DARK FANTASY · RUNE PUZZLES · REAL-TIME STRATEGY

They brought torches.
You brought the dark.

In We Are Dungeon!, you are the intelligence beneath the stone. Adventurers have entered your halls, hungry for treasure and the secrets around your Dungeon Heart. Forge monsters, traps, curses, and temptations from magical runes. Prepare the next chamber before they reach it. Make their ambition work for you.

Play free on itch.io →

Single player · Desktop browser · Playable prototype in active development

Forge your will. Choose their fate.

The rune board creates your arsenal. The dungeon decides how you use it. Every encounter can feed the next: Runes → Rituals → Consequences → Essence.

Gameplay: the dungeon map, rune Forge, Ritual Rack, and adventurer party. — Prototype gameplay: watch the expedition while preparing your next Ritual.

01 · Forge

Swap neighboring runes on an 8 × 8 board to activate connected groups of three or more. Larger groups, hybrid schools, and catalysts shape your creations. Store up to four Rituals for the rooms ahead.

02 · Deploy

Read the projected route and arrival countdown. Select a Ritual to enter Focus Mode: the Forge pauses and the dungeon slows while you choose a site. Manifestation takes time—plan ahead.

03 · Harvest

Fear, Greed, and Death generate Essence. Spend it to reshape runes and empower your Rituals. What happens in one chamber becomes the power behind your next move.

Five schools. So many bad ideas.

🔴 Beasts — Give hunger a body. Summon creatures to confront the expedition.

🟢 Traps — Teach stone to bite. Prepare hazards where the next step matters.

🟣 Terror — Unmake their courage. Turn fear into an opening.

🟡 Temptation — Let greed lead them. Make a dangerous detour irresistible.

🔵 Arcane — Steal precious time. Delay and redirect intruders while you prepare.

Combine schools into hybrid Rituals, experiment with catalysts, and consult the Writ of Ritual Rites for illustrated recipes, effects, and placement rules. Attune a recipe to guide the Forge when its ingredients are available.

The Writ of Ritual Rites displays illustrated recipes, effects, and placement rules. — The Writ of Ritual Rites: study your options before you set the welcome.

Your enemies learn. And they make friends.

A Paladin brings courage and defense. A Rogue brings sharp eyes and wandering hands. A Mage offers arcane protection. A Cleric keeps hope—and the party—alive. Read their personalities and use Dungeon Insight to uncover exploitable secrets.

Each expedition remembers the Rituals it encounters at particular sites. Repeating the same trick becomes less effective, and familiar bait stops attracting that party. Change your recipes. Change your locations. Keep them guessing.

Promotional illustration of adventurers joining forces in a dungeon chamber. — Promotional illustration: their alliance is your problem.

When separate parties meet in a room, they share what they have learned and may merge into one larger expedition. Use tempting branches, delays, and displacement to separate their routes. Destroy an isolated threat before it becomes a united one.

Choose how much trouble comes knocking.

Five difficulties take you from Wanderers through Adventurers, Veterans, and Warband to Guild Champions. Incoming expeditions range from three to eight intruders, with tougher and faster enemies as the challenge rises.

One wave

One expedition. A focused introduction to the art of an unwelcome reception.

Three waves

A longer defense, with fresh arrivals putting your preparations under pressure.

Endless

No final wave. Keep your Heart beating for as long as you can.

Up to three parties can be active at once, moving and fighting independently through your shared dungeon.

They descend. You become greater.

Between expeditions, spend earned Embers to grow the dungeon. Carve rooms, connect passages, add Ritual capacity, and bind affinities that strengthen matching Rituals. Return with a deeper dungeon and a different plan.

Dungeon growth editor showing connected chambers, Ritual capacity, and room affinities. — Dungeon growth: reshape your domain and invest in the sites that matter.

One chest. A terrible amount of possibility.

Exceptional rune play can forge a Chaos Reliquary. You know it is powerful. You do not know what is inside. A monster, a windfall, or a gift for the very intruders you hoped to destroy? Place it and let curiosity do its work.

Before you awaken

How to play: Use a desktop browser and mouse. Fullscreen is recommended. Swap adjacent runes to forge Rituals, then select a stored Ritual and click a highlighted dungeon site to deploy it.

Take a breath: Press Escape to pause. Focus Mode slows the dungeon while you choose a placement; a full pause stops it.

Keep your progress: Use Save Progress or Save & return to entrance. Resume through Awaken. Checkpoints and permanent growth are stored in the same browser; clearing browser data removes them.

A dungeon in development: This is a playable prototype, with balance and presentation still evolving. Portrait and promotional artwork includes generative AI; Ritual illustrations are hand-authored SVGs.

Your Heart is waiting. So are they.