# Keeper of the Seven Keys > A painted dark fantasy action RPG in your browser: Diablo's atmosphere, Hades-style combat. Play the free demo and claim a Closed Alpha key. The worlds were held together by seven keys. You broke them. Now the worlds are being erased, and only you can write them back. ## Play - [Play the free demo](https://sevenkeys.fun/): it runs in a web browser (keyboard and mouse, gamepad or touch), with nothing to download. Guests can play at once; an account keeps progress on any device. - Closed Alpha keys: join the newsletter on the site, or create an account. Keep it safe: it is bound to the email it was sent to, and opens the Closed Alpha when it begins. - [The Chronicle](https://sevenkeys.fun/blog): news, dev diaries and the roadmap ([RSS](https://sevenkeys.fun/blog/rss.xml)). Every post in full: [llms-full.txt](https://sevenkeys.fun/llms-full.txt). ## The story - **Once a generation, the seven bells ring.** The Hinge, the citadel-city where every Door meets, fills with lanterns for the Rite of Turning. You are the Keybearer, chosen to carry the Seven Keys to the Lock and turn them, so the seven worlds stay whole for another age. - **The bells stop mid-toll.** Pale shapes of blank parchment and ink pour through the streets: the Unwritten. They do not kill. They erase, colour first, then the face, and last of all the name. Those they catch rise again as Husks. A Husk is still someone. - **The Keys shatter.** At the Lock waits Vael, the Archivist, your mentor. You turn the Keys, and they break: seven streaks of light fall into seven worlds, and the Doors swing loose. Your memory of the last seconds is gone. - **Write the world back.** You wake in the ruins holding an empty Keyring. Speak the names of the erased and bring them home, rebuild the Hinge with the people you save, still the Verge, hold the Mines, and open the first Door. ## The four races - **Elven Keeper** (Staff · ranged elemental): Tall, white-haired elves of the Archive’s oldest line, who remember the first names and keep the Doors from falling open. Ranged elemental focus. Builds Focus quickly to fuel your Keys. Specials: Cinderbolt: A searing bolt that burns and passes through the first foe. Frozen Tide: A wave of frost along a line: it freezes what it touches, staggers and pushes back. Requiem: Spend all Resonance: a thunderclap of every echo you carry, shocking everything around you. - **Delver** (Blade & shield · steadfast): Stocky mountain folk who cut the Hinge’s stone and its key-light crystals in the Mines: broad as a door, slow to fall, slower to forget an oath. Balanced melee. Fast combos; your Heavy braces behind the shield, then bashes. Block at the last moment to Riposte. Specials: Forge Breath: The blade drawn through a cone of forge-fire: everything before you burns. Rime Bulwark: The shield struck to the ground raises rime before you: foes in front freeze, and the shield holds the line while the frost lasts. Oathbell: Spend all Resonance: the shield rung like a bell, and the oath’s toll throws back and staggers everything around you. - **Human Wayfarer** (Bow · swift and far-reaching): The Hinge’s road-wardens, who walk the borderlands and the thresholds of the Doors: lean, weathered, never where the danger expects them. Ranged and mobile. Charged shots pierce; keep your distance. Specials: Fire Volley: Burning arrows loosed high come down on the ground ahead: everything there burns. Frost Snare: An arrow of rime: it freezes the first two foes it strikes, and stills the water it falls in. Rewind Shot: Spend all Resonance: a shaft of key-light pierces everything along a line, then flies back along it. - **Chainbound** (Ashen chains · crowd-breaker): Towering forge-born giants with chains wound up their forearms, who carry the embers of the forges they came from. The Chainbound’s two hooked blades on chains: wide, long sweeps that hold a crowd at bay. Hold the Heavy to whirl the chains overhead and bring them down in fire; out of a dash, a chain drags foes to you. Specials: Burning Coil: The chains flung out in a wide coil of fire: what they catch beyond arm’s reach burns and is dragged in. Rime Chain: A chain flung straight ahead with frost along its length: the foes it binds are frozen and hauled in. Chain of Ages: Spend all Resonance: chains of key-light lash every foe around and snap back through time, dragging them to you. ## The Seven Keys - **Edge** severs: Cuts chains, bindings and rope bridges. Your Attack. - **Ruin** breaks: Smashes cracked walls and seals. Your Heavy, which breaks a foe’s Poise. - **Passage** parts: Parts the veils that hide the way. Your Dash, safe from its first moment. - **Bloom** grows: Grows vine bridges and ladders. Your Heal. - **Embers** burns: Burns brambles and ink, lights braziers. Your race’s first special. - **Tides** freezes: Freezes water into paths. Your race’s second special. - **Echoes** rewinds: Rewinds what broke; an echo holds what you cannot. Your race’s ultimate. ## What sets it apart - **Every foe is a question.