FREE TO PLAY · PERMADEATH ROGUELIKE
ROGUEGRIND
An open-world pixel-art roguelike. Explore procedurally generated worlds, crack chests for tiered loot and grind for glory — knowing one death wipes it all.
Needs Java 8 or newer — runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Prefer a self-contained Windows app instead? Grab the .exe download — just know some antivirus tools flag it as a false positive.
Don't have Java? Get it free from java.com. Once installed, you can run the game by clicking the downloaded file.
A one man project, built on a custom Java2D engine. Ideas, feedback and questions are welcome at roguegrind@gmail.com.
Gameplay
GAME FEATURES
Everything below is implemented and playable right now - no vaporware, no promises.
PERMADEATH
Death is permanent. Your inventory, weapons and glory are wiped on the server the moment you die. Start again and play better.
PROCEDURAL WORLDS
Every run generates a fresh 1500x1500-tile open world with natural coastlines and lakes - across grass, jungle, desert, volcano, sand and snow biomes.
DUNGEON PORTALS
Portals scattered across the open world lead into hand-crafted dungeons. Step through if you dare - and find the exit to get back out.
TIERED ARSENAL
Swords, bows, staffs, daggers and axes from Tier 1 to Tier 10, with damage, range and fire rate scaling every tier. Your weapon is your class.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Every weapon category has its own mana-fueled special, right-click to unleash it: Dash Slash, Homing Volley, Meteor Shower, Ricochet Knives and Whirlwind. Legendaries can even carry their own unique special.
UNTIERED LEGENDARIES
Thirteen unique weapons stronger than any Tier 10 drop - Fire Sword, Void Bow, Magic Guitar, Poison Dagger, Fire Axe and more. Found only as rare chest loot.
TREASURE CHESTS
Six rarities from common Wood up to Gold. Higher rarity means a tougher chest to crack open - and far better loot inside. Bring DPS.
GLORY LEADERBOARD
Earn glory for staying alive. Your best run is ranked against every other player on the all-time, monthly and weekly boards below.
PERSISTENT LOADOUT
Log out and your inventory is saved to the server - restored on your next login with every item in the same slot. Until you die, of course.
GLOBAL CHAT
Chat with every player online, across all worlds, while you grind. Compare loot, trade tips, mourn each other's deaths.
YOUR CONTROLS
Rebind every key live from the launcher, and toggle between auto-fire and hold-to-fire mid-run. Movement, chat, inventory - your layout.
Loot
THE ARMORY
A taste of the loot pool - real in-game items with their real stats. Gold-framed legendaries only drop from high-rarity chests.
T10 SWORD
TIER 1060 DPS
Melee range
T10 STAFF
TIER 1060 DPS
Long range
T10 DAGGER
TIER 1060 DPS
Quick strikes
T10 AXE
TIER 1060 DPS
Heavy cleave
FIRE SWORD
UNTIERED80 DPS
Burns bright
POISON DAGGER
UNTIERED80 DPS
Fast and toxic
FIRE AXE
UNTIERED80 DPS
Molten cleave
VOID BOW
UNTIERED80 DPS
Swift arrows
ELDER STAFF
UNTIERED80 DPS
Ancient power
MAGIC GUITAR
UNTIERED80 DPS
Extreme range
Know your enemy
THE BESTIARY
Every creature in the open world, with its real in-game stats and behavior. Almost all of them can drop a treasure chest when slain - the nastier the mob, the more it's usually worth the fight.
BAT
50 HPFast, fragile and barely a scratch on hit — but its bite leaves a lingering poison that keeps ticking long after you have shaken it off. Kill it before it ever touches you.
IMP
55 HPA volcanic pest that keeps its distance and peppers you with a three-bolt fire spread. Land a hit and it panics — a sudden dash away followed by faster, twitchier volleys. Punish it slowly and it just keeps flinching further out of reach.
FROG
60 HPMoves in burst hops with dead-still rests, and spits venomous globs between jumps — the only ranged poison in the game. Close in and it simply bounces away. It wants a spit duel, not a brawl.
SCORPION
70 HPEasy to kill, terrible to be stung by. The sting itself is a scratch — the venom that follows burns away close to half your health over the next seconds. Walking away after one hit is still dangerous.
VULTURE
75 HPWheels around you in a fast, wavering orbit — and reverses direction when a shot connects, so leading it never stays solved. Then it hangs dead-still in the air — the tell — and dives in a straight line. Sidestep the dive and shoot it during the hover or the climb away; those are the only moments it flies straight.
SPIDER
80 HPSkitters toward you in a weaving line that is hard to lead your shots on. Its bite pins you in place for a moment — harmless alone, lethal when anything else is nearby.
WRAITH
85 HPA flickering shadow that no wall, lake or lava field can stop. It drifts closer, blinks to your side, takes solid form for a single heartbeat — your only warning — then strikes hard and fades again. Rare, and memorable.
FROST MAGE
95 HPMarks the ground under your feet with a swirling ice storm that erupts moments later — move or freeze. Plinks icicle bolts while you dodge, and chills anyone who rushes it with a point-blank frost nova. Chilled players do not escape the next storm.
WOLF
100 HPCircles in with quick nips, then freezes into a crouch — the tell — and springs a huge distance in a dead-straight line. Sidestep and it sails past; get caught and the wound keeps bleeding long after.
