Online manual
Everything you need to survive your first release. The game also has a built-in wiki (main menu → Wiki) with an entry for every enemy, boss and item.
Controls
The whole game, menus included, can be played with keyboard and mouse, with a gamepad (Xbox, PlayStation, Steam Deck) or by touch. The WASD/ZQSD layout can be changed.
| Action | Keyboard / mouse | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|
| Move | WASD or ZQSD | Left stick |
| Aim | Mouse | Right stick |
| Shoot | Left click | RT (or right stick with auto-fire) |
| Dash | Space | LT or A |
| Class skill | Right click | X |
| Interact / pick up | E | Y |
| Map | Tab | Select |
| Pause | Esc | Start |
Anatomy of a run
A run is a release: five pipeline stages, each ending with a boss. Boards and Production are always played; the three middle stages are drawn from five biomes according to the seed.
Each stage is a branching graph like a git history. Each node opens a scrolling procedural map: enemy packs wake up as you approach, items are picked up from the ground (E key) and a portal leads to the exit.
- Commit: a regular fight.
- Critical Bug: an elite pack and a rare item.
- Code Review: three Pull Requests, only one can be taken.
- Marketplace: items sold for Story Points (SP).
- Retro: an upgrade. Standup: an event. Spike: early leak, big loot. Hotfix: a chest.
- Release Gate: the stage boss.
Memory leak
Pressure rises with the time spent on a map: Nominal, GC Pressure, Swap, then the OOM Killer, which means certain death. There is no leak in a boss arena.
Technical debt
“Quick Fix” items and some events raise your debt. At 25, 50, 75 and 100%, enemies toughen up, elites appear, a Legacy curse falls, then the Monolith wakes up.
Items
Walk up to an item on the ground to read its effect, then press the interact key. Items stack according to their own rule (linear, diminishing returns, unique) and combine with each other.
Progression
Win or lose, you earn Insights to spend in Organization Settings: permissions, classes, items and events to unlock. Winning a run unlocks the next difficulty.
| Difficulty | In short |
|---|---|
| Onboarding | Base values. A buddy, a coffee, zero on-call. |
| On-Call | More HP and damage, bigger packs, an earlier leak. |
| Legacy | No docs, no tests. An ultimate boss waits after the release. |
| Zero Downtime | Everything stacked, plus an elite pack per map. One mistake and everyone hears about it. |
Wardrobe
Each class has its own wardrobe: paint, accessory, trail and shot style, unlocked by playing that class. They only change looks, never stats.
Accessibility and comfort
Warning: the game contains light flashes, glow effects and screen shake. If you are sensitive to light or motion, turn on the options below before playing.
- Reduce flashes: freezes pulses and background animations.
- Colorblind mode: adds shapes and patterns to colors.
- Screen shake can be turned off; separate music and effects volumes.
- Aim assist and auto-fire for gamepads.
- Readable text on Steam Deck, the whole game navigable with a gamepad.
- Toxic management (off by default): corporate quips comment on your work when enemies get close. No effect on gameplay.
Saves
Progress is saved automatically. On Steam, it is synced through Steam Cloud. Saves are versioned and migrated between updates.