blind Seer, the Gilded Oracle, Wellkeeper Sol, the lampkeepers and salvage-traders of the last roads, the Grieving Widow of the moor, the Weeping Statue of the drowned city. Base game through Acts Beyond.
v2.13 — Every region its own face
A sweeping art pass: every region of the world now has its own scene. The Wastes smoke under a dead sky, the First Forge glows with molten cracks, the Gloammoor drifts pale and cold, the Verge frays at the edge of nothing, the Unmaking churns violet — each with its own light, silhouette, and atmosphere. No more corner of the journey wears Ashvale’s face. Thirteen new biome scenes in all, base game through Acts Beyond.
v2.12 — Living scenes
The world no longer sits still. Embers rise over the cinder-paths, ash drifts through the deep places, and spores hang over the mires — each region now breathes with its own atmosphere. And when you stand before someone who matters — Elder Maren, the bog-witch, the folk of Ashvale — a framed portrait now appears in the scene, so you see who you face, not just where you are.
v2.11 — The death screen
Defeat now lands. When you fall, the screen goes dark and a blunt You are dead. screen lays your losses bare — the XP and gold the dark took from you — before you wake at the last hearth. No more scrolling the log to see what a death cost.
v2.10 — Death bites back
Falling in battle now costs more than coin. On death you still surrender a share of your gold — and now the dark frays your XP, setting back your progress toward the next level. You’ll never lose a level you’ve already earned, but a careless death sets back your climb, and the deeper you are the more it stings. (The endless Trial keeps its own rules.)
v2.9 — Elixir economy & shrine fix
The Sun Elixir is now a true rarity: far pricier to buy and a much rarer drop, so an instant full-heal is a deliberate panic button — not something you can stockpile to buy your way through the acts and bosses. Also fixed the cliff-shrine blessing: its +20 Max HP / +10 Max MP now sticks for good (it was being quietly undone on the next stat change), and the bonus is restored for anyone who already claimed it.
v2.8 — Elixirs are instant
Full-restore elixirs like the Sun Elixir are now instant in battle: drinking one no longer hands the enemy a free turn, so a full heal actually leaves you at full and your turn continues. Ordinary Healing and Mana draughts still take a turn as before.
v2.7 — Combat audio
Bosses now sound as dangerous as they look. You’ll hear the rising tension as one winds up a heavy blow, the weight of it landing, a sharp clang when it raises its guard, and a stinger the moment it shifts phase or enrages — all woven into the existing synth soundtrack.
v2.6 — Boss mechanics & phases
Bosses now fight back with intent. They wind up telegraphed heavy blows — a clear warning one turn before a devastating strike, so you can raise a guard, heal, or race to break them first. As their health falls they shift phases: past 60% their specials come faster, and below 30% they enrage, hitting harder and more often. The Acts-Beyond bosses — the Hollow Echo, the Sunwright, the Sentinel of the Deep, and the Unmade — lead the charge with full move sets.
v2.5 — Battle screen & combat feel
Combat now plays out on a proper battle screen: the creature you’re fighting looms large over a lit stage, with nameplates and health for both you and your foe. Hits land with floating damage numbers, a flash, and a shake — so every strike feels like it connects.
v2.4.2 — Mastery, anywhere
The Mastery sink no longer requires a trip to Ashvale Square. Once your skill tree is complete (or there’s nothing left to buy), a MASTERY section now appears at the bottom of the SKILLS panel — spend surplus Skill Points on permanent STR, INT, AGI, or Max HP from anywhere.
v2.4.1 — Balance pass
Smoothed the difficulty curve across the Acts. The Ashen Verge creatures hit harder (no more soft spot between Acts VII and IX), and several mid-game bosses were brought up to their Act — the Drowned King, the Sky Warden, the Glasswright, and the Barrow Warden. Road Bandits and Hollow Embermages also scale up a little so they stay a real threat on the deeper roads.
v2.4 — The Mastery Altar
Skill Points no longer go to waste. Once you’ve unlocked every tier of your class tree, The Mastery Altar appears in Ashvale Square — spend surplus Skill Points there to permanently raise STR, INT, AGI, or Max HP. A endless sink for the deep New Game+ cycles.
