Mudang

Mudang is a survival game built around a rite that has no ending. The player takes the role of a Mudang, fighting with bell and blade against wraiths that rise from the ground at a ruined shrine house and beyond. Rather than working towards a final world, the game raises the strength of the wraiths as time passes, and the length of time you survive before falling is recorded as your score. Before each rite begins, the player chooses one of five gods to enshrine: the Grand General, the Steward, the Mountain, the Dragon King or the Seven Stars. Only one can enter the body during a single run, so each attempt starts with that decision.

Terrain affects both sides equally. Standing water halves the movement speed of the Mudang and the wraiths, while dry ground carries both at full pace, so luring a horde into flooded areas and leaving by a dry route is a tactic available in all six worlds. Thirty-six wraith types are divided into five categories, including swarming enemies, ones that move to cut off your path, ranged attackers and a Gate that blocks the way, with a different Gate appearing in each world and the enemy mix changing every few minutes. Offerings found on the ground are only worth something once carried to a shrine located off-screen and handed over, which then grants a Boon of the player’s choosing. A three-legged crow, the Samjoko, circles the player from the start of every rite, attacking wraiths, knocking projectiles out of the air and growing stronger from the vigour it takes.

The game includes six worlds: a ruined shrine house, flooded paddies, a frostbitten mountain pass, burial mounds, a black pond and dry stone flats. There are five playable Mudang, each with their own trait, and five Arms, each unlocking an awakened strike at level 10. Additional systems include six Relics, four Trances, four crow powers and six Boons, all catalogued alongside the wraiths in an in-game codex. Merit earned during a run is spent between rites before the ground is opened again. The game features 47 achievements and is available in 11 languages.