Support
The questions that actually get asked. If yours isn't here, the Discord is the fastest place to get an answer.
Playing
Can I play solo?
Yes. Every mode runs offline against AI — pick your opponent count (1–3) and a difficulty, and you're playing. The Arena gauntlet is a single-player run by default, with optional two-player co-op.
How many players?
One to four. Free-for-all gives everyone their own arena and campfire. Teams puts two players in one shared arena around one shared campfire — the last fire standing wins as a team.
Is there matchmaking?
Yes. Ranked pairs you against players near your rating: queue alone for a 1v1, or invite a friend and you'll be matched against another duo. The two ladders are rated separately on the server, so a duo's result never touches your solo rating. Custom lobbies stay private, unlock the map picker, and let you fill any empty seat with a bot.
How long is a match?
A match runs until one campfire goes out, so it depends on how aggressively everyone plays. Rifts open more and enemies ramp up in strength, forcing a conclusion by around 10-15 minutes.
How good are the bots?
Good enough to punish a bad night on Hard. They gather, build, raise their base tier, climb the Armory's upgrade ladders, repair what you break, and aim cards back at you. Easy and Medium genuinely make worse calls; nothing is slowed down to let you win.
Do bots cheat?
No. No extra resources, no extra vision, no discounted costs. Every difficulty plays by exactly the rules you do. In arena mode, however, the bots are given certain advantages starting in later rounds.
Cards & progression
Is there anything to play on my own?
The Descent is a free 50-Depth campaign, one fixed fight per Depth, the same for everyone who plays it. Clear one and it's banked forever, so there's no run to lose. Depths come in four shapes: duels, Endless Night waves, sieges against a clock, and Frostfall, where every rift is sealed and the cold is the whole fight. Finish all 50 and the path keeps going into generated Depths that never run out.
What is a burn cast?
Every card has two faces. Cast at range it costs mana and resolves immediately. Walk up to your own campfire and the same card costs heat instead: the effect is stronger, but the card is exhausted for the rest of the match. Usually these are more permanent effects, such as adding monsters to your enemies' legions for all future nights, rather than spawning them immediately.
How do you unlock enchantments?
When opening card packs, you have a chance to get an enchanted variant of a card. When adding a card to your deck you can select to use the enchanted version instead of the base version. Enchantments offer unique benefits, though they often come with drawbacks. Scrolls can also be earned through progression and spent to unlock enchantments for owned cards.
How big is a deck?
Exactly 20 cards. Legendaries are singletons; every other card caps at 3 copies, and enchanted variants count against that same 3.
What happens to duplicate cards?
They become Sparks, which you can spend on a specific card you want, on a whole pack, or as the entry fee for an Arena run. Opening a pack of things you already own still moves you forward.
Technical
What platforms is it on?
Windows. A Linux build is mostly a testing job and may follow; macOS is on hold, because shipping one that doesn't look broken to the people least able to work around it means notarising it, and that needs a paid Apple developer account. The Steam Deck already runs the Windows build through Proton.
Are there controller and keybind options?
Every key can be rebound from Settings → Controls, and the mapping is saved to your profile. Controller support is not in the current build.
Is there cloud save?
Your profile is stored locally and keyed to your Steam ID when the Steam client is present, with Steam Cloud sync where it's available.
The game won't find my friend's lobby.
Make sure the Steam client is running before you launch, and that you're both on the same build. Failing that, LAN and direct IP always work and need nothing configured on a local network.
System requirements
Minimum
- OS
- Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor
- Dual-core 2.4 GHz
- Memory
- 4 GB RAM
- Graphics
- Any GPU with OpenGL 3.3 / Vulkan 1.0 support
- Storage
- 300 MB available space
- Network
- Broadband connection for Steam lobbies; LAN play needs none
Recommended
- OS
- Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
- Processor
- Quad-core 3.0 GHz
- Memory
- 8 GB RAM
- Graphics
- Dedicated GPU with Vulkan 1.0 support
- Storage
- 300 MB available space
- Network
- Broadband connection
Still stuck?
Bug reports
Discord is the fastest route. Include your map, your character, how many players were in the lobby and whether it was LAN or Steam — most reproductions hinge on one of those four.
Report on DiscordMultiplayer trouble
Direct IP over a LAN needs nothing configured. Over the open internet, forward TCP/UDP port 8910 to the host. Steam lobbies need neither — make sure the Steam client is running before you launch the game.
Balance feedback
Welcome, and actually read. If a card feels mandatory, a character feels unplayable or a map feels like it decides the match before it starts, say so — the numbers only ever tell half of that story.