3D top-down fantasy bullet-heaven action roguelite
Survivors-like build growth, movement-focused combat, and the thrill of turning a fragile run into overwhelming power.
Evolving weapon ultimates, upgradeable active abilities, procedural worlds, and long runs built around rising pressure. Wishlist now on Steam.
The latest showcase
A short selection of v0.70 gameplay clips featuring weapons and active abilities in action.
About the game
A 3D top-down fantasy bullet-heaven action roguelite with survivors-like build growth, movement-focused combat, auto-fire weapons that evolve into manual ultimates, and active abilities you can earn, upgrade, and spend at the moments that decide a run.
Every run moves through Regular, Ritual Siege, Morvessa, Regular, Phalanx, then Endless Mode, with procedural worlds, killing-spree payouts, optional danger escalation, and natural dusk transitions changing the pressure from stage to stage.
Game at a glance
How a run is structured
Each run is a multi-act journey through procedural worlds: Regular, Ritual Siege, Morvessa, Regular, Phalanx, then Endless.
What kind of game is it?
Each run spans multiple acts across regular stages, Ritual Siege stages, and boss-biome encounters in procedurally assembled worlds. Biomes shape terrain, scenery and atmosphere, while killing-spree rewards and optional Altars of Peril let the danger spike far beyond the baseline before Endless Mode.
Draft upgrades, collect passive items, earn or upgrade active abilities, and survive long enough for the build to come online. Auto-fire weapons can evolve into ultimates, then keep growing through mastery upgrades that push those finales further.
"Every stage should make you feel measurably stronger, while the danger stays readable enough that movement and timing still matter."
Core strengths
Dash, jump and steer Power Rush through the horde. Giantstride builds speed from sustained forward travel, up to twice your base pace. Save Power Charges for an invulnerable Dash or spend them on a Rush that carries no protection. Human Catapult and Ascension add dedicated flight.
Regular stages with killing-spree payouts and optional Altars of Peril, a Ritual Siege with unlimited Insight rewards, giant boss fights with Epic or Legendary items, and Endless Mode - every stage type asks something different from your build.
Weapon upgrade tracks, Giantforge enhancements bound to individual weapons, passive items, active abilities, killing-spree payouts, random chest drops, wheel rewards, and beacon choices all shape the run in different ways.
Combat is built to look powerful while preserving telegraphed attacks, crowd spacing, readable contact damage, and room for player decision-making.
Ten biomes bring seasonal forests, deserts, mountains and volcanic terrain, with distinct weather, lighting and rolling hills. Every biome shares the enemy roster and five world-giant families. The Elder Mire hosts Ritual stages and Morvessa; Redstone Expanse is exclusive to Endless.
After the last boss, the run becomes an Endless Mode survival push with threat escalation, elite enemies, and results tracking for survival time, kills, and highest threat reached.
How a run unfolds
A run is a multi-act journey, not a flat arena timer. The standard Journey moves through Regular, Ritual Siege, Morvessa, Regular, Phalanx, then Endless, with monster variety, biome identity, killing-spree momentum, and carried danger choices shifting as the run gets harder. Between stages, the Giantforge lets you spend the run's gold — and sometimes your own health — on the weapons you are carrying.
Fight waves from a shared enemy roster across a procedural world. Hunt chests, spin the wheel, channel beacons, seek optional trials, invoke Altars of Peril, and chase killing sprees for escalating XP and gold bonuses. Race the clock: when time runs out, overtime turns the world into a desperate last stand before you escape through the portal.
Clear a stage and the forge opens from the summary screen. It sells enhancements bound to the specific weapons you carry, three offers at a time, rerollable as often as you can afford. One slot is a safe improvement, one is a bargain with a real cost, and one is a wildcard that can turn out to be a Legendary. Some enhancements trade a permanent slice of your maximum health for their power, and the card shows what you will be left with before you commit.
