Awakening and the Bloodstain

Two systems decide what happens after you die: Awakening, which tracks how many times you have fallen, and the Bloodstain, which gives something back.

Awakening

Awakening is a meter that begins full. Each death lowers it by one. While it is high the game plays normally. As it falls the colors on the screen fade, the arena gets darker and the game becomes harder. Your own light matters more the lower it gets.

Raising it again

• In the healing room, choose +1 Awakening instead of +1 health.
• Defeat the mini boss that can appear when Awakening is low.
• Anchors start a run deeper, at the cost of some Awakening.

Tips

• When health is fine, take Awakening in the healing room.
• Brink Glow makes your light bigger when Awakening is low, and Clear View keeps boss warning lines readable in the dark. The lantern unlock also helps.
• If Awakening gets low, play carefully and push for the mini boss.

The Bloodstain

When you die, a mark stays where you fell. It holds a Guard shield and one level of the best upgrade you had earned in that run. To claim it you must reach the same depth in your next run and walk onto the mark.

• Only one mark exists. Dying again replaces the old one.
• Upgrades you bought in the shop are never stored in the mark. Only upgrades you picked during the run count.
• If you held no upgrade from the run, the mark gives only the shield.
• The mark waits at the depth where you died, so a hard boss gives you a second chance with a bonus.