IRON BURIAL
Force, impact, Overkill and turning enemies into kinetic material.
BAD OMEN BUREAU · CASE FILE 001
UNTIL THE BELLS STOP
NINE BELLS. ONE NIGHT.
DON'T BE THERE FOR THE LAST ONE.
A dark-fantasy action roguelite where every bell transforms Blackwood Parish.
THE HOOK
EVERY BELL CHANGES THE WORLD.
The bell is not a timer with better sound design. It changes what Blackwood looks like, what enters the map, what opens, what mutates and what the player has to worry about next.
FIGHT IT YOURSELF
YOU ACTUALLY SWING THE SHOVEL.
The build can become absurd, but it starts with deliberate inputs: aim the Grave Sweep, commit to Burial Slam, place Open Grave, dodge and decide where the next problem should be standing.
GRAVE SWEEPBURIAL SLAMOPEN GRAVE
BUILD THE CATASTROPHE
CHOOSE A RITE. FIND UPGRADES. SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
The Gravedigger's first demo begins with three run-long Burial Rites. They bias the direction of the build without locking it into a closed tree.
FROM A SHOVEL TO A PROBLEM FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
A successful four-Bell demo run is currently tuned around roughly 8–12 normal upgrade choices from a deliberately tight pool. Width, reach and stamina matter, but the important cards change behaviour: extra sweeps, delayed shockwaves, Bones, Grave interactions, offensive dodges and recovery that has to be earned in combat.
OSSUARY RITE
Bones become storage, ammunition and something worth building around.
BLOOD RITE
Recovery, low-health pressure and one very administrative refusal to die.
BLACKWOOD PARISH
NOT AN EMPTY FIELD WITH ENEMIES ON IT.
Blackwood is a persistent, semi-authored place: graveyards, roads, landmarks, sealed locations and optional detours. The parish stays learnable while run content shifts between authored locations.
The first public demo is deliberately smaller than the eventual game, but it already needs enough geography to make route choice, greed and remembering where something was matter.
FIRST PUBLIC BUILD
FOUR BELLS. SMALL ON PURPOSE.
The first itch.io demo is a focused proof build, not a miniature copy of the full game. It is designed to answer a few important questions: does the hook land, does a build form quickly, does Blackwood create interesting detours, and does finishing one run make another idea immediately appear?
3BURIAL RITES
15–20SHARED NORMAL UPGRADES
5FIRST-DEMO RELICS
5FIRST BELL OMENS
4BELLS IN THE PROOF BUILD
1GRAVEDIGGER WITH A SHOVEL
FOLLOW THE NIGHT AS WE BUILD IT
DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT THE CEREMONIAL FOG.
Short gameplay clips on YouTube, longer design notes in the Journal, and the public demo when it is ready.