The world broke. You woke up anyway.
Aether Shard is a solo-hero, turn-based pixel RPG in the spirit of the Game Boy Advance greats. The Shattering tore the world into fog-veiled fragments — and you are the one traveler the road remembers. Explore by Aether Sight, fight what the dark left behind, haul timber and ore home, and watch ruined towns stand back up building by building because you carried the beams.
Five acts. Named regions with their own dangers. Living castles that wake when their sister towns are restored. A hidden forge-city ringed by water. Two endings, and an echo of a New Game+ beyond them.
Features
Become someone specific
10 base classes fork into 20 promotions — each with a signature mechanic and an exclusive battle art — then ascend to master classes bearing Legendary Passives with real trade-offs. Secret classes hide behind Echo Shards and stranger conditions.
Practice becomes power
Abilities improve through use: keep favoring a skill and a Glimmer crystallizes it — Backstab, then Improved Backstab, then Master Backstab. Priests can force the spark, for a price in Aether Dust.
Turn-based, menu-first combat
Declare, then the round resolves by speed. Statuses, buffs, flanking the unaware, elemental weaknesses, enemy packs, and boss fights that keep pace with you. Three difficulty roads: Ember, Flame, Shattered.
Rebuild the world
Gathering nodes, mines, and monster trophies feed town restoration. Rebuilt towns change visibly, open new shops, recipes, and dialogue — and fully restored regions wake their living castles.
Gear that lives and dies
Equipment wears down and breaks; blacksmiths repair and temper it with trophies. Ten legendary weapons wait behind trials, hidden materials, and a forge-city you must uncover to even ask.
First-person delves
Step into grid-crawl mines with levers, riddles, weighted plates, and an auto-map — dungeon-crawler interludes inside the overworld journey.
Ten roads out of the ash
Every class plays its own way, and every promotion doubles down on a play pattern:
Steel ⚔
Warrior → Knight (catch the killing blow) or Berserker (stronger as you bleed). Paladin → Templar (ailments fear you) or Avenger (every hit taken is owed back).
Shadow & String ➶
Rogue → Assassin (the unaware always fall to crits) or Scout (dodging opens the next strike). Archer → Ranger (never surprised) or Sharpshooter (the first shot always lands perfect).
Faith & Fist ✙
Priest → Cleric (clutch mending) or Inquisitor (burn them, then judge them). Monk → Ascetic (flow around blows and heal) or Martial Master (every third strike is perfect).
Weave & Wild ❋
Mage, Druid, Shaman, Spellblade — overchannel, thorn-coat, ride the war drums, or weave steel and spell so the swap itself cuts deeper.
Media
Devlog
v0.38.0 — Signature identity
- All 20 promotion signature passives are now distinct mechanics — catch the killing blow, crit the unaware, ride the war drums, riposte what lands.
- Every promotion gains an exclusive signature Art built to showcase its mechanic: Bulwark Slam, Garrote, Twelve Palms, Overload, Called Shot, and 15 more.
- The church dossier now names each door's play pattern before you commit.
v0.37.x — Glimmer v2: expertise through use
- Glimmer reworked: abilities improve through use — practice sparks Improved, then Master tiers (+15% each).
- Priests can crystallize a tier instantly for Aether Dust.
- The hero's name takes its place on the HUD; class rides beneath in small print.
v0.36.x — A world with names
- Named overworld regions with banner reveals; living castles wake when their sister towns stand again.
- Loommere, the hidden forge-city, waits in a clearing ringed by water.
- Difficulty roads (Ember / Flame / Shattered), enemy packs, and a full gear rebalance.
Platforms
Pay once on Steam and the whole road is yours. On mobile, begin free with three classes and unlock the rest with a single purchase — no ads, no consumables, no accounts. Full controller support and pixel-perfect scaling everywhere.