A dark force, called the wailing Abyss, is trying to obliterate the spirit world. You are a shaman and, with the help of your ancestors, you need to find a way to destroy the Abyss. It draws its power from underground dungeons. Can you locate all the dungeons and defeat all evil underlings?
Runs
Trails of the Ancestors features permadeath runs. Every time you die, you’ll start a new run and every run will be different and unique. All the overworlds and dungeons are procedurally generated.
Every run starts in a meditation cave where you are contacted by your ancestors. You embark on a mission to defeat the Abyss, and you are granted a basic weapon to aid you in your quest. You’ll start out in the overworld and have to find the location of the dungeon and unlock it. Then you need to conquer the dungeon boss and navigate to the next overworld. In this way you’ll alternate between overwolds and dungeons.
Overworlds
Explore a sprawling and dangerous overworld, fight the evil underlings and make them spill the location of their lairs. Steal their loot and grow stronger by using the Abyss' own tools agains them. Never get lost again, thanks to your trusty map and compass, always letting you know where to go next.
Besides finding out the location of the dungeon, you also need to find a way to unlock it. How this is achieved will vary each run. Sometimes you need to find a single key that unlocks the dungeon. This key might be hidden in a chest, or one of the enemies might be carrying it. Some dungeons will have a sacred statue lock that can only be unlocked by collecting all fragments of the sacred statue.
Dungeons
Once you’ve managed to locate and unlock a dungeon, you’ll need to find and conquer the dungeon boss. Just like in the overworld, you can find the map and the compass in order to navigate the dungeon and find out the location of the boss. You’ll also need to find the boss key in order to unlock the boss room.
Dungeons feature locked rooms, treasure rooms, special item rooms, and might also contain secret rooms that you can only reach by bombing a wall or operating a hidden lever.
Once you’ve defeated the dungeon boss, you can travel to the next overworld through a magical gate.
Merchants
In caves spread throughout the overworld, you can find several merchants. They sell weapons and items that you can purchase using gems that are occasionally dropped by enemies.
Once you’ve obtained bombs, you can bomb rocks and you might uncover hidden caves with secrets inside.
