SHADOW RUNNER launches August 12, and it's 20% off for the first week — through August 19. The signal breaks. No commands left — only the hum of something older. Your blade answers first. A fast, unforgiving action-roguelike about one runner, one katana, and a descent that doesn't let you back out.
Combat built for expression, not button-mashing. Every swing has a commitment cost and every cancel is a decision:
Three-phase combos — light and heavy chains that flow into aerial dives and ground plunges
Dive-cancel — bail out of a whiffed attack into a dive and rewrite your spacing mid-fight
Dash with i-frames — read the telegraph, cross through it, punish from the far side
Hit-pause and slow-mo tuned by hand so a clean kill lands
Nothing here is a stat check. If you get hit, you can name the mistake.
One sub-weapon slot, six completely different answers — swap it at the Equipment shrine to fit the run:
Drone — an autonomous companion that fires on your third combo hit
Grenade — arcing area damage for packed waves
Knife — fast, cheap, straight-line chip
Disc — a returning cutter that hits on the way out and the way back
Tether — pull them to you, or you to them
Skull — homing death that finds what you can't reach
Curses — opt into a penalty for a stacked reward. Take enough and you're not playing the same game anymore.
Loot & gear — affixes, set bonuses, and uniques that rewrite a rule instead of adding a number
Upgrades & shrines drafted between waves, re-rollable if you've earned it
Challenge arenas behind sealed doors — locked in, no exit, better rewards for the greedy
12 chapters from the Corridor to the First Dark. 23 enemy types that each demand a different answer — impalers that punish standing still, blasters that punish standing anywhere, wraiths that don't stay where you left them. And 4 bosses:
THE VOIDLORD — the thing that answered the broken signal
THE SOVEREIGN — what's left of whoever ruled here
THE FORGE — it's still making them
THE EYE — it has been watching the whole descent
Endless mode — no ending, no mercy, just how far the build carries you. Your best run goes on the Steam leaderboard. Somebody is going deeper than you right now.
Full controller support — the entire game, menus included, pad-only. Remappable, prompts swap to match your device.
Steam Deck — native Linux build, no Proton layer
6 languages — English, 简体中文, 日本語, Deutsch, 한국어, Français
Easy and Normal difficulties on separate save slots, plus 3 UI text sizes and colorblind-conscious readability
August 12 → August 19. After that it goes to full price. Wishlist now and Steam will tell you the moment it's live. One blade. No retreat.