Everything you need to know about Dungeon Descent. Use your screen reader heading navigation to jump between sections.
What is Dungeon Descent?
Dungeon Descent is a fully accessible turn-based dungeon crawler built specifically for screen reader users. You create a character, choose a dungeon, and descend through 10 floors fighting enemies, finding loot, and surviving long enough to defeat the final boss. Every element of the game is announced by your screen reader automatically.
How do I start?
From the main menu press Play. If you have no characters, press New Character. You will go through 7 creation steps — Class, Race, Profession, Name, Dungeon, Difficulty, and an optional Backstory. Then you descend. The dungeon announces every room, every enemy, every event automatically.
How do I win?
Survive all 10 floors and defeat the boss on floor 10. The boss has 3 phases and gets stronger each phase. Defeat all 3 phases and the dungeon is complete. Completing a dungeon unlocks the next one.
What happens when I die?
A death cinematic plays — a unique line based on which dungeon you were in, which enemy killed you, and how deep you got. Then the run summary shows your stats. Your character stays on your roster unless you delete them. You can try again immediately.
What is a run?
A run is one complete attempt at a dungeon from floor 1 to floor 10. Each run your XP, gold, and skills reset. Your character persists between runs — their completion history, earned spirits, and journal entries carry over forever.
Classes (17 total)
Warrior — high HP, reliable damage, defensive skills. Best for beginners.
Monk — fast attacks, SP regeneration, zen-based skills.
Assassin — high crit chance, stealth skills, burst damage.
Paladin — divine magic, healing, shields, undead resistance.
Naturalist — poison, entangle, animal companions, nature healing.
Sorcerer — highest damage in game, fragile, mana-based spells.
Necromancer — raises dead, life drain, undead synergies.
Berserker — rage-based skills, damage scales with low HP.
Bard — songs that buff you and debuff enemies.
Alchemist — potions, bombs, transmutation skills.
Blood Knight — bleeds enemies, heals from damage dealt.
Druid — shapeshifting, nature spells, strong healing.
Warlock — soul drain, dark pacts, powerful but costly skills.
Death Knight — survives one killing blow, undead aura, death magic.
Dragonborn — dragon blood race. 10% chance to deal bonus burn damage each hit. Scales with floor depth.
Cleric — sacred healer, triple potion strength, holy relics.
Wizard — arcane scholar, highest SP, lowest HP. Reveals enemy stats at combat start. 15 unique spells including Time Warp, Meteor, and Arcane Singularity.
Races (11 total — including Vampire, Goblin, Angel, Demon, Golem)
Human — balanced stats, no weaknesses.
Orc — highest attack in game, lower defense.
Elf — high speed and crit chance.
Dwarf — high defense, bonus HP, shop discounts.
Undead — immune to poison, drains life from enemies.
Fae — double gold find, bonus to flee attempts.
Demon — strong attack and defense, takes more holy damage.
Vampire — heals on every kill, weakened in light areas.
Goblin — starts with extra gold, bonus gold from kills.
Angel — starts with an extra life, bonus holy damage.
Golem — very high HP and defense, lower attack speed.
Professions (11 total)
Blacksmith — weapons deal bonus damage.
Herbalist — potions heal double.
Scholar — avoids traps automatically.
Mercenary — starts with extra gold.
Gravedigger — bonus damage to undead enemies.
Thief — better flee chance, bonus loot.
Pilgrim — plus 15 percent XP from everything.
Grave Robber — starts with 50 gold, plus 20 percent gold drops.
Street Rat — free Smoke Bomb skill, plus 20 percent flee chance.
Warden — plus 3 defense, debuff immunity.
Tinkerer — starts with 2 potions, all skills cost 2 less SP.
Backstories (optional, Step 7)
At the end of character creation you can choose a backstory. Each one grants a small bonus and writes your first journal entry automatically. Options include Exiled Noble (plus 15 gold), Cursed Wanderer (plus 10 max HP), Former Soldier (plus 2 defense), Lost Scholar (plus 20 percent XP), Debt Collector (plus 25 gold), True Believer (plus 1 extra life), Nobody Special (no bonus — just honest), and Last Hope (plus 5 SP per level up). Backstory is completely optional — press Skip to go straight into the dungeon.
