Step 01
Descend
Kit out at the surface camp, pick a gate, and step through. Every raid drops you into hand-built halls with a different set of doors unlocked. The place is familiar, the route through it never is.
Blacklode, multiplayer dungeon extraction
Go down with a torch, a blade and two people you trust. Come back with more than you carried in, or don't come back at all.
- Platform
- PC / Steam
- Party
- Solo, duo or trio
- Build
- Pre-alpha
The premise
Everything you carry, you can lose
Beneath the ruins of Karnhollow, a vein of gold runs through black stone. The miners called it the Blacklode, and they stopped digging long before they hit the end of it, because something down there started digging back. Now the gate stands open and anyone with a blade and a bad idea can walk through it.
Every expedition is the same wager. The deeper you push, the richer the seams get, and the further you are from the only way out. There are no checkpoints and no respawns. What you drag back to the surface is banked forever. What you leave down there belongs to whoever was willing to kill you for it.
The raid
Descend. Survive. Extract.
Three steps. The third one is the hard one.
Step 02
Survive
Torch in one hand, steel in the other. The dark holds skeleton wardens and worse, but the thing most likely to kill you is another party who heard your boots two rooms back. Fight them, avoid them, or strike a deal you'll both break.
Step 03
Extract
Gold is worth nothing until it's above ground. Find an extraction point before the gates seal, hold it long enough for the ritual to take, and pull your party through. Everything that comes out with you is yours. Everything else stays.
What you're getting into
A dungeon that fights back, and so does everyone in it
Full-loot PvPvE
Every raid puts your whole kit on the line. Kill a knight in gilded plate and you walk out wearing it. Die in the same corridor and somebody else does.
Combat with weight
Directional melee where spacing, timing and stamina decide the fight, not who clicks faster. Six classes, each with its own weapon handling and perk tree.
Light is a resource
Torches burn down. Lanterns give your position away. Darkness is real cover and a real hazard, and every party has to decide how much of it they can afford.
Loot you have to carry
Everything has weight and takes up space. Your bag fills fast, and choosing what to abandon at the extraction point is its own small agony.
Traders and a living market
Sell your haul to surface merchants, commission the gear you can't find, and watch prices slide as the whole server floods the market with the same drop.
Solo, duo or three
Queue however you like. Matchmaking reads your gear score, so a runner in rags never loads into a lobby full of full-plate veterans.
Choose your descent
Six ways to die down there
Every class can carry a raid. None of them can carry it alone.
Fighter
Frontline
A wall of shield and steel who wins by refusing to give ground.
- Second Wind
- Shield Wall
- Riposte
Rogue
Ambusher
Picks the locks, picks the pockets, picks the moment.
- Hide
- Backstab
- Pick Lock
Cleric
Support
Keeps the party upright, and consecrates the ground where they fall.
- Mend
- Smite
- Sanctuary
Ranger
Skirmisher
Ends fights from across the hall, ideally before they start.
- Quickshot
- Snare
- Beastsense
Barbarian
Bruiser
Carries more, hits harder, and thinks about it afterwards.
- Rage
- Cleave
- Break Door
Wizard
Control
Fragile, slow to cast, and able to delete an entire corridor.
Abilities not announced yet.
Screenshots
Look into it
Captured in-engine. Everything here is pre-alpha and will change.
Access
Playtest access runs through Patreon
Backing the game is how you get into the Steam playtest. It funds the build and keeps the test group small enough that every bug report actually gets read.
- You might like
Deep Delver
$12 / month- 1 extra Stash Tab.
- Design channel: balance, loot and map layouts before they ship.
- Vote on what gets prototyped.
- Everything in Delver.
Playtest access on Steam
Join Deep Delver - Best value
Vein Breaker
$30 / month- Steam copy at launch.
- The Dog Pet, on every character.
- 2 extra Stash Tabs.
- Your name engraved on something in the world.
- Everything in Deep Delver.
Playtest access on Steam
Join Vein Breaker -
Charterholder
$100 / month- 2 Steam copies at launch, one of them for a friend.
- The Pegasus Mount, on every character.
- 5 extra Stash Tabs.
- Design a piece of the world: an NPC, a room, a piece of gear.
- Everything in Vein Breaker.
Playtest access on Steam
Join Charterholder -
Delver
$5 / month- Patron Discord channel.
- Written dev logs.
Playtest access on Steam
Join Delver
Roadmap
Where this is going
Dates move. When they do, they move in the Discord first.
Plate I · route of descent
-
Now · In the forge
Building the first descent
The dungeon, the extraction loop and the first classes, in our hands only. No playtest has run yet. When one is ready, the Discord hears it before anywhere else.
-
Next · Steam playtest
First test builds for backers
Small lobbies for Patreon backers at any tier, run in batches rather than on a fixed night. Everything wipes between sessions, and that's the point. We will be testing the loop, not your stash.
-
Then · Open weekends
Public stress tests
Occasional weekends opened past the backer group, with bigger lobbies and the first pass at the surface market.
-
After that · Open beta
Persistent stash and the full roster
Progress that survives the session, all six classes playable, and ranked dungeon tiers for parties who want a harder descent.
-
Later · Early access
Paid release on PC
Price, storefront and date announced well ahead of time. No surprise launches.
Survey ends here — the rest is still dark
Community
Where the next build gets decided
Patch notes, playtest announcements, squad-finding and the bug reports that shape the next build all happen in one place. Come argue about balance with the people making it.
Backers get extra channels on top: dev logs, the design channel, and priority on bugs.
Questions
Before you go down
What is Blacklode?
A multiplayer dungeon extraction game. You take a party of up to three into a dungeon full of monsters, treasure and other players, and you try to get back out with more than you brought. Die and you lose everything you were carrying.
How do I get into the playtest?
Back the game on Patreon at any tier, from $5 a month. Playtest access on Steam is included at every level. There's no separate key to hunt for and no waiting list. Once you're a backer, the Discord tells you when the next session runs.
Why is the playtest paid?
Two reasons. It pays for the build, and it keeps the test group small enough that every bug report gets read by the person who can fix it. When the game reaches open beta, that gate comes off.
Do I have to keep paying to keep playing?
Playtest access lasts as long as your membership does. Cancel and you keep everything you've already got, including the Discord and the dev logs you've read, but you drop out of the Steam playtest until you come back.
Is Blacklode pay-to-win?
No. Backing gets you into the test and into the conversation. It never gets you an advantage in a raid. Nothing that affects a fight will be for sale, and if cosmetics arrive later they stay cosmetic.
Will my progress get wiped?
During the playtest, yes, every session. Persistent stashes arrive with open beta, and any wipe after that gets announced clearly and in advance.
Can I play Blacklode solo?
Yes. Solo queue puts you in lobbies against other solo players, so you're never the only one without a party. It's a harder game alone, but it's a game built for it.
What platforms, and what will it cost at launch?
PC first, and PC properly. The plan for early access is a one-time purchase rather than free-to-play, so the economy never has to be built around selling advantages. Price and date get announced well ahead of time.