Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers to what players ask most.
Is it free?
Yes, completely. Underroot is name-your-own-price, so you can play the whole game for nothing. If you want to throw something in when you download it, set your own price — zero included.
Do I have to download it?
No. It plays free in your browser, no install. There's a PC download if you'd rather keep it on your machine, but that's your call.
Does it keep running while I'm away?
Yes. Underroot keeps going while you're gone — dig, set the village in motion, close the tab, and come back to progress made. It fits a long evening or a two-minute check-in.
What happens when my digger dies?
Someone else picks up the shovel. When a digger falls, the next one carries on, digging past the graves of those before — sometimes their family, sometimes a neighbour or an old rival. The village lives across generations instead of resetting to nothing.
You can read the whole line whenever you like: who moved the most ground, who fired the rituals, how long each one lasted, and what took them. Their graves are a real place on the map, and you can go and stand at any of them.
Is there an ending? Can I win?
You can't kill the Maw. The longer you last, the hungrier it gets, so the game is about how long you hold and what it costs — not a boss you beat. Veterans get more to chase: the endgame Astrolabe ritual reshapes the world at a permanent cost, and opt-in Challenges (including the design-your-own Artificer's Harrow) crank the difficulty.
What's the Black Hollow button on the title screen?
A mine you can descend into for a run of pure nerve. You cut seam by seam for ore, relics, and things that turn up nowhere else, and every cut is worth more than the last and likelier to be your last. Nothing forces you deeper. Push one tile too far and you climb out with nothing.
From the title screen it's free play: no save behind it, no village to lose, nothing at stake but your score. It's the quickest way to find out whether the game is for you. Inside a run, Wren offers the trip now and then, and there the haul comes home with you.
It's also where the story is. Black Hollow is the village the Maw ate before yours, and the pages you dig up down there say how that happened.
Is there weather?
Yes. Rain, drought, storms, and the aurora move through the world on their own schedule. Rain quickens the digging, droughts squeeze your water and can drive villagers away (but drain the pond to reveal caches worth diving for), storms threaten the village, and the aurora lights the night with a reward for a village you've kept fed. Your villagers will tell you what's coming and what it's doing to them.
Can more than one person play on the same computer?
Yes. Player profiles keep each person's saves, cosmetics, and unlock codes separate. Pick who's playing from the title screen, and your runs are your own.
The game looks different — can I get the old interface back?
The interface is the new Talismans HUD by default. If you'd rather have the classic bars and panels, there's a single toggle in Settings to switch back any time.
Is my progress saved?
Yes. Your run saves, so you can leave and come back without losing your village, your depth, or your lineage.
Which platforms is it on?
Free in the browser, and downloadable for PC on Windows and Linux.
Is it single-player?
Yes — just you, your village, and the Maw.
Where do I play it?
At underroot.se and on itch.io.