Skills
Each class has 15 unique skills. You unlock skills by leveling up — after each level up you choose one of three offered skills to permanently add to your skill bar for that run. Skills cost SP (Skill Points) to use. You start with 20 SP and regenerate 2 per room. Some skills are common, rare, or legendary — legendary skills are powerful but expensive.
Spirit Companions
Every character bonds with a spirit companion before their first run. Spirits give passive bonuses every run and deal bonus damage in combat. You earn rare spirits by defeating bosses and special enemies. Spirits are permanent — they stay with your character forever. You can change your active spirit between runs from the character screen.
Crypt of Malachar — Dungeon 1
The first dungeon. A thousand-year-old crypt ruled by the Undying King, Malachar. Undead enemies — skeletons, ghosts, wraiths. Standard dungeon mechanics. Recommended for all new players. The boss Malachar has three phases and summons adds in the final phase.
The Ashbound Wastes — Dungeon 2
A burning wasteland. Enemies deal fire damage. Some rooms have environmental fire hazards. The boss is The Eternal Pyre — an ancient fire entity. Unlocked after completing the Crypt. Harder than the Crypt, especially for classes with low defense.
Frosthold Abyss — Dungeon 3
A frozen abyss at the bottom of the world. Ice enemies that can freeze you in place. The boss is The Eternal Winter. Unlocked after completing the Wastes. Cold damage ignores some defenses — high HP classes recommended.
The Sunken Archives — Dungeon 4
An underwater library filled with drowned scholars. Unique lore fragment mechanic — find fragments scattered through rooms that build a complete story. The boss is The Head Archivist. Unlocked after completing the Abyss. Contains a unique secret room type.
The Hollow — Dungeon 5
An abandoned house. The strangest dungeon in the game. Has a weather system — every run rolls one of 5 weather conditions that change how the dungeon plays. Unique enemies include the Weeping Child (soothe it with the Music Box to unlock a later event), the Music Box itself, and the Uninvited Guest. The boss is The Last Resident. Completing the Hollow unlocks New Game Plus.
The Whispering Forest — Dungeon 6
A village killed a witch named Seraphine three years ago. Her dying curse consumes everything inside the forest. Unlock by completing The Hollow.
Corruption Bar — a green bar fills as you descend. It increases passively over time AND when enemies hit you. Reach 100% corruption and you die instantly regardless of HP or difficulty.
Music Box Item — drops every 3 floors. Go to your inventory and activate it manually to clear all corruption and play the melody. Plan ahead — if you miss a Music Box you may not survive.
Potions — in the Whispering Forest potions restore HP AND reduce corruption by 30%. Every potion decision matters more here.
Final Boss — Seraphine the Undying or The Corrupter. The game picks randomly each run. You never know which one is waiting on floor 10.
The Corrupted Chimera — guaranteed on floor 9 your first visit. Three corrupted parts each with unique mechanics.
Hollow Weather System
Every time you enter The Hollow the game rolls one of 5 weather conditions. Foggy Night adds 15 percent combat chance. Full Moon makes enemies 20 percent stronger but gold drops 50 percent more. Silent Night doubles Weeping Child spawn rate. The Witching Hour gives you 25 percent more damage but enemies crit more. Still and Cold has no effect — the house is just watching.
Difficulty Levels
Wanderer — 3 lives, normal damage. Recommended for new players.
Ironblood — 1 life, 10 percent more enemy damage.
Condemned — 1 life, 25 percent more damage, no shops.
Forsaken — 1 life, 50 percent more damage, enemies have more HP.
Forsaken — 1 life, maximum brutality, +50% enemy damage. Most never return.
Nightmare — 1 life, hardest possible, elite enemy variants everywhere.
Insane — 1 life plus a sanity bar. The dungeon affects your mind. At zero sanity the dungeon absorbs you.
