Deep Ascent: The Miner's Journey

1000 metres down. One way up.

Elias wakes at the bottom of a collapsed mine shaft, a thousand metres under the earth, with nothing but his helmet lamp and a stone pick. His family is up there, in the daylight. Between him and them is every metre of rock.

Deep Ascent is a vertical mining platformer. Dig a staircase up through solid rock, one block at a time. Mine coal, copper, iron, gold and rubies. Forge better picks at the campfires that mark the way up, and meet the few miners who are still alive down here.

The way up

• Six zones, each with its own rock and its own air: the Abyss Depths, the Crystal Hollows, the Golem's Rift, the Web Warrens, the Upper Mines, and the Surface
• Two bosses guarding the shaft: the Crust Cracker, a golem of living rock, and the Brood Queen, who binds you in silk and calls her young
• Armadillos, spiders, bats and rock beetles, each one asking for a different approach
• The campfire bench: four picks, from stone to diamond, healing draughts, lamp oil, reinforced vests
• Five hermits — Hollis, Mira, Tobin, Esca and Garrick — with their stories and their gifts
• Campfires save your climb. Every block you break stays broken.

Controls

• ← → or A D move · Space, W or ↑ jump
• J or left click swing the pick · hold ↑ or ↓ to dig above or below
• C rest and use the bench at a campfire · E talk · Q drink a draught
• Esc or P pause

To climb solid rock, hold ↑ and walk into the wall while swinging: the pick clears the way ahead, and the miner steps up onto the ledge it leaves.

Every tile, sprite, portrait and sound is generated by the game itself when it starts. There are no image or audio files behind it.

A game by Moon Cartridge. Pixel-art games, made by hand under the moon.