Cocytus Ruins
role-playing and dungeon crawler game for Commodore 64, 2026
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You will venture into the dark and shifting Cyclopean Ruins, a cursed place
where cultists and ancient abominations guard secrets that humanity should
have forgotten.
"The stone walls vibrate with an ancestral echo. You feel the chill of the
abyss invading your mind as whispers distort your reality. Moving forward
means risking your sanity; falling means feeding the eternal horror that
dwells in the depths..."
1. Gameplay Features
Procedural Dungeon Generation: Every descent into the Cyclopean Ruins is
completely unique. The procedural algorithm randomly generates walls,
corridors, enemies, and immersive narrative text on every floor.
"Corpse Run" Mechanic (Body Recovery): Death is not the ultimate end, but
it comes with a price. Upon dying, you wake up at the starting point of
the map, but your items and collected gold remain sealed in a corpse at
the exact location of your demise. You must venture back down and
reclaim your belongings before it is too late!
Three Playable Archetypal Classes: Choose your destiny before descending into
the abyss:
Investigator: High physical endurance, great brute strength, and
resistance to madness.
Occultist: Fragile, but with a sanity/mana pool ideal for channeling arcane
horrors to your advantage.
Priest: The perfect balance with access to constant healing based on
their deity.
The Defector Cultist (Merchant): Between floors, you can spend your
accumulated gold to buy forbidden potions or permanently upgrade your combat
stats.
3. Controls (How to Play)
Map Movement: Use the Joystick connected to Port 2 (or emulated), or
alternatively the keyboard setup: W (Up), S (Down), A (Left), D (Right).
Combat Commands & Events:
[A] / FIRE Button Attack: Land a swift physical blow, complete with text
descriptions of splashing blood.
[C] Arcane Spell: Pray for healing through forbidden chants(Consumes Mana).
[P] Potion: Drink from a mysterious vial to instantly restore health.
[H] Flee: Desperately attempt to escape the encounter to safeguard your
sanity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some useful keyboard shortcuts
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[PAUSE] - stop/continue game
[F9] - quick load game state
[F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)