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Bloomfall is now XENO // BREACH
BLOOMFALL, our fungal-horror roguelite, is now XENO // BREACH. Same studio, same core ideas, new setting: you're a marine aboard the starship U.S.S. Aethelgard, clearing an alien hive deck by deck and wave by wave. It's free to start and plays in any modern browser, on desktop and on your phone.
What XENO // BREACH is
A top-down pixel-art sci-fi horror shooter with roguelite progression. You pick an operative, deploy solo or with AI squadmates, and fight through waves on eight decks of a ship that has gone dark. Each run ends when you die. What you earn along the way carries over to the next one.
If you played BLOOMFALL, the hands will feel familiar. The thruster dash is the old roll. Your suit lamp is the old headlamp. Noise still brings things running. Almost everything around those ideas has changed.
What changed
| BLOOMFALL | XENO // BREACH | |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | A town overrun by fungus | The U.S.S. Aethelgard, eight decks |
| Structure | Scavenge a floor, then survive the horde | Clear waves, prep, push to the next deck |
| Who you play | A lone survivor | One of seven operatives |
| Company | Survivors you rescued | Deploy Solo, or Squad Co-op with AI marines |
| Weapons | Whatever you found | Five weapon classes, each with a skill tree |
| Between runs | A camp you built up | The Xeno Vault, with permanent upgrades |
Waves instead of a horde meter
Wave 1 starts the moment you land. The deck is already full of hive creatures in its rooms. Reinforcements arrive through vents and corridors, away from you and out of your line of sight: 10 for wave 1, then 4 more each wave. The HUD counts every hostile left.
Clear a wave and you get 250 points plus 75 per wave number, one skill point, one Xeno Core and a heart back. Then you get a 25-second prep phase to build, weld and upgrade. Press N (or tap START) to skip the wait and take a 150-point bonus. Every third wave is a boss wave. From wave 3, once a wave is clear, the rift to the next deck opens.
Squad co-op with AI marines
On the title screen, choose Deploy Solo or Squad Co-op. Squad Co-op launches you with two AI marines, and you can set the squad anywhere from zero to three marines mid-run from the Tactical Command panel. They follow you, shoot what you can't, and get back up when they go down. The full rundown is in our squad co-op guide.
Weapon classes and skill trees
Your operative sets your weapon class: Ballistic Assault, Laser & Charge, Heavy Ordnance, Shotgun Scatter or Plasma Blade & Lunge. Every class has a five-rank tree that you rank up with skill points. A Ballistic tree rank, for example, adds 22% damage and one pierce to straight-fire guns. See the weapon class guide for all five.
Turrets and hull vents
Points buy more than guns. Press T to drop a defense where you're aiming: nine kinds, from a 200-point Laser Barricade to a 600-point Arc-Coil Pylon. Hull vents are how the hive gets into rooms. Press E next to one to weld it shut for 25 points.
What carried over
- Light and noise. Your suit lamp shows you about 210 pixels ahead. It also lets a resting hive creature spot you from 150 pixels instead of 60. Every shot is a circle of sound that wakes anything inside it. The pulse rifle carries 330 pixels, the Mag-Rail Bow 12. We wrote up the thinking in Designing light and noise.
- Dodge and riposte. If an attack lands in the first 0.18 seconds of a dash, that's a perfect dodge. Time slows and your next hit does double damage.
- Poise. Heavy enemies don't fall over. Hit them enough and they stagger.
- Bloodrush. Chain three quick kills and you move 15% faster and attack faster. Reach six and you get a heart back.
- Roguelite runs. Death ends the run. The Xeno Cores you earned stay: one per wave cleared, two per boss. You spend them in the Xeno Vault on things like extra starting armor and faster movement.
The camp is gone. Its job, making the next run a bit stronger, now belongs to the Xeno Vault.
Free to start
The first deck, Docking Bay 7, is free. The full game is a one-time $4.99. There are no ads, no accounts and no energy timers. If you buy on the web, a purchase code unlocks it, not an account.
Where to play
Play XENO // BREACH free in your browser. On a phone you can add it to your home screen, and after the first visit it plays offline. Our phone guide covers iPhone and Android step by step. Google Play and App Store versions are coming.
FAQ
Is XENO // BREACH a new game or an update to Bloomfall?
It's the new version of BLOOMFALL. It was rebuilt around a new setting and a wave structure, but it keeps the light, noise and dodge systems.
Is there online multiplayer?
No. Squad Co-op means you plus AI marines on one device.
Is it finished?
No. We're still working on it, so names, numbers and balance will change. This post describes the build as it stands today.
New here? Start with your first run, then take the dropship into Docking Bay 7.