New Game Plus
After completing all 5 dungeons with a character you unlock New Game Plus. NG Plus keeps your character's spirit but resets the run stats. Enemies are 20 percent stronger. Each subsequent NG Plus adds 5 percent more difficulty. There is no cap.
Basic Combat Actions
Attack — always hits, deals standard damage. 10 percent chance to crit for 1.8x damage.
Heavy Strike — deals 1.7x damage but 30 percent chance to miss completely.
Defend — reduces damage this turn and deals a small counter hit.
Use Skill — activates one of your unlocked class skills. Costs SP.
Flee — attempt to escape combat. Success chance depends on your race and profession.
Elites and Bosses
Elite enemies appear on floors 4 and above. They have much higher HP and special abilities. Each dungeon has its own elite enemies. The boss appears on floor 10 and has 3 phases — each phase changes its attack pattern and gets stronger. The Secret Boss (DDDI) has a 2 percent spawn chance on floor 10 of any dungeon.
Insane Mode Enemies
The Sanity Drainer — appears only in Insane Mode. Drains 10 sanity on appearance and more every hit. Drops an Insanity Potion when defeated.
The Distorted — a psychological enemy with no HP damage. Every time it acts your screen reader fires rapid messages — Someone is watching you. Be careful. Run. You cannot escape. Meanwhile it drains your sanity silently. Defeat it by dealing HP damage normally.
The Insanity Bar
Only active in Insane Mode difficulty. Starts at 100 percent and drains 2 percent every 5 seconds passively. Taking damage drains it further. At 50 percent your screen reader warns you. At 25 percent the UI starts corrupting. At 10 percent log entries scramble. At zero the dungeon absorbs you — not death, just gone. Encountering Julio restores 15 sanity. The Insanity Potion either restores it fully or drains it massively — you never know which until you drink it.
The Music Box (Hollow only)
A special enemy found only in The Hollow. When it acts it plays a melody — a separate audio track begins, the Music Box deals 3 ticks of damage, then the melody fades and combat resumes. You cannot attack during the melody. If you soothed the Weeping Child earlier in the run, a special encounter with the Weeping Mother becomes available on higher floors.
Julio
A figure who appears randomly in dungeon rooms. He sits in the corner. His name tag says JULIO. Talking to him restores 15 sanity in Insane Mode. He also gives you a fragment — collect all 5 fragments across multiple runs to unlock his Library story. He signed the founding charter of the DDDI at 3AM. Nobody knows why. The Department has noted his absence 48 times.
The Chronicles
Accessible from the main menu. Contains four tabs — Lore (background on the dungeons and the world), Library (19 stories written about the dungeons, some unlockable), Journal (auto-written record of each character's runs), and Music Player (browse and play all 29 tracks from the game). The Library includes the origin story of the dungeons and a story about how this game was actually built.
Hall of Records and Hall of Legends
The Hall of Records tracks your lifetime statistics — total kills, runs completed, gold earned, and more. It has three tabs. Stats shows your lifetime numbers. Milestones shows reward tiers for reaching certain stats. Legends tracks your personal bests forever — most kills in a single run, highest damage hit, deepest floor reached, first time you completed each dungeon. These records persist even if you delete the character.
Daily Raid and Raid Tiers
The Daily Raid lets you fight 5 waves of enemies without risking your dungeon character. Complete all 5 waves to earn gold and Mystery Coins. Raid Tier 1 (default) gives 1 Mystery Coin. Complete 3 total raids to unlock Tier 2 (Veteran, 2 coins). Complete 5 total raids to unlock Tier 3 (Nightmare, 3 coins). Mystery Coins are spent in the Coin Shop for permanent upgrades that apply to all future runs.
Boss Rush
Fight all 9 dungeon bosses back to back in a single session. No dungeon exploration — just bosses. Each boss has their 3-phase fight. Completing Boss Rush gives a large XP bonus and a special achievement. Your score is based on how many bosses you defeat and how fast.
Julio Questline
Every time you encounter Julio in the dungeon he gives you a fragment — a note, a memo, a name tag, a lunch schedule. Collect all 5 fragments across multiple runs with any character. When you collect all 5 a new Library story unlocks — written entirely by Julio himself, explaining who he is and why he is always in the dungeon. The explanation is completely mundane. Achievement: Found Him.
