Ring of Pain is a roguelike card crawler where encounters come to you. Each step around the ring a dire decision. Go for the loot or backstab a creeping horror? Meet strange friends bearing gifts and treasure. Choose your gear wisely to survive and discover the secrets of the Ring of Pain.

The game is developed by Simon Boxer and Twice Different, and published by Humble Games. It was released on October 15, 2020 for Windows and macOS platforms. You can download the game from Steam or GOG.com, or try the demo for free.

• 16 core path dungeons plus 2 branching endings to test your final build.
• Medium and hard modes to unlock for those who thrive on pain.
• A daily dungeon mode with 40+ puzzling modifiers.
• 25+ special dungeons to detour through, filled with loot and strange encounters.
• 4 environment regions with their own flavor of terror.
• 300+ items to unlock and combine in a 15 slot inventory.
• 50+ creatures to learn and adapt to. Some friendly, some fierce…
• Responsive turn-based mechanics so you can play swiftly or strategically.
• Cryptic, poetic lore delivered in bite-sized rhymes.
• A raw graphic art style inspired by aphantasia.
• Cute frog friends.
• Pain and suffering.

To install Ring of Pain on your computer, follow these steps:

1. Download the installer from Steam or GOG.com, depending on where you purchased the game.
2. Run the installer and follow the instructions on the screen.
3. Choose a destination folder for the game files.
4. Wait for the installation to finish.
5. Launch the game from your desktop or start menu shortcut, or from Steam or GOG Galaxy client.

Enjoy your journey into the Ring of Pain!

Ring of Pain is a challenging game that requires strategy, adaptation, and luck. Here are some tips and tricks to help you survive the depths and uncover the secrets of the ring.

• Don’t expect to kill everything. Especially not exploders unless you have ways to mitigate the damage. These are like red barrels, but they can be positioned strategically if played right. There’s nothing random about creature behaviors. They have actions displayed above the card and a death behavior. If playing with controller, you can view these by pressing UP to enter Observe mode, and left/right will look at cards in the ring.
• Scrolls are like a ‘get out of jail free’ card. Be strategic with which you keep, and save them for when absolutely needed unless you have the opportunity to replace one. Scrolls can do various things, such as healing you, creating an exit, or revealing hidden cards.
• Not all exits are made equal – and the importance of farming. The game consists of a core path (black exits) which progresses through all numbered levels needed to complete to finish the ring. Special paths (colored exits) are like secondary rooms, which add an extra room on your main path. You can also chain these together with Create Exit or Crossroads. Skull exits are like elite encounters in other roguelikes. They’re harder than your current core depth, but have better treasure. You’ll need to visit some of these rooms to help your build snowball, but you also need to learn when you’re equipped for each different type.
• Rerolling items is important. In item comparisons (chests and corpses) there’s a Reroll button at the top. Rerolls start cheap and are a great way to find items which better suit your situation.
• Stealth is important for survival. Stealth is another mechanic which sometimes gets under-utilized by new players. Don’t hesitate because it displays a low number, pain is the name of the game! It’s important to assess each dungeon and plan first as opposed to just focusing on the front cards. Our game is like an order of actions puzzle… with permadeath. If you successfully sneak past an enemy, you’ll take no damage. But if you fail, you’ll take the full brunt of their attack as you move past them.
• Pay attention to your stats and how they affect combat. Both you and every enemy has attack, defense, and speed stats and damage inflicted and received are based around them. For instance, if you have four attack and hit an enemy with two defense, you’ll do two damage. But if you attack an enemy that has higher defense than your attack, you’ll only do one damage, which usually means you don’t even want to bother. Similarly, if you have four defense and enemy has six attack, you’ll take two damage, but enemies do both regular and piercing damage that cumulate. But you gain parry chance which can result in you blocking all damage when your defense stat is higher than the enemy’s damage output. If your speed is less than your enemy’s, they go first and vice versa. If you both have the same speed, you each have a 50% chance of attacking first.
• Learn how to deal with different enemy types. Some enemies have special abilities or behaviors that can make them more dangerous or annoying than others. For example, some enemies can poison or curse you, reducing your stats or health over time. Some enemies can heal or buff themselves or their allies. Some enemies can explode or split into smaller enemies when killed. When you want to attack one, move to the left and the right until they get a heart icon at the top of their card. The heart icon means they’re vulnerable and won’t do extra damage. There’s also a rare enemy type that can steal your items if you don’t kill them fast enough. Be prepared for anything and use your items wisely.

These are some of the basic tips and tricks for Ring of Pain. There’s more to discover as you play, such as secrets, achievements, unlockables, and lore. The game is full of surprises and challenges that will keep you on your toes. Good luck and have fun!