Runehaven

Cikoria Studio, a small independent developer, released Runehaven on April 20, 2026, building an atmospheric voxel dungeon crawler around a freeform spell-crafting system that sets it apart from most action roguelikes.

The defining mechanic is rune combination. Players collect runes scattered throughout the world and draw combinations to assemble spells from scratch. Pairing a fire rune with a missile rune produces a fire missile; with more than 25 runes available, the system supports a wide range of offensive and utility builds without prescribing them. Spells can also be bound directly to melee and ranged weapons, enchanting them rather than treating magic as a separate track. A rune book lets players log and reference discovered combinations across a run.

Procedural generation and destructible voxels define the world structure, which both the player and the game’s 20 monster types can tear apart. Destroying walls reveals secrets and shortcuts, and bypassing locked doors through brute demolition is a legitimate strategy rather than an exploit. Characters level up during a run, and the weapon selection spans magic, melee, and ranged options. Multiple biomes and boss encounters provide structural variety across runs, and an integrated level editor alongside mod support for weapons, items, biomes, and custom worlds extends the game well beyond its base content.

Early access began no later than late 2025, with updates through the v0.12.x range addressing bugs, ultrawide screen support, and engine-level fixes through September and October 2025. A demo launched in March 2026, received its own patch cycle, and the full release followed in April 2026. Post-launch updates arrived quickly: v1.0.1 and v1.0.2 handled immediate fixes, a steady patch run through May brought the game to v1.0.6, and the v1.1 update in June added amulets, rings, and a new boss. Cikoria published a 2026 roadmap in July, signaling continued development. The rune book persists as a session tool rather than a permanent unlock, keeping each run’s knowledge management self-contained.