A game by Hardline Interactive
Hearthwake
A fantasy roguelike deckbuilder. Every run brings home materials to rebuild a burnt-out village.
- Developer
- Hardline Interactive
- Release
- Coming soon
- Platforms
- Single-player
- Steam Cloud
- Full controller support
- Adjustable text size
- Custom volume controls
- Playable without timed input
About the game
The village is a burnt-out ruin, and only the Hearth still burns in its square. Set out from it as the Warden, a shield knight, and fight your way through Thornwood with a deck of cards. The trail branches between fights, Waysides, Camps, Caches and the Peddler’s cart, and at its far end waits the Heartwood, the wood’s walking heart.
Every turn brings three Embers to spend and five cards from your Satchel. Twice a fight you can Stoke a card, throwing it on the campfire for one more Ember, and some cards grow stronger with every card in the Ashes. Your cards grow with you, too: each fight you win gives XP to a card you played in it, and when it’s ready you choose which of two ways it grows, then take it on to its capstone.
Win or lose, every run brings Timber, Herbs and Renown home to the village. Raise the Smithy, the Chapel and the Training Yard, and watch the square mend as each one rises. The village can send help with your next run, from a card that starts already grown to a perk for the road, but every piece of it is paid for from the stores, and it’s weighed so it helps without winning the run for you.
Build the Chapel and the Ember Witch comes, with Hexes that set foes Smouldering and Charms that feed cards to the fire. Earn enough Renown and the Trickster follows, with cheap Edges, Ruses and chains of cards.
Features
- Three heroes, each with a way of fighting of their own: the Warden's Guard and Retaliate, the Ember Witch's fire and hexes, and the Trickster's cheap cards and chains.
- Over 80 cards, and every one can grow. Give it XP from the fights it helped win, choose one of two branches at level 2, then its capstone at level 3.
- Stoke: twice a fight, throw a card on the campfire for an extra Ember. Kindled cards grow stronger with every card in the Ashes.
- A branching trail through Thornwood, with fights, elites, Waysides, Camps, Caches and the Peddler, and the Heartwood waiting at its end.
- Over 20 Trinkets and Tonics to find, buy and carry.
- A burnt-out village to rebuild with what every run brings home, won or lost. Its square is painted, and it mends as each building rises.
- The Smithy, Chapel and Training Yard send help with your runs, practice fights let you try any card against any foe you've met, and the Memorial remembers every run.
- Painted art by firelight, from the Warden's cards to Thornwood's foes and the village square. Grown cards wear iron on their frames, then gold.
Accessibility
- Separate volume sliders for everything, the music and the sounds. Each goes down to silent.
- Three text sizes: Normal, Large and Larger. They make the text and the screens bigger.
- Fullscreen or windowed.
- Reduce motion. The intro and the logo simply fade in and out, and the drifting embers and smoke are turned off.
- No timers. It's turn-based, and you take each turn in your own time.
- Plays with a mouse, a keyboard or a controller. Stoke and End Turn have their own keys (S and E) and pad buttons (X and Y).
- You can Stoke a card with a button instead of dragging it to the fire.
- Enemies show what they'll do next, and pointing at any fighter shows what it will do and what's on it.
- Any key, click or button skips the intro.
Not in yet
- Reduce motion for fights: the cards still fly, fan out and flip
- A colour-blind or high-contrast mode (raised and lowered numbers on cards are shown in green and red)
- Remapping keys and buttons
- Languages other than English
Need one of these, or something else? Let me know.
Questions
How is it different from other deckbuilders?
Two ways. Your cards level up as you play them, and you choose how each one grows. And between runs you rebuild a burnt-out village with what each run brings home.
Do I lose everything when a run goes badly?
No. Every run, won or lost, brings home the Materials you found and earns Renown for the village. A win brings home half as much again. The Memorial keeps a record of every run.
Won't the village make it too easy?
It's built not to. Each building's help is paid for from the village's stores every time you set out. A bot plays hundreds of whole runs every time the game is tested, with and without the village's help, to keep it all in balance. Nothing is meant to be overpowered.
Can I stop in the middle of a run?
Yes. The run saves as you enter each place on the trail and as you finish it, and Continue on the title screen picks it up. A fight you left starts over the same.
How do I get the other heroes?
The Warden is there from the start. The Ember Witch comes when the Chapel is built, and the Trickster at Renown level 5.
When is it out, and on what?
The release date and price aren't announced yet. It's being made for Windows and Linux, and plays with a mouse, keyboard or controller.