LYNXED GAMES

Five-element action roguelite in your browser

Heaven's Mandate天命Tianming

One tainted pill, and your own qi turned on you. The only way out is in.

A pixel-art action roguelite set inside your own body. Turn five elements on the room, balance Yin and Yang, and descend to your Heart Demon.

  • Free in early access
  • No ads
  • No account
  • Phone, tablet or computer
Real gameplay
8chapters
10disciplines
10reactions
500+items
25lost pages
Steam Burst and Wildfire reactions erupt through a crowd in a grey stone room, with damage numbers flying

Elements

Five elements. Ten reactions.

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water orbit you as a ring. Mark a foe with one, hit it with another, and they react: Steam Burst, Wildfire, Magma, Thorn Storm. Swap in the right order and you release a named technique, like Phoenix Palm.

  • Ring order is your build
  • Orbs block enemy shots
  • Flow bonus for generating pairs
A field of dry grass bursts into flame around the Flame Adept, burning the enemies standing in it

Terrain

The room is a weapon.

Fire races through dry grass. Water conducts through metal. Wood grows briar rings and bridges, earth cracks the floor and raises cover, and wind throws enemies into the walls.

  • Burn the field
  • Raise your own cover
  • Wall slams
The Qi Deviation banner over a violet room as a briar ring lashes the enemies around the hero

Yin & Yang

Lean into the dark. Or the light.

Every floor splits into Yin rooms and Yang rooms, and the path you walk tips your balance. Neither side is right. It depends on your build.

  • Qi Deviation 走火入魔: +25% damage, violet flame, half healing
  • Golden Body 金身: heal after every room, foes slow near you
A ghostly Qi Immortal at his altar in a hidden chamber, as a lost page reads: Walls that ring hollow hide more

Secrets

Listen to the walls.

Hidden rooms have no crack and no glow. Shoot a wall. If it rings hollow, something is behind it. Some secrets hide a second one, a Cave-Heaven 洞天.

  • 25 pages of the Record of the Heart Demons 心魔录
  • Five chains, five inner demons
  • A hidden true ending
The ten playable disciplines side by side, from the Wuji Monk to the Iron Arhat

Disciplines

Ten ways to walk the path.

Drown the room as the Tide Weaver. Drag it into a cyclone as the Gale Strider. Raise the World-Tree as the Verdant Mystic. Each discipline has its own attack and its own special.

  • Wuji Monk · Tide Weaver · Flame Adept · Gale Strider · Earth Shaper
  • Verdant Mystic · Sword Saint · Exorcist · Fox Spirit · Iron Arhat
Phoenix Palm and a crashing wave hit Pansi, the Nine-Eyed Matriarch, her health bar across the bottom of the screen

Bosses

Bosses, and spirits that lie.

Each chapter ends with a boss made of your own corrupted qi. On the way: mini-bosses, treasure that springs an ambush, and trickster spirits who offer a gift. Some of them mean it.

  • Bell-Toll General · Bile Mother · Glutton Maw · Iron-Beak Marshal
  • The Nine-Tail Trickster
The mountain temple hub: a red gate, stone statues, pine trees and a waterfall above the clouds

The temple

Come home to the mountain.

Between runs you wake in a temple above the clouds. Disciples you rescued, shrines, a garden, a waterfall, and Master Xuan. And a past to piece together.

  • Rescued disciples
  • Shrines and offerings
  • Master Xuan

The descent

Eight chapters. One body.

From the flesh down to the dantian. The rooms are laid out anew each run, every chapter ends in a boss, and its element is shown before you go in, so you can set your ring.

  1. 肉FleshJin-Can Gu Mother
  2. 肝LiverGoumang Wood-Fiend
  3. 心HeartZhurong Samadhi-Heart
  4. 脾SpleenHoutu Earth-Colossus
  5. 肺LungsRushou White-Tiger Bellows
  6. 肾KidneysXuanming Xuanwu Twins
  7. 经络MeridiansXiangliu Blood-Jiaolong
  8. 丹田DantianWuxiang Tianmo, the Heart Demon

How a run works

Twenty minutes. A new descent every time.

