Deep Keep — press kit

Press kit

Deep Keep is the roguelite with no dice — if you die, you misread the room. Every number is shown before you commit a move: the foe's archetype, its weakness, the blow it is winding up, and exactly what each of your tools will do this turn. Combat is a full-information tactical puzzle, not a gamble. A run is a coffee break — about ten minutes — and permadeath pays out options, never raw power.

Fact sheet

Name: Deep Keep
Elevator pitch: the roguelite with no dice — if you die, you misread the room.
Status: live and free at playdeepkeep.com
Platform: browser (desktop & mobile), installable as an offline PWA; no download, no account
Price: free
Run length: ~10 minutes per descent; permadeath with options-based meta-progression
Engine: custom, dependency-light TypeScript — a pure deterministic core with an exhaustive solvability prover
Multiplayer surface: a daily seeded challenge (everyone worldwide faces the identical gauntlet) and a replay-verified global leaderboard that is structurally cheat-proof — the server re-derives every score by replaying the run's inputs
Development: built almost entirely with an AI coding agent, documented publicly on the dev blog; the game itself runs with no AI — flavour text is optional garnish, never load-bearing
Contact: hello@playdeepkeep.com

What makes it worth writing about

Determinism as a design pillar, provable, not vibes. There are no hidden rolls: the only randomness (a small variance on blows, the odds on a gambled rider) is pre-rolled during generation and shown before you commit. An exhaustive solver certifies every mandatory fight is beatable with your exact build before the game will deal it — a lost run is always a misread, never bad luck.
The loss screen proves it. When you fall, "The keep's ledger" shows the line that would have survived the fatal room — computed by the same solver, from the exact fight you faced — or tells you honestly that no line existed and the wound was taken earlier.
Builds are keys, not stat sticks. Six points across four approaches; each stat opens solutions closed to the others, and the generator is balance-swept in CI so no build quietly dominates.
A fair daily race. The date seeds the whole gauntlet, meta-power is neutralised, first run counts — a pure build-and-skill race on an identical puzzle.
An unusual making-of story. ~150 pull requests written almost entirely by an AI coding agent, kept coherent by machine-checkable invariants — the process is documented on the dev blog.

Screenshots

Right-click to save; these are unedited captures of the live game.

Combat in Deep Keep: hero and foe sprites over a candlelit chamber, with the foe's menace bar, its telegraphed strike, and the exact damage of each tool shown before committing

The character creation screen: six build points across four approaches, presets, and the daily challenge banner

The descent route map: an inked, branching map of the keep with foe sigils on every fork

Boilerplate

Deep Keep is a free browser roguelite of full-information tactical puzzles. Every number — the foe's intent, its weakness, your exact damage — is visible before you commit, so each fight is a puzzle you can read to the end, and each death is a misread you can learn from. Runs take about ten minutes; permadeath carries forward options, never power. It runs in any modern browser with no download and no account, and is free at playdeepkeep.com.

▶ Play Deep Keep