The Ember Heart under the mountain has woken. Every creature between the meadow and the crater is fleeing down the mountain road toward the village behind you — and you are the only one left standing between them and home.

Quiver Story is a physics-skill archery defense game: charge a shot, aim the arc, and release. Forty missions across eight regions carry you from the meadow to the crater and past it, into the Mire and up the stair of a keep no map shows, each region ending in a boss fight.

Grade your runs and grow from Archer to Hunter, Ranger and Tempest, with a skill tree for each of the four jobs. Points run out before the tree does, so every build is a choice, and a little gold buys them all back. Gear up with bows, upgrades and relics, and earn five arrow types — Basic, Frost, Fire, Venom and Storm — each with its own status effect. Every region from the Frozen Highlands on has an element it's weak to: bring the matching arrow and a boss that walled you becomes a fight you can win. Later waves mix weaknesses and the wind shifts mid-fight, so carry a second arrow and swap to it with a key press.

Once a region is cleared, push an Endless run as far as it'll go, run a Gauntlet of escalating waves and boons, take the bosses back to back in Boss Rush, clear its seeded Trials for a one-time reward, and chase down achievements for the long haul. Beat the campaign and five Ascension tiers send you back through all forty missions, each tier adding a new rule, with marks to spend on a Provision that turns the next fight.

Draw with the mouse or by holding Space, rebind every key, and turn on Reduce Flashes to tone down flashing effects.

The Cinder Wyrm isn't the end of it. The Heart's light had to go somewhere, and somebody has been keeping it.