A run takes 20–30 minutes and saves between floors.

  1. Choose

    A discipline and a starting element.

  2. Descend

    Room by room through a chapter of your body. Walk Yin rooms or Yang rooms.

  3. Build

    Items stack, reactions chain, techniques open up.

  4. Purge

    Beat the chapter boss and go deeper. Fall, and wake in the temple.

No catch

Nothing between you and the path.

Open the link and play. That is the whole setup.

Free in early accessThe whole game, in your browser.
No adsNone. Not between runs, not anywhere.
No accountTap play. You are in.
Plays offlineAfter the first visit.
Phone, tablet, computerTouch, keyboard or gamepad.
20–30 minute runsSaves between floors.

More from the descent

Screenshots

Captured from the game. Tap for full size.

Phoenix Palm: the Wuji Monk releases a technique into a crowd in the Heart chapter Steam Burst clouds erupt over a water-marked crowd in a blue cave room The Blood Demon and the Qi Immortal keep a shrine, trading health and jade for skill points

At a glance

Heaven's Mandate 天命

GenreRoguelite, Action, Twin-stick shooter, Top-down, Pixel art, Xianxia
StoryOne tainted pill, and your own qi turned on you. The only way out is in.
ChaptersFlesh 肉 · Liver 肝 · Heart 心 · Spleen 脾 · Lungs 肺 · Kidneys 肾 · Meridians 经络 · Dantian 丹田
DisciplinesWuji Monk, Tide Weaver, Flame Adept, Gale Strider, Earth Shaper, Verdant Mystic, Sword Saint, Exorcist, Fox Spirit, Iron Arhat
ReactionsWildfire, Magma, Ore Shatter, Quicksilver, Bloom, Steam Burst, Molten, Thorn Storm, Fissure, Mire
RunsA run takes 20–30 minutes and saves between floors
PlatformsAny modern browser on computer, phone or tablet. Installs to the home screen and plays offline. iOS and Android apps coming soon.
PriceFree to play in full while in early access. No ads, no accounts.
DeveloperLynxed Games, an independent studio

Questions

Before you descend

Is Heaven's Mandate free?

Yes. While Heaven's Mandate is in early access, the whole game is free to play in your browser. There are no ads, no accounts, no loot boxes and no energy timers.

Where can I play it?

In any modern browser on a computer, phone or tablet, at heavensmandate.lynxedgames.com. Add it to your home screen and it opens full screen like an app. iOS and Android apps are coming soon.

Does it work offline?

Yes. After your first visit the game is stored on your device, so it starts and plays with no connection.

How long is a run?

About 20 to 30 minutes. The game saves between floors, so you can stop and pick the run up later.

What are the controls?

On a phone or tablet: one thumb moves, the other aims and fires, and a tap swaps your orb. On a computer: WASD to move, the mouse or arrow keys to aim and fire, Q, E, Shift or the mouse wheel to swap elements, Space for your special. Gamepads work too.

What does Heaven's Mandate mean?

Heaven's Mandate is 天命 (tianming) in Chinese: what heaven wills for you, your destiny. The game draws on Chinese cultivation stories, Daoist five-phase (Wuxing) ideas and the Shan Hai Jing bestiary. Terms like Qi Deviation 走火入魔 and Golden Body 金身 are shown with their English.

Is it hard?

It is a roguelite: when you fall, the run ends and you start a new descent. The first floor teaches the controls by doing, and you choose how much risk to take, down to whether you lean Yin or Yang.

Is it suitable for younger players?

It is pixel-art fantasy combat against spirits, insects and demons, with mild horror themes (a corrupted body, demons) and no blood or gore.

The only way out is in.

Free in your browser while in early access. A run takes twenty minutes.

Play free in your browser

iOS & Android coming soonInstalls to your home screen today