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ARCSTONE STUDIOS PRESENTS

SHADOW DOMINIONRIFT

A fast, skill-driven roguelite where a survivor caught between two warring factions discovers they can absorb power from both — and that someone has been waiting for exactly that.

ROGUELITE ACTION • TOP-DOWN 2D • MOBILE & PC
FREE TO PLAY • NEVER PAY TO WIN

iOSAndroidPC (Steam)

BUILT DIFFERENT

Skill Over Wallet

No power advantage from spending, ever. The free base game is the full game. Expansion packs add new story and Domains — not stat boosts.

Every Run Feels Different

Weapon and Essence ability synergies create emergent builds. Absorb power from both the Covenant and the Dominion — combinations neither faction intended.

Death Is Progress

Every run moves something forward. Bank Rift Shards, unlock story beats, and return to a hub where the characters remember what you've done.

The Story Pulls You Back

Four hub characters carry complicated histories and their own reasons for being there. Relationships deepen with every return. The scholar who recruited you may be helping — or using you.

Mobile-Native Design

15-20 minute runs built for real sessions, not ported from PC. Six on-screen inputs, touch-optimized combat, designed for how you actually play on your phone.

Dual-Faction Power

Absorb Essence from both the Covenant and the Dominion. Build hybrid loadouts neither faction intended — combinations that only a neutral outsider could wield.

THE WORLD

An 800-year war between the Covenant and the Dominion has ground civilizations to dust. One side channels Essence as sacred art tied to stellar light. The other treats it as raw material to be harnessed through will and engineering. Neither is wrong. Neither has the full picture.

Where their territories collide, reality fractures into Rifts — unstable zones of raw Essence where the rules break down. The Rifts are spreading. The pattern is accelerating. And a scholar named Thessan believes the key to understanding them walks on two legs.

The Covenant

ORDER • LIGHT • ARCANE TRADITION

Dawnsworn templars, Stormguard soldiers, shadowy Veilwright spies, and the aristocratic Gilded Accord. Decentralized by design — slow to act, impossible to kill.

The Dominion

SHADOW • AMBITION • RAW POWER

The Legion's relentless armies, the Obsidian Tribunal's iron law, the Void Cult's forbidden sorcery, and the Iron Cradle's inventions at any cost. Unity through strength — at least on paper.

Essence — a primordial cosmic force woven into reality itself. One side treats it as sacred. The other treats it as raw material. You absorb both.

THE DOMAINS

Three fractured territories. Each was a place before the war took it. Each run pushes through procedurally arranged rooms toward a boss that guards the boundary to the next.

Contested

The Threshold

Where the war left its mark

Crumbling outposts and scorched farmland. The most recent Rift — raw, unstable, contested by remnants of both factions. This is where Kael's journey begins, in the ruins of a border region that was somebody's home.

HazardUnstable Essence Pockets
Dominion-heavy

The Veilwood

The deeper you go, the less it looks like a forest

A shadow-corrupted old-growth forest where Essence fog rolls through twisted trees. Something is growing at its heart. The fog moves, reacts, and adapts — it reduces visibility and strengthens the enemies within it.

HazardEssence Fog
Covenant-heavy

The Dawnspire

A cathedral that is also a weapon

An ancient fortified citadel of dawn gold and white stone. Beautiful, sacred, and hostile. Automated light-based defenses don't distinguish friend from foe. The Covenant is hiding something in its sealed observatory.

HazardLight Lance Traps

THE PEOPLE

Between runs, Kael returns to a hidden sanctuary at the edge of the first Rift. Four people wait there, each carrying their own complicated history. None of them are simple.

K

Kael

The Survivor

An ordinary person whose home was destroyed in crossfire neither side remembers. Neither faction earned the right to ask for loyalty. But Kael can do something no one else can — absorb Essence from both.

T

Thessan

The Rift Scholar

A scholar who found Kael deliberately. Academic warmth that makes the manipulation harder to see. The base game never resolves whether you should trust him.

L

Lyss

Defected Covenant Agent

A young defector who tells the story of why she left differently every time she's asked. Sharp humor as a defense mechanism. She recognizes recruitment when she sees it.

V

Voss

Defected Dominion Agent

Hard exterior, minimal words. Present in the sanctuary for reasons he hasn't explained. The danger is in what he doesn't say — and by Domain 3, his silence means something different.

D

Durn

The Craftsperson

Gruff exterior, terrible timing on the good jokes. The first person in the hub who treats Kael like a person rather than a subject or an asset. That matters more than you'd expect.

THE RUN

Each 15-20 minute run pushes through procedurally arranged rooms across three Domains.

1

Hub

Talk to NPCs, spend Rift Shards at the Forge, choose your starting weapon.

2

Enter the Rift

Rooms drawn procedurally from curated pools. Fresh layout every run.

3

Fight

Active, real-time combat. Dodge, parry, and master enemy patterns.

4

Absorb

After every few rooms, choose from Essence abilities. Build synergies from both factions.

5

Boss

Named bosses guard each Domain boundary. Major skill gates with meaningful rewards.

6

Die or Clear

Death banks your Shards and triggers story. A full clear rewards even more.

FAIR BY DESIGN

The base game is free and complete — three Domains, a full narrative arc, and every core mechanic. No energy timers, no gacha, no pay-to-win.

Free Base Game

Three Domains, four hub characters, full story arc, all weapons and base Essence abilities. The complete experience.

Domain Expansion Packs

$TBD each

New Domains, new story chapters, new enemies, new Essence abilities. More game for players who want more — not a toll booth on the road you're already on.

ENTER THE RIFT

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