Threshold: The Unraveling

Treshold: The Unraveling is a deckbuilder roguelite about investigators who push againstthe edge of what they can bear to know.  Build a deck mid-run, fight through a branching map, and manage Sanity as a second health bar — the lower it falls, the more the rules of play bend against you.

Select an investigator, navigate a seeded run-map through three acts, and try to survive long enough to confront what awaits you...

Playtest Feedback

Please send playtest notes through the feedback form

How to use it:

1. Open the link after your session.
2. Enter the build version shown on the title screen.
3. Note your investigator, platform, and how far you got.
4. Describe what clicked, what didn't, and any bugs you hit.
5. Submit one form per play session if possible.

What is in this build

• Three investigators: The Archivist, The Vagrant, and The Medium, each with a unique mechanic
• Card-based combat with a 3-energy-per-turn system and a position track
  • Far / Mid / Close
• 131 cards across four pools 
  • Archivist, Vagrant, Medium, and Corruption
• Sanity system with Fracture thresholds at 75% / 50% / 25% that mutate your run as they break
• Three-act branching run-map with combat, elite, shop, witness event, relic cache, and Echo Point nodes
• 21 relics with passive effects that bend run rules
• Three act bosses: 
  • The Cartographer
  • The Congregation
  • The Threshold
• Witness events — narrative choice encounters with mechanical consequences
• Meta-progression: Echo Shards, unlock tree, alternate starting relics and challenge modifiers
• Mid-run save and full run history

How To Play

From the main menu, choose New Run and select your investigator.   Review their starting deck, relic, and any unlocked options, then confirm to generate your Act 1 map.

On the map, click any highlighted adjacent node to travel.  Different node types offer different encounters:

• combat
• shop
• story choice
• relic cache

Reach the end of each act to face the act boss and advance.

In combat, draw cards from your deck and play them by clicking. 

Each card costs Energy; you start each turn with 3 Energy and none carries over.

Watch the enemy's intent icon to anticipate their next action and plan your defence. 

When the enemy is defeated, choose a card reward to add to your deck.

Manage Sanity carefully. It drains a little at each map node and can be spent by Corruption cards. 

When Sanity crosses a Fracture threshold, something about your run permanently changes — a card may become fragile, enemies may hit harder, or a card may corrupt. 

Reach 0 Sanity and the run ends.

Controls

Action	Key	Notes
Navigate map	Click a highlighted node	Only adjacent reachable nodes are clickable
Play a card	Click card -> Click target	Click the card again to deselect
Inspect a card	Right-click / hover	Shows full effect text and keywords
End turn	End Turn / Space	Discards hand; draws 5 new cards
View deck / discard	Click pile counter	Opens a scrollable card list
Confirm / interact	Click button / Enter / F	Menus, event choices, shop purchases
Open settings:	Esc

Quick Tips

• Energy doesn't carry over. Spend all 3 every turn if you can — even playing a cheap card is better than leaving energy on the table.
• Read enemy intent. The icon above an enemy shows what it will do next turn. Use Block cards before a heavy attack, not after.
• Position matters. Some cards require you to be at a specific range (Close, Mid, Far). Check your position track in the combat screen.
• Fracture thresholds are permanent. Once Sanity crosses 75%, 50%, or 25%, the mutation sticks for the rest of the run. Plan around them rather than trying to avoid them.
• Corruption cards are powerful but costly. They have a sanity cost on top of their energy cost. Use them with intent — they accelerate Fracture.
• Relics compound. A single relic rarely changes a run; two or three with overlapping synergies can. Echo Points are free on the first visit. Deeper tactical memories cost 5 Sanity to unlock — worth it before a boss.
• Rest at a bench before the boss. There is no checkpoint inside the boss encounter.

Prototype Notes

This is an active prototype. Expect placeholder art and audio, balance changes between builds, and content that is rougher in later acts than in Act 1. If something feels wrong, it probably is — please report it.