CRAB
110 HPScuttles sideways across your flank, holding its distance — until it flashes red, yanks you toward it with a claw-grab and goes in for the pinch. Fighting it purely at range is exactly what it is built to punish.
SKELETON
120 HPAn archer that fights at its own range: it advances when you retreat, backs off when you push in, and peppers you with bone arrows the entire time. The first enemy that actively punishes just walking up to it.
SALAMANDER
130 HPEvery step it takes drops burning embers that linger on the ground. Kite it in circles and you will slowly run out of safe footing — the arena itself turns against you. The bite burns too.
SLIME
200 HPLobs globs from range and grows desperate below half health, spitting three-shot fans. Killing it triggers a final burst in all eight directions — and splits it into five small slimes that surround you in a ring.
VINELASHER
220 HPA carnivorous plant that never moves an inch — the jungle floor around it is the trap. Stray too close and it coils up thrashing, then lashes everything nearby: the strike roots you almost in place and leaves thorn wounds bleeding. Bait the coil, step out, and it slumps into a long helpless recovery — or just never give it your feet at all.
ELEMENTAL FLAMES
250 HPStationary sentinels in four colors — green, red, blue and purple — each with its own projectile burst pattern. They cannot chase you, but they are usually planted exactly where you want to go.
BOAR
260 HPTrundles after you slower than you can walk — until it stops, squares up and paws the ground. The charge that follows is locked at launch: get caught and the tusks hit hard and launch you across the jungle floor. Sidestep the lane instead and let it slam into a tree or cliff, and it staggers dizzy for seconds — the only fight where the terrain is your best weapon.
YETI
280 HPA plodding brawler you can simply walk away from — until you wound it badly enough that it rears back in a roar and permanently enrages. From that moment it is faster, hits harder, and its claws leave a bitter frostbite chill that lingers. Keep your distance early, and respect it completely once that roar lands.
ZOMBIE
300 HPShambles after you and claws on contact, each hit slowing you down. Hover just outside its reach and it lunges with a sudden burst of speed — the safe-looking distance is the trap.
FIRE MAGE
400 HPA stationary caster hurling aimed three-shot fans you must sidestep, not outrun. Wound it below half health and it switches to a rotating eight-way star — the gaps sweep around, so standing still is never safe.
GOLEM
500 HPThe slowest thing in the game, and the hardest-hitting: stone armor shrugs off part of every hit you land, and a single swing takes a fifth of your health. Trivial to outrun — deadly to fight carelessly.
DEAMON DRAGON
BOSS · 1000 HPThe dungeon's master. Aimed shots become a relentless four-way barrage below half health as it summons all four Elemental Flames to its side. Slaying it guarantees a golden chest — delivered alongside one final, spiteful volley.
Active development
LATEST UPDATE
JULY 21, 2026 v0.0.3
- NEW Added a new Snow biome - rare and large, like Volcano. It's home to two enemies exclusive to it: Frost Mage (no longer roams the rest of the world) and the all-new Yeti, a slow brawler that permanently enrages - faster, harder-hitting, and its claws leave a lingering frostbite chill - once wounded badly enough.
- FIX Fixed items picked up, discarded, or swapped during a run sometimes vanishing if you closed the game (or it restarted) before that run ended.
- CHANGE Loot pickups and inventory changes are now validated server-side, closing another way a modified client could fake progress.
Compete
RANKINGS
Live rankings pulled straight from the game database. Die gloriously and your name ends up here.
| Rank | Player | Glory | Killed By | Died on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | michelle257 | 9 | Wolf | |
| 2 | numetaller | 3 | Frog |
| Rank | Player | Glory | Killed By | Died on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | michelle257 | 9 | Wolf | |
| 2 | numetaller | 3 | Frog |
| Rank | Player | Glory | Killed By | Died on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | michelle257 | 9 | Wolf | |
| 2 | numetaller | 3 | Frog |
HALL OF INFAMY
| Player | Killed By | Glory | Died on |
|---|---|---|---|
| michelle257 | Wolf | 0 | |
| numetaller | Salamander | 2 | |
| numetaller | Frog | 3 | |
| numetaller | Spider | 2 | |
| numetaller | Salamander | 0 |
Before you dive in
FAQ
The questions worth answering before you commit a run.
IS ROGUEGRIND FREE, OR IS THERE ANYTHING TO BUY?
Completely free, with nothing to buy - no purchases, no premium currency, no pay-to-win. Every weapon, tier and legendary comes from playing.
CAN I PLAY WITH FRIENDS - IS THIS MULTIPLAYER?
You can chat with every player online, globally, while you grind. You cannot meet, trade or fight alongside them in the world itself - there's no shared game state between players, only shared chat.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I LOSE CONNECTION MID-RUN?
Nothing punishes you directly for it. Permadeath only triggers from an actual in-game death, never a dropped connection - your saved inventory is exactly how you left it next time you log in.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?
Everything on that character wipes - inventory, weapons, glory, all reset. Permadeath is the core of the game, not a difficulty toggle you can turn off.
Get started
PLAY NOW
Roguegrind accounts are linked through Discord or Steam - no passwords to remember, no security questions to lose.
First time here? Logging in with Discord or Steam creates your Roguegrind account automatically - then open the game launcher and click the same button there to play. No separate registration needed, here or in the game.