v2.3 — New Game+ fix
The NG+ button on the title screen now asks for confirmation before starting a cycle and can no longer be triggered repeatedly — it begins exactly one New Game+ and takes you straight into it. (Also retired some temporary testing buttons.)
v2.2 — Acts Beyond: Side Quests
Each deep region now hides a side quest, found by exploring it: The Faces in the Ash (lay echoes to rest in the Verge), The Last Smith (bring Sun-Iron to a half-made smith in the Forge), and The Name of the Dark (hunt Deep Horrors in the Unmaking). Each rewards gold, XP and useful goods — the smith even parts with a Skill Point. With this, the Acts Beyond carry their own quests, bounties, feats, forge gear and guide entries.
v2.1 — Acts Beyond: Feats & Forge
Four new feats track the descent — Echo Unmade, The Forge Relit, Sentinel Broken, and the capstone Beyond the Dawn (+4 to all stats). And the Forge now does something with the new materials: three craftable masterworks, each unlocked by its region’s boss — the Vergewrought Edge (weapon, Umbral Ash), the Sun-Iron Bulwark (armor, Sun-Iron), and the Voidheart Sigil (trinket, Void Shard).
v2.0.1 — Acts Beyond: Continuity
The meta-systems now follow the expansion. The four Acts-Beyond bosses are flagged as bosses (so they earn ★ bestiary cards and count toward boss feats), the bounty board now issues cull, elite and boss contracts for the Verge, Forge and Unmaking, and the Game Guide has a new Acts Beyond section.
v2.0 — The Unmaking (Act X) · the Acts Beyond, complete
The final descent is real. The Unmaking has its own deep-dark creatures — Voidshades and Deep Horrors — an explorable Long Dark to plumb for Void Shards, the Sentinel of the Deep rebuilt with its own form, and at the bottom of everything the Unmade — Nihl, the Dark Before Dawn: a true final boss. Drive it back to claim the Mantle of the Unmade. With this, the New Game+ expansion (Acts VIII–X) is content-complete — and the road still goes deeper in cycles to come.
v1.10 — The First Forge (Act IX)
The First Forge is now a real place: its own creatures — swift Emberlings and lumbering Slag Brutes — an explorable slag-field with a cold anvil to crack open for Sun-Iron, and the Sunwright rebuilt as a true boss with its own sprite. New loot includes the Forgeheart Mail. The quest log now tracks The Acts Beyond, showing your Embers of the First Light (X/3) as you descend.
v1.9 — Harder, Deeper
The Acts Beyond no longer hand you their bosses. Each region now makes you fight your way down — a gauntlet of creatures (and, in the Verge, a Warden) stands between the entrance and the boss’s lair. And the bosses hit far harder: the Hollow Echo, Sunwright, Sentinel of the Deep, and the Unmade have all been substantially toughened.
v1.8 — The Ashen Verge (Act VIII)
Act VIII is now a real place. The Ashen Verge has its own creatures — Verge Shades and Unselves drifting the ash-fields — a Mirror Pool to plumb, hidden Umbral Ash to gather, and at its heart the Hollow Echo: a proper boss wearing your own face. (The First Forge and the Unmaking get the same treatment next.)
v1.7 — The Acts Beyond (NG+ Expansion · Part 1)
New Game+ now opens a road that didn’t exist before. After you re-mend the sky in NG+, the wound reopens — and three new Acts unfold beyond it: VIII · The Ashen Verge, IX · The First Forge, and X · The Unmaking. Gather the three Embers of the First Light and drive back the Unmade. This is the first part of a deeper descent — the road goes further in cycles to come.
v1.6.1 — Glowing Upgrade Slots
The equipment screen now pulses a green glow on any slot — empty ones included — that has a better item waiting in your bag, so upgrades catch your eye before you even open it.
v1.6 — Upgrade Finder
Never miss better gear again. Equipment in your bag now shows a green ▲ when it’s an upgrade over what you’re wearing — judged for your class, so a mage and a knight get different picks. Tap any piece to see whether it’s an upgrade, sidegrade, or downgrade against your current gear.
v1.5.1 — Title Screen Hints
The title screen now explains itself: short hints describe what Continue, 🔑 (clear a forgotten passcode), ✕ (delete), Import Save Code, Load from Cloud, and Release Notes each do — so you know before you tap. On desktop you can also hover any button for a tooltip.
