Pick a direction and head out. Forests, swamps, mountains, deserts, tundras, coastlines, ruins, settlements, strange landmarks and worse things wait beyond the edge of what you know.

In HEXCRAWL, every step moves time forward. Terrain can slow you down. Weather can turn ugly. Food runs low. Your pack fills up. Eventually, every expedition reaches the same question: turn back with what you have, or keep going and see what else is out there?

Sometimes the next hex is empty.

Sometimes it isn't.

THE OPEN WORLD

Random encounters can bring monsters, travelers, merchants, ambushes, oddities and opportunities. Some are worth fighting through. Some are worth talking through. Some are a good reason to leave.

Ports open the way to harsher country as you travel. Mark a ruin you are not ready for and come back later. Clear a zone and you can raise a Bastion there — a foothold before the next push outward.

DELVE DEEP

Scattered across the world are caves, temples, forts, tombs, shipwrecks, ruins and other places you can enter and explore. These Delves shift the game from overland travel to room-by-room exploration — traps, hidden passages, darkness, loot, and whatever has taken up residence inside.

Move carefully. Light matters. Foes can notice you before you notice them.

TEST YOUR METTLE

Combat is turn-based, quick and dangerous. Enemies range from common wilderness threats to rare monsters, regional bosses, dragons and other creatures that can badly punish an adventurer who wandered into the wrong place too early.

And you can absolutely wander into the wrong place too early.

HEXCRAWL has no traditional character levels, and enemies do not scale themselves to match you. Your strength comes from equipment, Masteries and learning what keeps you alive. A weapon that seemed valuable yesterday may become dead weight tomorrow. A strange relic can change the way you approach a fight. Limited inventory space means you will not be carrying everything home.

THINGS YOU CARRY

Craft at settlements. Learn recipes from trainers, tomes and what you find in the wild. Track quests, beasts and discoveries in your Journal. Choose a Calling — Fighter, Practitioner, Hunter, or Sneak — as a starting kit, not a class you are locked into forever.

THEN HEAD OUT AGAIN

Find a road and follow it. Cross a mountain range just to see what is on the other side. Hunt a boss because you want what it is carrying. Get lost. Run out of food. Make it home with something you had no business finding.

Then head out again to explore further — one hex at a time.

This is Early Access. The map keeps opening ahead, and the game continues to grow.