BLACK STACK

From the Devs

THE SURVEILLANCE METER IS THE REAL BOSS

The Black Stack is a sentient corporate megastructure that placed divinity behind a permission gate.

You are unauthorized.

Build a forbidden deck. Steal hardware. Compile one-shot exploits. Climb toward the process that wrote God - and decide how much evidence to leave behind.

Protocols raise TRACE, which persists between encounters and crosses PING, LOCK, PURGE, and TERMINAL thresholds. Each arms a new response. High Trace distorts the interface and enemy intent; at 100, one grace cycle precedes escalating nonlethal Integrity loss. Vent it - or turn surveillance into fuel.

COMPILE YOUR OWN VERSION

Choose from three playable identities, each with a distinct body, starting kit, card pool, and power:

• VANTA // THE APOSTATE - disciplined Bandwidth and Trace control through OVERCLOCK.

• THE ARCHON KERNEL - stolen authority that turns dangerous Trace into power.

• THE COURIER - a script-runner whose exploit inventory drives the deck.

The catalog contains 503 card definitions: 496 playable protocols and seven hostile Status injections. Build across Attacks, Skills, Powers, and 60 dedicated WAGER protocols. The wider library adds 78 relics, 66 exploit scripts, 16 Divine elixirs, 12 Ultras, five Graft Cores, and 12 Machine God blessings.

POWER LEAVES A SIGNAL

Across 496 playable protocols and 172 relics, scripts, elixirs, and Ultras, dozens of engines are waiting to be discovered - and broken open.

Power earned through play is allowed to feel powerful. We do not flatten an engine merely because it became obscene. Your LOADOUT SIGNAL lets Intelligent difficulty read rarity, mastery, equipment, and graft investment, then scale the Stack around you. Prefer a ceiling? Select Capped response. Add one of three Audit contracts for greater resistance and rewards.

PHYSICAL COPIES. PERMANENT MASTERY.

Recover schematics, spend Salvage to compile as many physical copies as you can afford, and build a ten-card opening manifest for each identity. Removed starters return to your library.

• Basic through Rare protocols reach level 3; Divine protocols reach level 4.

• Rare capstones and every Divine rank fork permanently, so copies of one card can become different weapons.

• Maxed cards gain animated mastery chrome and rarity-aware play effects.

• Wager protocols turn coin calls, dice, loaded reels, Blackjack, and roulette into seeded combat engines with bespoke animations.

SIX ACTS TO ROOT TERMINUS

Climb a branching, seeded ascent through five atlases, then enter ROOT TERMINUS: a straight eight-layer procession toward Archon Prime and its Ascendant second body.

Face 81 hostile processes and 58 authored event definitions, including eight adaptive Forensic Processes.

• Fight multi-enemy encounters with individual intents and direct targeting.

• Hunt elite variants and confront bespoke authorities - including one you can negotiate with.

• At Archon checkpoints, repair, vent, extract a prize, or continue deeper.

• Use REVOCATION once per run to reject a filed death and return at 1 HP and 0 Trace. The enemy's exact Integrity, Block, status, form, and intent remain; every player card returns to the deck.

ACCEPT THE MANDATE - OR REVOKE IT

A forbidden offer can transform your identity and unlock THE MANDATE: a second six-act campaign that turns the route inside out and sends you against ten new authorities.

Protect the system you once breached, pursue older powers, or revoke your appointment and return to the oath. The Archive remembers which version chose.

THE STACK LEARNS HOW YOU FIGHT

Combat Doctrine records your openers, sequences, Bandwidth use, defense, targets, Trace appetite, wagers, and equipment. The Stack uses those habits in Forensic Processes - and when archived versions return.

Failed and strongest selves can rebuild their real deck, mastery branches, equipment, resources, piles, and learned doctrine. The most dangerous encounter may be the version that mastered your own engine first.

DESCEND BELOW THE STACK

A route can fracture into the DEEP BREACH, a rare once-per-run exception that suspends your exact atlas and opens an eight-stop illegal descent.

Three authorities. Two corrupted casinos. A Divine cache. An apex boss. Extraction.

Escape and the original atlas reconnects where it broke, contraband intact. Die below the Stack and the run ends. Complete a naturally filed descent to recover the secret Godscar Engine Graft Core.

THE BLACK ARCHIVE REMEMBERS EVERY VERSION

• Recovery Catalog + Workbench - unlock and compile components, construct manifests, and master individual copies.

• Graft Foundry - install one of five cores and commit to one of 15 doctrines across 150 authored nodes. Reset for a full Salvage refund.

• The Ascent - infinite, non-seasonal progression. Complete twelve-node chapters for Gems and new deterministic reward lines.

• Breach Archive + Memory Index - reopen run maps and telemetry; catalog encountered processes, origins, art, and lore.

• NULLCADE - two permanent cabinets: BREACHEROIDS and the seven-stage NULLSPIRE, with persistent scores and bounded rewards.

THE HOUSE ALWAYS COLLECTS

Wager Dens select deterministic Blackjack or an animated 3x3 reel machine. Between runs, spend earned Gems at Big Six for XP, Salvage, property, or an unowned Divine protocol. Every stake uses fictional currency earned only through play.

ONE PRICE. THE COMPLETE GAME.

Everything here is included in one purchase and earned through play.

No microtransactions, paid currency, card packs, paid battle pass, loot boxes, real-money wagering, or cash-out.

SHARED RULES. YOUR DECISIONS.

• Every run is deterministic; share a BREACH CODE to replay its route.

• SCHEDULED AUDITS are seeded challenges with fixed identity, kit, route, and modifier.

• A guided tutorial teaches combat, Trace, Block, the Archive, deck construction, mastery, grafts, and loadouts.

• Save and resume route and combat state, with Steam Cloud reconciliation.

BUILT FOR THE WHOLE RUN

• 60 Steam achievements and 31 interface languages.

• Keyboard, mouse, and gamepad navigation.

• Separate audio, display, atmosphere, post FX, shake, impact, and reduced-motion settings.

• Card inspection, forecasts, reactive music, cinematics, hit-stop, shield fractures, kill dissolves, particles, and atmosphere.

The Stack is generating another version of you.