Ritual sites send sacrificial monsters toward the dormant Iron Tyrant. Destroy anchors with direct weapon and ability attacks, kill elites before they arrive, and stop sacrifices from strengthening the giant. Destroy anchors, defeat key enemies, and take on the Trial of Ascension — a flight across the biome that pays out in a battlefield-clearing shockwave and an army slowed by half. Keep completing objectives to fill Ritual Insight for as many Active Ability Drafts as you can earn, then face the awakened giant and open the portal out.
Regular stages offer four distinct Giant Remnant Trials from Trial of Echoes, Soul Chase, Swarm, Follow the Lights and Slayer. Clear one to choose an active ability or upgrade. Echoes pits you against three spellcasting giants; Swarm asks you to survive 15 seconds and restores your entry health afterward. Altars of Peril offer a separate swarm encounter for a chest and lasting danger.
Boss-biome encounters like Phalanx and Morvessa, Mother of Dread stand between you and the next act. Morvessa fights in The Elder Mire; Phalanx fights in Jadefall Spires. Learn their attack patterns through warnings that fill toward impact, distinct attack sounds and visible safe pockets. Boss chests offer Epic or Legendary items.
After Phalanx, enter Redstone Expanse at Peril 200. Every 40 active seconds adds 20 Peril and a Bone Shambler Surge, with no Journey limit. Threat and survival time keep climbing until the run ends; results track kills and the highest threat reached.
What makes it different?
Where Giants Fall keeps the dopamine curve of a bullet heaven — automatic weapons, draftable upgrades, and a build that grows from fragile to absurd — but the strongest moments are not passive. Movement momentum, positioning, active ability timing, and manually triggered weapon ultimates all stay in your hands.
Evolving weapons unlock ultimates, turning auto-fire weapons into deliberate buttons for boss pressure, pack clears, or emergency openings before mastery upgrades push the ultimate itself further.
Earn and upgrade manually activated abilities for movement, healing, crowd control, burst damage, and survival instead of relying only on passive weapon patterns.
Runs build toward structured giant fights like Phalanx and Morvessa, where terrain, telegraphs, and positioning matter alongside build strength.
Regular stages, Ritual Siege stages, boss-biome encounters, and Endless Mode carry the run through shifting biome moods, a shared enemy roster, and objective pressure.
Weapon Ultimates
Push a weapon far enough and it unlocks a manual ultimate with its own cooldown or charge behavior. Further mastery upgrades can add shorter cooldowns, longer durations, additional projectiles, larger attacks, new behavior, and unique finale effects.
Final Sentence
Crimson Guillotine deals all remaining Bleed damage at once, then restores maximum Bleed stacks.
Open weapon page →
Second Dawn
Every third Sunfall gains +50% damage, +15% size and +25% explosion radius.
Open weapon page →
Tempest's Last Word
Heaven's Verdict ends with a 15m blast dealing 150% of its opening damage.
Open weapon page →
Bunker Buster
End the bombardment with a Bunker Buster: 400% rocket damage and double blast radius.
Open weapon page →
Cathedral of Ice
At maximum range, ice erupts across the front: 150% Cataclysm damage and +50% Freeze time. Major foes resist control.
Open weapon page →
Terminal Rupture
When Virulent Torrent ends, heavily Saturated enemies rupture. Stronger Saturation creates a stronger final burst.
Open weapon page →Active Abilities
Active abilities give you direct control over your strongest tools: dash through danger, heal at the right moment, lock enemies down, clear space, or unleash burst damage when the screen starts closing in. You can equip four active abilities at once, then upgrade them during trials and Ritual Insight drafts.
12s cooldown
A racing frost ring freezes enemies on arrival, then shatters into shards and a moving blizzard.
Open ability page →
12s cooldown
Visible void threads draw the horde inward before the vortex collapses.
Open ability page →
10s cooldown
A teleport escape that tears open damaging rifts and folds space back on itself.
Open ability page →
12s cooldown
A moving stream of flame ignites enemies, scorches the ground, and turns white-hot with White Flame.
Open ability page →
12s cooldown
Jagged earth eruptions that branch into fault lines and continental breaks.
Open ability page →
12s cooldown
Charge, launch, steer a steep wingsuit dive, and crash down like a siege weapon.
Open ability page →
16s cooldown
Temporary invulnerability that stores pressure and replays your path as detonating holy pools.
