LIANYAO:The Formless One

From the Devs

You have no fixed form. What you refine will shape what you become.

LIANYAO: The Formless One is a first-person deckbuilding roguelite inspired by Chinese folklore and strange tales of the wild.

Venture into haunted mountains, confront beasts, spirits, and corrupted creatures, and refine the souls of defeated monsters into powers of your own.

But refining a monster does more than give you another card.

The powers you choose will gradually shape what you become.

Turn Your Enemies' Powers Into Your Own

The monsters you fight are the source of your build.

Defeat different creatures, claim their souls, and refine their signature abilities into skills you can use yourself.

Different enemies open different combat directions: defensive retaliation, relentless pursuit, rapid multi-hit attacks, and stranger powers drawn from corrupted spirits and demons.

Rather than assembling a pre-made archetype, your deck grows from the creatures you encounter and the abilities you choose to take from them.

Let Your Build Shape Your Form

Your abilities determine more than how you fight — they gradually transform you.

As you continue refining different kinds of power, new supernatural forms begin to emerge, reinforcing the combat style you have built throughout the run.

You do not choose a fixed class at the beginning of an expedition.

What you eventually become depends on which creatures you encounter, which powers you refine, and how you combine them.

You do not choose a build first and search for the right cards.

Your build takes shape naturally through the act of refining monsters.

Take Shape Anew on Every Expedition

Every journey into the mountains brings a new combination of battles, events, blessings, relics, and monster souls.

Sometimes you will find the core of your build early. Other times, a newly acquired power may push you in an entirely different direction.

Adapt to what the expedition gives you, combine abilities and relics into powerful interactions, and gradually complete a combat style unique to that run.

There is no single path to follow.

What you encounter, what you refine, and what you leave behind will determine the shape of each expedition.

Face the Creatures of a Strange Eastern Wilderness

Enter battle from a first-person perspective and confront creatures inspired by Chinese folklore, mountain legends, and tales of wandering spirits.

Observe enemy intentions, balance offense and defense, and find openings through careful combinations of abilities.

Wild beasts are only the beginning.

As you travel deeper into the mountains, familiar creatures begin to change, unnatural forces spread through the wilderness, and far more dangerous beings reveal themselves.

Defeat them.

Refine them.

Then carry their power deeper into the unknown.