Character Backstory System
Step 7 of character creation (optional). Choose a backstory for your character — each one grants a small permanent bonus for that run and automatically writes your first journal entry. You can press Skip to go straight into the dungeon without choosing one. The journal entry appears in your character journal in The Chronicles.
Death Cinematic
When you die the screen goes dark and a unique line plays before the defeat screen. The line is specific to your dungeon, the floor you reached, and the enemy that killed you. The Weeping Child, Music Box, and Oldest Guest in The Hollow each have their own unique death lines. Your screen reader reads the line fully before the run summary appears.
Run Start Quotes
Every time you start a run your screen reader reads a single line specific to your class and dungeon combination. 60 unique lines total — one for each of the 12 classes in each of the 5 dungeons. The line sets the tone for the run before the dungeon intro begins.
The 67 Achievement
There is a 6.7 percent chance that a button appears somewhere on the main menu. It has no label. Press it. That is all the information available. The DDDI has no record of this achievement. Julio did not sign anything about it.
Achievement Notifications
When an achievement unlocks a visual popup appears in the bottom right corner and your screen reader announces it automatically. You can turn the visual popup on or off in Settings under Accessibility — Achievement Notifications. Your screen reader will always announce achievements regardless of this setting.
Reset All Progress
Found at the bottom of Settings in the red Danger Zone section. Pressing Reset Game opens a confirmation screen listing everything that will be deleted — all characters, achievements, bestiary entries, Hall of Legends records, Library story progress, dungeon unlocks, Mystery Coins, Julio questline progress, and all settings. You must press Delete Everything to confirm. This cannot be undone. The dungeon will not remember your name.
The Spire
A standalone mode accessible from the main menu. 1800 floors of escalating difficulty ending with The Time Eater at the top. Your floor progress never resets — death sends you back one floor, not to the beginning. Every 50 floors is a rest floor with healing, gold, and lore about The Time Eater. Defeating The Time Eater rewards 1000 gold, 25 Mystery Coins, and a 25% Blacksmith discount for 2 hours. Auto Mode lets the Spire advance automatically — unlocks at Level 5. Use the character slider to pick your champion before entering.
Death Log
Accessible from the character list screen using the Death Log button next to the back button. Shows every death for every character — the floor they fell on, what killed them, which dungeon, difficulty, kills earned, gold carried, and a flavor line from the dungeon. Total deaths shown across all characters at the bottom.
Blacksmith
The Blacksmith appears inside dungeons and has two tabs — Upgrade and Buy Weapons. Upgrade spends gold to improve your equipped weapon or armor. Buy Weapons lets you purchase from a catalog of 8 weapons using gold. Your first weapon is always free — a Worn Blade available from the Buy Weapons tab. Weapons go into your inventory. Open inventory to equip them. Blacksmith profession gets a 10 percent discount on all upgrades.
Screen Reader Support
Dungeon Descent was built specifically for JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver users. Every combat action, room description, enemy attack, level up, item found, achievement unlock, and event is announced automatically. You never need to read the screen manually — the game reads itself to you.
First Launch Prompt
On first launch the game asks if you are using a screen reader. Pressing Yes enables all accessibility features at once — Verbose Mode, Screen Reader Headings, Combat Announcements, Reduced Motion, and Screen Reader Mode. You can also enable or disable each feature individually in Settings under Accessibility.
Screen Reader Headings
When enabled in Settings, the game injects heading roles throughout every screen. H1 for screen titles and dungeon floor names. H2 for section titles, menu buttons, tabs, character names, and enemy names. H3 for individual bestiary entries, achievements, library stories, and skill names. With headings on you can press H in JAWS to jump instantly between sections instead of tabbing through everything.
Verbose Mode
When Verbose Mode is on your screen reader announces extra detail about every action — full damage numbers, miss explanations, skill descriptions when used, item descriptions when found. When off announcements are shorter and faster. Recommended on for new players, can be turned off once you know the game well.
