You play as The Warlock, bound by contract to the banished god of blood, the Patron, to kill monstrous foes and collect their godly blood, ichor. In return for your service, you grow more powerful with cursed upgrades that both power you up and make your run more difficult.

Fight through rooms with boss-like creatures brimming with ichor! Enemies aren't just fodder or mindless, but rather each fight is a back-and-forth dance of dodging and swinging! 

As the Warlock, you can heal yourself with the blood of your enemies. Ichor is not only a means of healing but also a tool to build strength. The more Ichor spilt, the higher your blood purity.

In Ichorous, major power progression comes through offerings, upgrades granted in exchange for ichor. The strength of each offering scales with your blood purity: the more ichor you spill, the more powerful your upgrade becomes.

Curses are the vile impurities of the Patron's offerings; every offering you pick up is attached to a random curse. The world scales with you; curses can modify enemies, bosses, and even the room structure, and it's up to you to manage these compounding curses and weigh how they will affect your run.

Trinkets are minor upgrades found during a run, used to tune your character and build off of your chosen offerings. Balancing what trinkets snowball your kit and which ones don't, makes the difference when dealing with encounters.