Ancientstone

A first-person puzzle expedition beneath the earth.

Coming to Steam in 2027 See the chronicler records

Windows · single player · coming to Steam in 2027

The game

Descend where the light does not reach

A first-person puzzle expedition beneath the earth. Descend through 21 cave labyrinths, decipher the script of those from above, rebuild science's great experiments, repair their broken machines and outwit 13 guardians with their own arenas.

The entrance has closed behind you. You have an emitter and a tablet. Limestone gives way to sandstone, slate and basalt, the passages narrow, and light grows precious.

What you do in Ancientstone

Stone columns covered with the glowing signs of those from above

62 inscriptions

Read what they left.

62 halls carry an unknown script. Build a dictionary, translate line by line, and compare each inscription with a Sumerian tablet about the same event: one tells what happened, the other how the myth remembered it.

Labyrinth 7, Hall XLI: the circulation puzzle

92 puzzles · 89 kinds

Rebuild the great experiments.

92 puzzles of 89 kinds in bronze, basalt and stone: measure the Earth with two wells, test the crown, find the well where the cholera began. One rule, one answer, every time.

Labyrinth 3: the siphon

35 machines · 25 kinds

Wake the machines.

35 machines of 25 kinds, broken by the priests. Inspect, find the part, power it with your emitter, and the labyrinth becomes your ally.

Labyrinth 7: the emitter attunement station

4 forms

One emitter, four forms.

Pulse, chain lightning, signal flare and shock ring: light, tool and weapon, each built on real physics.

Labyrinth 19, Hall CXXXIII: the heavenly machine

13 arenas · 39 medals

Thirteen guardians.

Every guardian's arena is a puzzle: bring the scaffolding down on the ram, knock the metronome off the beat, catch the sphere in the orrery's eclipse. Then race your records in the Guardian Trials.

Labyrinth 2: the crystal grotto

44 records

Chronicler beetles.

Shine your light on a beetle and it shows you a place you have not reached yet. 44 records to find.

Chronicler beetle records

Places you have not reached yet

Real in-game frames on Ultra, with no interface: the way the in-game journal shows them. Shine your light on a chronicler beetle and it shows you a place one to three labyrinths ahead. The game holds 44 records; here are 20.

  • Record L3-1Labyrinth 4 · The Sky · the gour cascade
  • Record L5-1Labyrinth 6 · The Vault · the draught windmill
  • Record L10-2Labyrinth 12 · The Builders · the underground lake
  • Record L14-2Labyrinth 16 · Time and Life · the resonator
  • Record L18-2Labyrinth 20 · The Language of the Stars · the observatory telescope
  • Record L12-2Labyrinth 14 · Games and Numbers · the drawbridge
  • Record L1-1Labyrinth 2 · Departure · the crystal grotto
  • Record L1-2Labyrinth 3 · The Loss · the siphon
  • Record L2-2Labyrinth 4 · The Sky · the lift
  • Record L4-1Labyrinth 5 · Water and Depths · Hall XXX — the tremor
  • Record L4-3Labyrinth 7 · Flesh · the emitter attunement station
  • Record L5-2Labyrinth 7 · Flesh · Hall XLI — circulation
  • Record L7-2Labyrinth 9 · Matter · the ancients' echo sounder
  • Record L9-1Labyrinth 10 · Measure · the gravity regulator
  • Record L11-1Labyrinth 12 · The Builders · the power node
  • Record L13-2Labyrinth 15 · Roads and Judgement · Hall C — priests at the doors
  • Record L15-2Labyrinth 17 · Writing and the Way · the priests' cache
  • Record L17-1Labyrinth 18 · The Workshop · the Jacquard loom
  • Record L18-1Labyrinth 19 · Heavenly Mechanics · Hall CXXXIII — the heavenly machine
  • Record L19-1Labyrinth 20 · The Language of the Stars · Hall CXLI — the oracle that lies once

For everyone

From younger pupils to advanced adults

Five difficulty levels. Change them at any time; what you have solved stays solved. Guardians, spiders and traps can be made gentler or switched off. Subtitles, larger text, high-contrast hints. No blood.

All accessibility options
  1. Younger pupilssimpler puzzles, fuller hints
  2. Middle pupils
  3. Older pupilsthe puzzles in their original form
  4. Adults
  5. Advanced adultsthe hardest
Guardians
NormalCalmOff
Spiders
NormalCalmOff
Traps
NormalGentleOff
  • 21labyrinths
  • 154halls
  • 62inscriptions
  • 92puzzles
  • 35machines
  • 13guardians
  • 105achievements

Questions

Before you descend

Is it a shooter?

No. It is a puzzle expedition. There are fights, but they are short (one to three minutes), there are thirteen of them across 154 halls, and guardians are beaten with wits and the arena's machinery, not with aim.

Is it suitable for children?

Yes: lower difficulties have simpler puzzles and fuller hints, and guardians, spiders and traps can be made gentler or switched off. There is no blood.

Do I need to know the inscriptions' language?

No. You build the dictionary as you play.

Who do I fight?

The guardians: robot spheres left by those from above, disabled with emitter pulses. The emitter's beam keeps spiders and bats away.

Which languages does the game support?

English and Spanish, for the interface and subtitles. There is no voice acting. More languages are planned.

Those from above have gone. But they left more than signs.

Coming to Steam in 2027