Combat Announcements
When on your screen reader announces every combat event in detail — your damage, enemy damage, crits, misses, status effects, skill activations. When off only the most important events are announced. Combat Announcements is separate from Verbose Mode — you can have one on and the other off.
Custom Track and My Tracks
Go to Settings → Audio → scroll down to find the Custom Track section.
Load from File — tap Choose Audio File and pick any audio file from your device. Works with MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG and more. iOS users can pick from the Files app. The track plays immediately and you are asked if you want to save it.
Load from URL — paste a direct link to an audio file hosted online. The URL is saved permanently so it loads automatically next time.
Save to My Tracks — when a custom track starts playing the game asks what you want to call it. Give it a name like Leo's Battle Theme or Self Destruct Sequence 123 and it saves to My Tracks. Files are stored on your device using IndexedDB — they survive app restarts and do not count against the game's storage.
My Tracks — found at the bottom of the Music Player. All your saved tracks appear here. Tap one to play it. Tap the X button to delete it. Custom tracks loop continuously just like the game soundtrack.
Music Player
Found in The Chronicles under the Music tab. Browse all 29 tracks in the game grouped by dungeon. Select any track and press Play — the music player uses its own audio system separate from the game so it works from the menu without needing to enter a dungeon first. Press Stop to stop playback. The player also tells you which audio files are missing if you have not added them yet.
Reduced Motion
When on disables ember particle effects, grain overlay animation, vignette animation, and torch flicker. Reduces visual noise for players who prefer a cleaner interface or have motion sensitivity. Has no effect on gameplay.
Endless Descent — AFK Mode
A separate game mode found in the main menu. Auto-combat that runs on its own — your character fights while you watch or step away. Infinite floors with scaling enemies. Find loot, level up, earn Descent Points to spend in the AFK shop on permanent upgrades. Boss floors every 25 floors. Daily AFK Challenge for bonus points. Exclusive enemies appear on floors 20 and beyond that only exist in Endless Descent.
Tournament
A seasonal competition that runs every 3 months for 7 days. A unique boss appears and you fight it for score. Damage dealt plus speed bonus plus survival bonus equals your tournament score. Damage counts even if you die — your best score this season is always saved. Win the boss for maximum points and earn Mystery Coins. Global leaderboard shows top 10 scores. Requires an account to appear on the leaderboard.
The Void Reaper
A world event that builds over 7 days. A progress bar appears on the main menu as the Void Reaper awakens. When fully awake a 300 HP boss fight becomes available. Players get a strength bonus. Damage carries over between attempts — every hit counts even if you die. 3 phases, each stronger. Defeat him in 16 hours or all dungeon enemies are 25% stronger for 24 hours as punishment. Win to earn Mystery Coins.
Account System
Optional cloud save system. Sign in with email or Google to save your progress to the cloud. Your account is not required to play — the game always saves locally no matter what. Sign in and your cloud save loads automatically. Sync to Cloud button confirms success. Delete Account removes only the cloud account — local saves are never touched. Required for tournament leaderboard appearances.
Night Mode
Every night from 8PM to 8AM Night Mode activates automatically based on your device clock. You earn 50% more gold from all sources and shop prices are 25% cheaper. Stacks with all other active events — Night Mode during Void Week means massive gold. A banner on the main menu and in the dungeon shows Night Mode is active and how many hours remain.
Seasonal Events
Events activate automatically based on the date and time. Halloween (October) — 12 special enemies, +25% XP, enemies 30% stronger. Christmas (December) — Krampus and crew, +15% XP. Easter (April 5-7) — The Easter Bunny appears. Fight it, adopt it as a spirit companion, or let it go for gold. XP Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) — 2x XP. Void Week (Monday) — 2x gold, enemies 20% stronger. Blood Moon (days 1-7 each month) — enemies hit harder. Architect Week (days 8-14) — Julio appears 3x more often. The Events screen in the main menu shows all active and upcoming events.