Open ability page →
22s cooldown
A bomb you charge: lifesteal builds a real shield, and the shield erupts.
Open ability page →Browse the arsenal for the full active ability list and each ability's current upgrade progression.
Build your run
Every run starts small. You earn XP from kills, level up into upgrade drafts, collect passive items from loot, world events, and occasional chest drops, then decide when to chase killing-spree momentum or raise the danger for a more rewarding run.
Worlds of Everclear
Choose from three biome cards at each Regular and Ritual stage. Ten biomes bring rolling hills, woodland groves, roads and changing weather; dedicated boss arenas keep gentler ground.
Between runs
45 challenges in Entry, Advanced, Mastery and Prestige tiers unlock content on completion. Push a Warpath to 300 kills, catch 100 enemies in one Void Pull, or defeat Phalanx without taking a Wall of Death hit. A separate set of 15 in-game achievements tests your hardest feats. Tier bounties pay 25, 60, 120 or 250 Essence.
Start as Rambo or Gemma, then earn Moland, Nirvana and Rinoa through challenges. Choose your hero, unlocked starting weapon and active ability directly from the main menu. Existing saves keep previously unlocked content.
Spend Essence on starting rerolls, gold, wheel spins, Forsake allowances, an extra Trial reward choice and better early chests. Rank opens further stones. Whetstone and Heartstone offer up to +5% damage and Max HP; Lorestone and Touchstone offer up to +10% XP and gold. Turn Cairn Effects off for a run without those bonuses.
Your controls
Equip up to four weapons and four active abilities. Pause to swap their slots; cooldowns, charges and upgrades move with them, while slot bindings stay put. Extra abilities wait in Reserve. Invulnerability clears hostile stuns, slows and pulls, and protects you until it ends.
Keyboard, alternate and controller bindings appear side by side in Settings. Rebind actions with conflict confirmation and category resets. Xbox, PlayStation and Steam Deck prompts follow the device you use.
Presentation and settings
Choose Very Low, Low, Medium, High, Ultra or Extreme graphics, or tune 15 advanced settings with Custom. Render Scale runs from 50% to 150%, with AMD FSR below native resolution. Steam Deck has a dedicated 1280×800 preset with a default 30 FPS limit; the frame limit is a setting, rather than a performance benchmark.
Control Master, Music and Sound Effects volume separately. Painted menus, gold focus rings, clearer boss warnings, rarity-coloured loot beams and matching map markers keep the action and your next objective readable.
Screenshots
September 2026 gameplay captures from our Steam screenshot selection. Download the full-resolution images in the press kit.
Latest update
Announcements, patch notes, polish passes, and public-facing updates as Where Giants Fall develops.
Watch v0.70 weapons and abilities in action, then explore Titanward, challenge unlocks, the Cairn, Altars of Peril and the new menus.
FAQ
A concise overview for players, press, and anyone looking for the core facts.
Where Giants Fall is a 3D top-down fantasy bullet-heaven action roguelite with survivors-like build growth, procedural worlds, upgradable weapons, active abilities, powerful weapon ultimates, killing-spree rewards, and optional ways to raise the danger of a run for better rewards.
Yes. It blends survivors-like auto-fire build growth with active ability timing, powerful weapon ultimates, boss-biome encounters, and a more structured multi-act run format than flat arena survival.
Where Giants Fall is currently being developed for PC and Steam Deck.
Yes. The official Steam Coming Soon page is live for wishlists at https://store.steampowered.com/app/4432710/Where_Giants_Fall/.
Yes. Auto-fire weapons can evolve into manual ultimates, then keep improving through mastery upgrades such as shorter cooldowns, longer durations, extra projectiles, stronger attacks, new behavior, and unique finale effects.
Yes. Active abilities are manually activated tools for movement, healing, crowd control, burst damage, and survival. You can equip up to four at once, earn new abilities, and upgrade existing ones during a run.
Warpath is a killing-spree system that ignites when you destroy enemies much faster than your recent pace. It climbs through six tiers, banks bonus XP and gold, and pays out when the Warpath ends or the stage finishes.