** Study it, still it, speak its name, or answer with steel. Killing is only one answer, and never the only reward. - **Seven Keys, seven verbs.** Each Key is a power in battle and a verb on the world. Sever, break, grow, burn, freeze and rewind your way through. - **A world that remembers.** Your world keeps every change. The people you save come home and rebuild the Hinge, district by district. - **Contracts, not clears.** Choose a job with its objective, its twist and its rewards shown up front. Sometimes the best run is the one without a fight. - **Craft, don’t sift.** No piles of loot to sort. Find patterns and materials, and forge gear at the Keysmith’s anvil that stays with you. - **Fair by design.** Every dangerous blow is telegraphed, and the first that would fell you leaves you on one last breath. Learn a fight and you will win it. - **Play anywhere.** In your browser on keyboard and mouse, gamepad or touch. Nothing to download, nothing to install. - **Better together.** Co-op in each other’s worlds and fair PvP arenas are on the road ahead. ## The world of the demo - **The Hinge.** The city where every Door meets, in ruins after the Night. Rebuild its six districts with the people you save. - **The Verge.** Where Thornwild’s forest presses through the frayed edge. Rescue captives, fell marked ashwood, plant ward-lanterns. - **The Mines.** A quarry valley of three territories. Kindle the Lantern Line, survive the Vigil, and the Mines stay yours. - **The Door of Thornwild.** Restore the Hinge, still the Verge, anchor the Mines, and the first Door holds open on the living Fold beyond. ## Roadmap (no dates) ### Public demo (Free in your browser) - **The Night of Seven Bells** (done): The prologue: the Rite, the Erasure, the Archivist and the Turning. - **The Borderlands** (now): The Hinge rebuilt by its people, the Verge stilled, the Mines held for good, and the first Door opened. ### Closed Alpha (For Alpha key holders) - **Thornwild, the Living Fold** (next): The first living world: territories that change hands, peoples to parley with, puzzles and Rifts, and Ysolde, the Grove Mother. - **Open Weaves** (later): Co-op for up to four: play together in a friend’s world, then carry on in your own. ### Beta (Builds, allegiances and fair PvP) - **Paths, Covenants and Origins** (later): Six Paths to master, three Covenants to pledge to, and new races earned through a people’s trust. - **The Crucible** (later): Duels and arenas where build and skill decide, never grind. ### Early Access and 1.0 (The Sevenfold restored) - **The Six Folds** (later): Cinder Reach, Tidefall, Skyreach, the Ashen Barrows, the Rime and Mirrorwaste, each with its Warden, its people and its Key. - **The Eighth Door** (later): The finale. Some Doors were never meant to be counted. ### Beyond (An expansion) - **The Confluence** (later): A shared world where every Keeper’s weave meets. ## Questions ### What is Keeper of the Seven Keys? 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. You are the Keybearer who broke the Seven Keys, and the one who must write the erased worlds back. ### How do I play the demo? Press “Play the free demo”: it runs in your browser, with nothing to download or install. Play as a guest straight away, or create an account to keep your progress on any device. ### Which devices and controls are supported? Keyboard and mouse, gamepad and touch are all first-class. You need a modern browser with WebGL; a desktop or laptop gives the best experience. ### How long is the demo? About two hours for a first playthrough: the Night of Seven Bells, then the ruined Hinge rebuilt, the Verge stilled and the Mines held, up to the moment the first Door opens. ### What is a Closed Alpha key? A personal invitation to the Closed Alpha, which brings Thornwild, the first living Fold, and co-op. Join the newsletter or create an account to receive one. Each key is bound to the email it was issued to. ### Can I play with friends? The demo is single-player. Co-op for up to four players, joining each other’s worlds, and fair PvP arenas are on the roadmap. ### Is it pay-to-win? No. Power is bounded: you grow through knowledge, skill and the gear you craft, not by grinding or by paying for strength, and in PvP every Keeper stands on even footing. ### Where can I follow the game’s development? In the Chronicle, the game’s blog on this site: news, dev diaries and the roadmap, with an RSS feed. Join the newsletter, or tick its box when you create an account, and each new post comes to your inbox with your Closed Alpha key. ### What makes it different from other action RPGs? You are never rewarded only for killing. Foes can be studied, stilled and named back to life; each Key is a verb that changes the world; contracts replace dungeon clears; and your world remembers every choice.