ChordfallChordfall

Know three chords? You can play this.

Chordfall is a roguelite you play with a real guitar or piano. No cable, no plastic controller. It listens through your microphone. Play a chord, and a spell flies.

Every chord is a weapon.

Easy chords fire quick little spells. Harder chords fire the big stuff: lasers, grenades, chain lightning, a falling comet. Every spell needs a moment to recharge, so every fight comes down to one question: what do you play next?

Play like a real song, hit harder

Play chords in the order real songs use them and every spell surges. There are 17 of these patterns hidden in the game. Find one and it's yours for good.

The Run: every choice is yours

The night starts with a deal: three hands of three chords, face down. Flip them and keep one. Take the hand that already plays a song pattern, or gamble on the one that's a single chord away from something stronger.

Then the map. The boss sits at the top, and you can see it from your very first step. Everything between here and there is a route you plan:

• Fights to push forward. Elite fights are tougher, and worth more.

• Events with a decision in them. Take the reward, but read what it costs.

• The merch table, where your gold turns into an edge.

• The green room, to heal, or to sharpen something you carry.

• Dojos, where you learn a new chord on the spot and fight with it in the next room.

• Mystery rooms, where anything can happen.

• Rooms that change the key or the rhythm for the rest of the night.

Your lives carry across the whole night, so every fight you pick is a risk you take into the next one.

Along the way you collect boons that bend the rules, and some come with a catch. Stack them well and they feed each other. Stack them badly and they fight. A boon that doubles the damage of every chord that fits the key is huge, right up until a room changes the key under you.

Know your enemy before you meet it
Every boss breaks a rule, and you can see which one is waiting before you choose your route. Build for it.

• The Timekeeper only takes hits on the beat, and it keeps moving the beat.

• The Librarian silences the room and won't turn around until every other monster is gone. Bring chords that clear a crowd.

• The Purist ignores every chord except sevenths. Better pick one up on the way.

Quick Play and the Dojo
Short on time? Quick Play has three modes. Warding: every monster wears a chord, and you play it to break them. Free Cast: five stages and three lives, a bargain to strike before you start and a new boon after every stage. The Daily: the same run for every player that day, one score to beat.

The Dojo has no monsters and no clock. Learn a shape, drill the change, take it into battle.

Lose the run, keep the chords
Every run ends. What you learned doesn't. New chords and every song pattern you find stay with you, so the next night has more to work with.

What you need

• A guitar (acoustic or clean electric) or a piano.

• A microphone. The one in your laptop works.

• A fairly quiet room.

No instrument nearby? Play with your computer keyboard to try it first. Nothing you play is recorded or uploaded.

Made by one person

Chordfall is being built by a game designer who plays guitar. Wishlist it and you'll hear the moment it's out.