High Score and Ranks
Every action in the game earns score points. Kills earn 10 points each, elite kills 150, boss kills 500, dungeon clears 1000, achievements 250, daily quests 300, gold collected 1 point each. Your lifetime total score determines your rank — from Initiate all the way up to DDDI Certified at 100,000 points. View your score breakdown and rank from the High Score button on the main menu.
Character Import and Export
Export any character as a code using the Export button in the character list. The code contains everything about that character — class, race, skills, death log, earned spirits. Share the code with another device or person and import it using the Import button. Useful for backing up characters or sharing your build with friends.
Run Summary Screen
After completing a dungeon a full run summary appears showing enemies slain, floor reached, level, gold collected, time taken, spirit companion, skills unlocked, total score and rank. Each class and dungeon combination has a unique closing line — 60 lines total written specifically for each combination. The summary also shows your score earned this run and your overall rank progress.
The Chimera
A special multi-part enemy that can appear in any dungeon on floors 5 and above. 17% spawn chance. The Chimera has three parts — Lion Head, Goat Body, and Serpent Tail — each with their own HP and unique mechanic. The Goat Body regenerates 8 HP per turn. The Serpent Tail poisons you every turn. Kill all three parts to win. In the Whispering Forest a special Corrupted Chimera is guaranteed on floor 9 your first visit with three unique corrupted parts.
Dev Tools
Found at the bottom of Settings. Allows unlocking all dungeons instantly for testing, resetting dungeon unlocks, resetting the screen reader prompt to show it again, and forcing the 67 Easter egg button to appear. These are developer tools and not part of normal gameplay.
Selection Sliders
Every selection screen in the game has a slider above the options. On VoiceOver swipe up to go to the next option, swipe down to go back. On JAWS use the arrow keys. The ◀ and ▶ buttons work as a tap fallback on any device. Sliders are available for class, race, profession, dungeon, difficulty, and backstory in character creation. They are also on every character picker — the character list, AFK setup, The Spire, Boss Rush, Daily Raid, and Tournament. The character list slider also has a Play button so you can play your character directly from the slider without navigating into the cards.
Persistent Level System
Characters earn persistent levels through AFK mode and dungeon runs. This level carries across all modes and is never lost on death. Your level is shown on your character card, in all character pickers, and in the slider. Level 5 or higher unlocks Auto Mode in The Spire. Higher levels increase your base stats in AFK and Spire runs.
⌨ PC Only — Keyboard Commands
These commands only work on desktop with a keyboard. On mobile everything works by touch — these shortcuts do not apply. JAWS or NVDA will announce when a command is used.
Navigation — Alt + Key
Ctrl+Shift+H — Main Menu
Ctrl+Shift+P — Character List
Ctrl+Shift+B — Bestiary
Ctrl+Shift+Q — Quests and Achievements
Ctrl+Shift+E — Events Screen
Ctrl+Shift+S — Settings
Ctrl+Shift+R — High Score
Ctrl+Shift+L — Chronicles
Ctrl+Shift+N — New Character (from main menu)
Ctrl+Shift+Enter — Quick Play with last character (from main menu)
Combat — Alt + Key (Dungeon, Spire and Raid)
Alt+A — Attack
Alt+H — Heavy Strike
Alt+D — Defend
Alt+P — Use Potion
Alt+F — Flee (dungeon only)
Alt+R — Read current status (floor, HP, gold)
These combat keys now work in The Spire and Daily Raid in addition to normal dungeons.
Dungeon Exploration — Single Key (outside combat)
I — Open or close Inventory
S — Save progress
K — Open Skill Book
C — Character Stats
Backspace — Open or close Pause Menu
Pause Menu
Desktop — press Backspace anywhere in the dungeon to open the pause menu.
Mobile — tap the ⏸ button in the dungeon topbar next to the quit button.
The pause menu shows your character name, current floor, dungeon and HP. Options are Resume, Save, Settings, Quests and Main Menu. Cannot be opened during combat.
Escape Key
Escape — Closes any open overlay.
In the dungeon outside combat — press Escape and the game asks if you want to return to the main menu. Press Enter to confirm and save. Press Escape again to cancel and stay.
Cannot be used during combat.