# Welcome to the Chronicle: news from the Hinge

> The Chronicle is open: news, dev diaries and the road ahead for Keeper of the Seven Keys, the dark fantasy action RPG you play free in your browser. Here is what the game is, and how to start tonight.

News from the Hinge · The Keeper team · 2026-10-22 · https://sevenkeys.fun/blog/welcome-to-the-chronicle

The worlds were held together by seven keys. You broke them.

That line is where Keeper of the Seven Keys begins, and from today it is where this page begins too. Welcome to **the Chronicle**: the place where we write down what we are building, what has just changed, and where the road goes next.

## What is Keeper of the Seven Keys?

Keeper of the Seven Keys is a **dark fantasy action RPG that runs in your web browser**. It pairs Diablo's atmosphere and exploration with tight, readable, Hades-style combat, in a painted storybook world with a dark edge.

You are the Keybearer, chosen to carry the Seven Keys to the Lock on the Night of Seven Bells. You turned them, and they shattered. Since then the seven worlds, the Folds, have come loose, and the Unwritten pour through the streets erasing colour, then faces, then names. Those they catch rise again as Husks. A Husk is still someone. Your task is to write them back.

![The home page: the living key art and the call to play](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1P1fUoeI1VGeceh75vaXxlRsRi55sPH-Y=w1400)

The whole game is built around one rule: **you are never rewarded only for killing.** Foes can be studied, stilled and named back to life. Every Key you carry is a weapon _and_ a verb that changes the world. Contracts replace dungeon clears, and your world remembers every choice you make.

## What you can play today

The free demo is about two hours of story for a first playthrough, and it is a complete arc:

- **The Night of Seven Bells**, the prologue: the Rite of Turning, the Erasure, the Archivist and the moment the Keys break.
- **The Borderlands**: the ruined Hinge, rebuilt district by district by the people you save; the Verge, stilled with ward-lanterns; and the Mines, held for good through the Lantern Line and the Vigil.
- **The first Door**: when the Hinge is whole, the Door of Thornwild opens, and this time it holds.

You choose one of **four races**, each with its own weapon and three specials of its own: the Elven Keeper, the Delver, the Human Wayfarer and the Chainbound. You can play on keyboard and mouse, on a gamepad, or by touch. There is nothing to download and nothing to install.

![Bell Square, its bells hung again by the people who came home](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1yT8hP3SA53B9fDytN66KqQR8kYdXwb0o=w1400)

[Play the free demo](https://sevenkeys.fun/)

## What the Chronicle will bring

A new page every few days, of four kinds:

- **Dev diaries**: how a system works and why it was built that way, from the fairness rules in combat to the economy, the netcode and the painted look.
- **Guides to the game**: the races, the Keys, the Hinge and the Mines, written by the people who built them.
- **The road ahead**: what comes after the demo, from Thornwild and co-op to the Closed Alpha.
- **News**: changes to the demo, playtests, and the day the Closed Alpha opens.

Every post can be **liked**, **saved** for later and **shared** from its own page, whether you are signed in or just passing through the Hinge.

## Never miss a page

Join the Keepers' list and each new post of the Chronicle comes to your inbox, together with your **personal Closed Alpha key**. The key is bound to your email, and it opens the Closed Alpha when it begins: Thornwild, the first living Fold, and co-op with friends. Creating an account gives you a key too, and a box to tick if you would like the news as well. Every letter carries a one-click way out.

[Claim your Closed Alpha key](https://sevenkeys.fun/#alpha)

## Where to find us

The Chronicle lives at the top of the site, beside the story, the Keys and the roadmap, and every Keeper can reach it from the character screen too. If you prefer a feed reader, there is an RSS feed of every post.

> The bells have stopped. Somewhere a name is fading. Pick up the Keyring.
> — The first page of the Chronicle

See you at the Waystone.