v1.5 — REPORT A BUG
Spot something broken? There’s now a 🐞 Report a Bug button in the menu. Tell us what happened and it’s sent straight to us — with your game version and where you were attached automatically, so we can track it down. No account needed.
v1.4.1 — Side Quest Rewards
Side quests now pay off. Every side quest grants meaningful XP — which also helps you reach the recommended level before the road ahead — and the leaner early quests (the Lost Caravan, Echoes in the Ash) now also hand out Rune-Dust and extra gold. They stay optional; they’re just well worth your while now.
v1.4 — ACT GATES
The way onward now stays sealed (🔒) until you’ve claimed the current region’s Sunshard by defeating its boss — no more wandering into the next Act before you’ve earned it. And if you try to press on while under-leveled or with side quests still underway, the game gives you a heads-up and lets you decide whether to go anyway. Side quests stay optional.
v1.3 — THE ROAD BETWEEN
Crossing between regions is a journey now, not a jump. Each major passage — east into the Mires, up to Cinderpeak, down to the Drowned City, across to the Sunfall Wastes — unfolds over several beats, with a chance to make camp and rest, forage for materials, or push on through whatever waits on the road. The Mire’s side-paths into the Emberwood and Gloammoor get a quieter passage of their own, and wandering travelers may still cross yours along the way.
v1.2.1 — Save Code Integrity
Exported save codes now carry an integrity checksum, so a code that has been hand-edited is caught and refused on import. Your existing save codes and cloud characters keep working exactly as before.
v1.2 — BACK UP TO CLOUD
Made a character in the browser without a cloud account? You can back it up anytime now. In-game, tap ☁ TO CLOUD, choose a cloud name and PIN, and your existing hero is claimed to your account — syncing across devices from then on (and ready for the iOS app). Previously this was only possible while creating a brand-new character.
v1.1.2 — Quest Log Fix
Four Sunfall Wastes side quests — The Darkening Spring, The Buried Caravan, The Mirror’s Price, and The Sunless Reliquary — now appear on the Quest tab alongside every other quest. The quest registry is unified into a single source of truth so none can fall through the cracks again.
v1.1.1 — Fixes & Polish
Fixed a stray code-glyph on the familiar-taming prompt. The Weeping Statue now reads its riddle aloud in its own inscription dialog, and its answers are clearly framed — so the puzzle finally makes sense.
v1.1 — RUNES
Runes are class-bound battle consumables whose damage scales with INT — so even an Ashblade or Duskwalker is rewarded for investing a little into INT. Strike runes blast a foe and leave them burning, sundered, or poisoned; empower sigils aid your very next attack without spending your turn. Use them straight from the battle action menu.
Runecarving is a new profession: buy a Rune-Chisel and carve runes at the Rune-Stones in Cinderhollow from gathered materials. Salvage any rune back into Rune-Dust to fuel greater ones.
v1.0 — LAUNCH
Welcome to Cinderlands. This first public release is the complete journey of the Ashbound — from the ashes of Ashvale to the mending of the broken sky.
The Adventure
A seven-Act campaign across a shattered world. Gather all seven Sunshards, overcome the guardians and region bosses, and undo what broke the sun. Complete it and New Game+ opens — carry everything you've become into a crueler run, cycle after cycle.
Forge Your Hero
Three classes — Embermage, Ashblade, and Duskwalker — with branching skill trees, allocatable stats, and deep gear. Turn-based combat with abilities, afflictions, guards, and critical strikes, plus a full professions system and the Forge for crafting.
Companions & the Open Road
Familiars: at level 6+, tame a class-bound companion in the wilds that fights at your side every turn. Wandering NPCs: chance meetings on the roads between havens — traveling merchants, kindly villagers and pilgrims, and dangers like bandits and hollow embermages. Story NPCs greet you face-to-face with portraits.
Always More to Do
Descend the endless, scaling Trial of Ash; take bounties for rewards; fill out the bestiary; and chase permanent feats.
Play Anywhere
Cloud accounts let you set a PIN and carry a character across devices. Back up any run as a code or a file, learn the ropes from in-game tips and the full Game Guide, and get your bearings from the title-screen welcome panel.
Thank you for playing. The Cinderlands will keep growing — watch this space for what's next.