Altars of Peril replace the old pressure statues. Each invoked altar adds 20 lasting Journey Peril, up to 200, and seals an arena around a swarm encounter. Defeat the swarm for a guaranteed chest. Regular stages offer three altars and Ritual stages offer two. Later enemies grow stronger and more numerous, while XP, gold and loot opportunities improve. Endless starts at Peril 200 and keeps rising.
The Giantforge is a forge that opens between stages. It sells enhancements bound to individual weapons you are carrying, three offers per visit, rerollable as often as you can afford. All three cards roll independently, and every card shows the exact values it rolled — that is what you keep for the run. Twenty-eight Legendary enhancements exist, two per weapon: one Core transformation available immediately and one Ultimate transformation once that weapon's Ultimate is unlocked. Cards are bought with gold, but some enhancements also take a permanent slice of your maximum health as the price of their power. Across a run the forge will not let that total pass 40%, and a purchase can never kill you.
Dash and Power Rush share three Power Charges. A Dash costs one and grants brief invulnerability; a grounded Power Rush starts by spending two, with further boosts consuming charges while held. Charges recover one at a time, six seconds each. Steer through slopes and jump into a paid airborne Rush to dive back toward the ground. Giantstride builds speed through sustained forward movement, up to twice your base speed. Power Rush grants no invulnerability. Human Catapult and Trial of Ascension provide dedicated flight; ordinary wingsuit glide is not part of the starting kit.
The standard Journey moves through Regular, Ritual Siege, Morvessa, Regular, Phalanx, then Endless Mode across procedurally assembled biome worlds, so the pacing and pressure keep changing during a single run. Between stages, the Giantforge sells enhancements for the weapons you are carrying.
Most weapons auto-fire, while Titanward attacks through Dash. Evolved weapons unlock manual ultimates, and active abilities add mobility, healing, crowd control, survival and burst decisions. Active abilities can also be earned and upgraded during a run through optional trials.
A public demo is planned before launch, with the current marketing target aimed around February 2027 Steam Next Fest.
Where Giants Fall is currently planned for a March 2027 Steam launch. The game is still in active development, so launch details may change as polish continues.
Steam Deck is a development target with dedicated button prompts, controller navigation and a 1280×800 graphics preset whose default frame limit is 30 FPS. That setting is not a measured performance guarantee.
Yes. The controller layout covers the whole game: both sticks are live at once, mobility sits on the triggers, four active abilities sit on the face and bumper buttons, and four weapon ultimates sit on the D-pad. Menus and Settings are fully navigable with a pad. Button prompts follow the controller you are holding — Xbox, PlayStation, or Steam Deck — and switch back the moment you touch the keyboard or mouse. Keyboard and mouse controls are fully supported alongside it.
Complete one of 45 unlock challenges to earn its weapon, ability, hero or item immediately. Essence buys Cairn stones rather than content. The Cairn has 34 stones for starting resources, draft choices and optional stat bonuses. Account Rank opens stones and later levels; it grants no combat stats on its own. Cairn Effects can be turned off without losing progress.
Your starting collection includes Rambo and Gemma; Chain Lightning, Golden Gun, Ancient Spirits, Titanward and Ironhail Rockets; and Dragon Breath, Earthspikes, Skybreaker, Void Pull and Rejuvenation. Moland, Nirvana and Rinoa join through challenges. There are 14 weapons and 14 active abilities to collect. Existing players keep their unlocked collection.
The 15 achievements are currently tracked in the game, in their own Unlocks tab. They pay Essence bounties but grant no content. Steam achievement integration for these feats is not yet in place.
Keyboard, alternate and controller bindings can be remapped in Settings. Six graphics presets run from Very Low to Extreme, with Custom and 15 advanced settings. Render Scale ranges from 50% to 150%, with AMD FSR below native resolution. Master, Music and Sound Effects volume are separate controls. The Loadout window in Pause lets you rearrange weapons and abilities, including reserve abilities, without resetting their cooldowns or charges.
Follow development
Where Giants Fall is in active development for PC and Steam Deck. More footage, feature updates, and patch notes are on the way.
