fallspark

The crystals fell. The wilds went bad.

Fallspark is a fast top-down gunslinger roguelite. Fight through the Thornwild as Crux, a masked gunslinger with twin revolvers, a long coat and a short fuse. Every run is a string of quick arena fights, with a new gun or mod after each one and a boss waiting at the end.

Early development: this is the vertical slice, with one world, one hero and one boss. More heroes, more worlds and co-op are on the way.

How a run works

• Clear five arenas, then face the boss. Each arena is 30 to 90 seconds of waves.
• After each fight you pick your next door. Each one shows its reward: a mod (pick 1 of 3), a gun, shards, health, a shop to spend your shards, or an elite fight that is harder but pays a rare mod or gun. Choosing your route is choosing your build.
• You carry two guns. Crux's Twin Irons never run dry; guns you find use ammo that enemies drop.
• Mods stack and every card shows its exact numbers.
• You have 6 hearts. Lose them all and the run is over.

Crux's kit

• Reload dash: dashing reloads your gun, and the first shot after a reload always crits. You get two dash charges, and you can't be hit mid-dash.
• Fan the Hammer: empties the cylinder in one wide spray. Recharges over a few seconds.
• Deadeye: charges as you deal damage. Time slows, every enemy on screen gets marked, and each one takes a shot.

Spark: burn hotter as you kill

Kills heat you up through six ranks: Trace, Hot, Irradiated, Critical, Meltdown, Ground Zero. Each rank hits harder and fires faster, and Crux glows brighter with a radioactive aura. Crits, elites and quick kill chains heat you faster. Take a hit and you drop two ranks, so stay moving.

Pickups

• Overdrive: 8 seconds of double damage and extra speed.
• Phase: 4 seconds of invincibility.
• Hearts and ammo drop from enemies. Crystal shards fly to you and pay for the shop.

What's out there

• Shardfang: crystal-spined wolves that crouch, then lunge.
• Hollowhorn: a stag that shows its charge line first. Make it slam into a wall and it's stunned: punish it.
• Glassmite: crystal spiders that swarm in fast.
• Spinelark: a skeletal heron sniper. It shows its aim line on the ground, then fires one big shard.
• Ashmoth: a giant moth that sheds slow rings and spirals of spores to weave through.
• Elites wear a crown, hit harder and burst when they die.

The Rotwood

A dead tree giant that hunts you across the Rotwood Ring. It stalks you, sinks into the ground and bursts up beneath you. Some tips:

• Every attack cracks the ground first. When the cracks glow bright, get out.
• If its claw slam misses, the claws get stuck: it's EXPOSED and takes double damage. Unload.
• Its strongest move is the Rot Bloom, a storm of orbs. Hide behind the central oak or the rocks, or slip through the gaps in the spiral.
• Each new phase drops a couple of hearts between you and it. Grab them.

Controls

Keyboard and mouse or gamepad (Xbox layout by default; you can switch button labels in Settings). The game switches its on-screen prompts to whatever you touched last.

• Move: WASD or arrow keys / left stick
• Aim: mouse / right stick (pushing the right stick also fires, with light aim assist)
• Fire: left mouse / RT
• Dash (reloads): Space / LT or B
• Fan the Hammer: right mouse / RB
• Deadeye: F / LB
• Reload: R / X
• Swap guns: Q / Y
• Pick up gun: E / A
• Pick a card: 1, 2, 3 or click / D-pad and A
• Pause: Esc / Menu (Start)

Tips

• Dash through danger, not away from it: the dash makes you invincible and reloads you.
• Save Deadeye for a crowded screen.
• Every attack glows or shows a line before it lands. Watch the crystals.