DANKLOOT

What you do

You take a hero from a camp down into a cursed crypt, one floor at a time, and the only thing you do with your hands is steer. The hero swings his weapon at whatever is in reach and fires his skills by himself, each one aiming at the thickest crowd, so the game is about where you stand and how far you push, not about pressing buttons quickly. There are four heroes to choose by the campfire: the Warrior fights up close, the Mage casts fire, frost and lightning from range, the Bonecaller fights through the dead he raises, and the Mender heals, wards and hastes. Each keeps his own gear and skill tree; all of them share one stash.

Killing monsters levels the hero up, and each level up to 30 brings a point for his skill tree (past that, every second level does). A point learns a new skill while one of his six slots is free, or adds a rank to one he has, up to five. A rank-5 skill whose matching passive he holds can evolve — Hatchet Toss with Quick Hands becomes Hatchet Storm — and the tree shows every skill, passive and evolution from the first floor, so a build is something you plan rather than something you are dealt.

The loot is the reason to go deeper. Items come in five rarities, normal, magic, rare, unique and set, across ten gear slots. The live build lists 42 uniques, each with a power that bends a skill or a rule, and 7 item sets, where two pieces earn a bonus and a full set changes a skill. Back in town, the Smith spends slag, made from plain drops, to upgrade or reroll an item you keep, and the Melt table melts three items into one.

You can dive alone or together: up to five heroes share one dive. In town, tap Friend, then Create party, and send its invite link; or tap another player’s hero in the shared town, or join a public game from the board beside the Waypoint stone. Each of you picks up only your own drops, and every hero past the first adds monsters and monster life: five of you face 3.4 times the monsters one player meets, each with 2 times the life. There is no account and no text chat, just four pings (Come here, Help!, Loot here, Go down), and it needs a live connection; if it drops mid-dive, the game holds your seat for 15 minutes.

How long a round takes

A dive lasts as long as you keep going down. Each floor is harder than the one above it and drops better loot, and every fifth floor is a boss, six of them, from the Bellwright on floor 5 to the Vitrarch on floor 30, each drawing its attacks on the ground before they land. The 30 floors fall into six depth bands with their own stone, monsters and music, and past floor 30 it keeps getting harder.

Everything you pick up is only carried until you get home. Tap Town Portal and stand still for 1.5 seconds, and everything you carry is banked, free; die, and the items you carry are lost, though you keep 75% of the gold. Twelve floors hold a waypoint, the first on floor 3, and once you have touched one a later dive can start there.

Beat the Vitrarch on floor 30 and the Obelisk in town opens Fissures: timed runs whose key climbs a tier each time you clear one inside 10 minutes. Keys of tier 10, 20 and 30 open three harder bosses instead, each with two uniques of its own.