Step-by-step dungeon crawling.
Four characters, distinct roles.
Real-time fights. Resources are tight.
The Ashwoods. One map, one goal.
They said the sky grew a seam and bled. Comets tore through cloud and choir, burying themselves in the world like barbs. Where a shard fell, the land learned a new wrongness. Here, the wrongness has a taste — iron on the tongue, pennies on prayer. Nails weep. Hinges clot. Swords hum lullabies for the hurt.
We are the Ferric Wardens, called when metal turns traitor. We bind, we brace, and when we must, we break things that cannot be mended. Our road ends at Ashwood Outpost — a line of palisades held together by rope and spite, watching the Ashwoods where the shard is said to sleep and make everything else wake.
Find the shard. Unmake it. Bring the bleeding to stillness. There will be no banners when we're done, only hinges that swing, plowshares that don't scream, and a quiet forge's breath. That is enough.
Dragons rule from distant dynasties. Metal itself has begun to bleed and sing since the comets fell. Ordinary people barter with ashed-iron nails while holding the line against the Blood Rust — a curse that softens steel to red vapor and births tireless envoys from what it devours.
The Ashwood Outpost stands silent. Lanterns stay doused after dark — light draws the things in the woods. The bell tower drips rust onto the palisades below, its ring long forgotten. Signal beacons leap ridge to ridge to prove the line still stands.
All metals sing in overtones now. Trained ears can answer — mending softly with rope, wax, and song before tools. The Cantorsmiths work their forges with quiet songs instead of bellows, risking red vaporization if they push too hard. The inn still serves hot food when supplies allow. And occasional stragglers still come through — never more than a handful, never well-equipped, but headstrong and charging in nevertheless.
Bloodrust is a first-person dungeon crawler. You control a party of four Ferric Wardens — soldiers sent from Ashwood Outpost to clear the Blood Rust, a curse that's spreading through the Ashwoods. Grid movement, active combat, the whole old-school thing.
This isn't a roguelike. There's no meta-progression, no unlocking stuff between runs. You start, you play through, you finish. One dungeon, one story, done. We wanted to make something that respects your time — a complete experience you can get through in a few sessions, not a game that asks you to grind for 50 hours.
The gameplay is simple on purpose. Move through the grid, manage your party's health and resources, fight enemies that hit hard. Positioning matters. There's no grinding to overlevel encounters — you have to actually pay attention to what you're doing.
If you grew up on Wizardry, Might and Magic, or any of those old blobbers, this is that. If you didn't, it's still a straightforward dungeon crawler that doesn't waste your time. We're building it for people who want a complete game, not a service.
Dungeon Cartography
The Ashwoods map is being designed by Stained Karbon, known for intricate dungeon maps that tell stories through their layouts. Over 4,000 patrons support his work.
PatreonSoundtrack
The Bloodrust soundtrack is being composed by akamikeb, a San Francisco-based musician blending industrial, drum & bass, and electronic into something that fits a world where metal bleeds.
BandcampGrid movement, combat, the Ashwoods map, party system. All working.
Enemy variety. Loot and gear. Balancing the single playthrough.
Final polish, Ashwood Outpost hub, end state.