Coming to Steam in 2027

Ancientstone

A first-person puzzle expedition beneath the earth.

Coming to Steam in 2027 See the screenshots

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.

An inscription of those from above on a dark stele, with a clay tablet in the niche beside it

62 inscriptions

Read what they left.

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

Labyrinth 4: the two wells, Eratosthenes' experiment

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.

A repaired machine of those from above comes to life, and a wave of light runs through the rock

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.

Chain lightning from the emitter jumps across a swarm of spiderlings

4 forms

One emitter, four forms.

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

The Quarry arena: the ram sphere on the rails beside the scaffolding

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.

A swarm of spiderlings crawls out of its burrow into the emitter's light

6 kinds of spiders

Keep the light up.

Six kinds of spiders, bats, eels and the priests' eye. Your beam holds the spiders back, and spiders, guardians and traps can be made gentler or switched off. No blood.

Screenshots

Inside the labyrinths

Real in-game frames on Ultra, captured in the game's own studio: arenas, machines, experiments and the halls between them.

  • Labyrinth 19 · The OrreryThe sphere with moons, caught in the eclipse
  • Labyrinth 12 · The QuarrySight of the Ancients: time slows and the guardian's next move shows
  • Labyrinth 9 · MatterTest the crown: a vessel, a measuring glass and three ingots
  • Labyrinth 14 · Games and NumbersThe Royal Game of Ur against a priest automaton
  • Labyrinth 8 · The Scribes' RotundaThe discharge sphere among the scribes' pillars
  • Labyrinth 13 · Light and the EyeThe Fresnel lighthouse, lit again
  • Labyrinth 18 · The ForgeThe armoured sphere under the forge hammer
  • Labyrinth 6 · The VaultThe saros machine: counting the eclipses
  • Labyrinth 15 · Roads and JudgementThe bridges: cross each one exactly once
  • Labyrinth 12 · The BuildersInspecting a broken machine: a hologram shows how it worked
  • Labyrinth 18 · The WorkshopThe Jacquard loom: punched cards before computers
  • Labyrinth 1 · The MouthThe first puzzle: how those from above wrote numbers

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 learn to read it 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