Cinderlands
Cinderlands is a free, browser-based pixel-art RPG with a mean streak. Turn-based combat, an old-school grim heart, and a character that never stops getting stronger. The fire is almost out — see how far down into the dark you can carry it.
You are dead.
— the only epitaph the dark bothers to offer
No install, no waiting. Open it in your browser and you’re playing. But don’t mistake “simple to start” for “easy” — Cinderlands is built for players who love going deep: brutal fights, real consequences, and progression that genuinely never ends.
Choose your path
Take up one of three classes, each with its own way of killing:
- Embermage — a caster who answers the dark with fire. Burns, bursts, and area spells.
- Ashblade — a melee brute. Raw strength, heavy hits, and the toughness to stand in the worst of it.
- Duskwalker — a swift striker. Speed, precision, and blows that land before the dark can react.
Reach level 20 and ascend, deepening your chosen path into something stronger and stranger.
A campaign that doesn’t end
Descend through twenty acts to the root of the world and unmake the First Dark. Then do it again, harder — New Game+ reopens everything with deadlier foes. Push to NG+III and your character rises Eternal: a permanent ascension and a mark that never washes off. The story closes there. You never do.
The Sunless Reach
Past the story lies the real endgame — an endless hunting ground across seven hand-crafted regions (levels 100–250), from the Cinder Wastes to the Sunless Throne. Every region scales to whatever Threat you dare set, so there is always a deeper, deadlier floor. Each has its own monsters and its own boss — the Ashen Maw, the Tideborn, the Crownless King, and more — every one a unique creature that fights to its own nature and hides its own weakness.
Hunt, collect, grow
- Catch a menagerie of familiars — rare beasts that fight at your side, won from bosses and the deep places.
- Chase legendary gear and full sets, including the Sovereign Regalia — the deepest equipment in the game, with a weapon cut for your class.
- Fill out a Bestiary and a Collection Log of trophies and relics.
- Open the Atlas to see every region, its rewards, and your progress — then travel there and hunt.
- Take Contracts and Slayer bounties for directed work and meta-rewards.
Systems to sink into
- Build and grow a stronghold of your own.
- Mine the deep and craft your way to better gear.
- Trade on a player market.
- Climb the leaderboards — your progress saves to the cloud.
- … and a stack of smaller systems to discover on your own.
Truly infinite character building
No level cap. No final boss that ends the climb. Inspired by the old grindstone MMOs, Cinderlands is built so that the grind is the game — level, Threat, gear, and collection all run on forever. The dark goes down without a floor, and so can you.
How to play
Free / name-your-price. Runs in any modern browser — nothing to download. Jump in, and your characters and progress are kept safe between sessions.
Hand-drawn, hand-built, and made in the open by one person who’d rather build the game than talk about building it.
The fire’s almost out. Go down.
