NRISCA

How to play Nrisca

Nrisca is played in runs. You go deeper one depth at a time until you die, then you start again from depth 1 with what you have unlocked.

One depth, step by step

  1. Ghost fight. Ghost knights spawn from the edges of the arena. Kill them all. Swordsmen are normal, archers shoot arrows and die easily, shield knights take several hits.
  2. Special level (sometimes). A torch, key, mirror or arrow challenge. See special levels.
  3. Healing room. A stone in the middle lets you choose +1 health or +1 Awakening.
  4. Boss. Every depth ends with a boss. See bosses.
  5. Upgrade. After the boss you pick one of three upgrades for this run. See upgrades.

Health and dying

You die when your health runs out. Getting hit costs health, and a Guard shield absorbs a hit first. Dying ends the run and pays out your Umbra.

Umbra and the Hall

Umbra is the currency you earn by killing ghosts, clearing depths and beating bosses. It is paid out when the run ends. In the Hall, the hub between runs, you spend it on permanent upgrades that start every run. The Hall also holds your items, your records and the online leaderboard.

Awakening

Awakening is a meter that starts full and drops by one each time you die. While it is high nothing changes. As it falls the colors of the screen fade, the arena gets darker and the game grows harder. Restore it with the healing room, special pots and by beating the mini boss that appears when it is low. More about Awakening.

The Bloodstain

When you die, a mark stays on the spot where you fell. In your next run, if you reach that same depth and walk onto the mark, you get a Guard shield and one more level of an upgrade you earned in the run you died in. Upgrades you bought in the shop are not stored in the mark. Only one mark exists at a time, so a new death replaces the old one. More about the Bloodstain.

Anchors

Every fifth depth can give you an Anchor once you have cleared its boss in an unbroken line. Using an Anchor starts a new run at that depth, at the cost of some Awakening.

Accounts and the leaderboard

The game makes a guest account for you. You can claim a name and password in Settings to appear on the online leaderboard, which ranks by depth first.