# Release Highlights

The features that define the game you can play today, at a glance.

> Every layer buys time.

## Highlights

- **Dig to survive.** Tunnel down through the layers of the world for the materials that keep everything above alive. Mining is the lifeline, not a side task.

- **Hold the line against the Maw.** A vast creature advances from the edge of the world and eats it one wall at a time. Build and reinforce to hold it back, knowing the deeper and longer you go, the hungrier it grows.

- **Tend a living village.** Above ground, a village of survivors grows. Feed them, shelter them, and they help you dig. They're fragile, and they're why you keep going.

- **Craft tools and machines.** Turn what you mine into better tools and working machines. Reach deeper, hold longer.

- **Lineage, not game-over.** When a digger falls, the story keeps going. The next one takes up the shovel and digs on, past the graves of those before.

- **Idle-friendly by design.** Underroot keeps working while you're away. Come back for a long session or a quick check-in; progress carries on either way, and your run is saved.

- **An endgame that reshapes the world.** The Astrolabe ritual lets you remake the world, at a permanent cost. A decision for the deep endgame.

- **Challenges for veterans.** Opt-in Challenges, plus the design-your-own Artificer's Harrow, for players who want to push further.

- **Texture in the depths and above.** Storms that threaten the village, discoveries waiting in the deep, a graveyard hill that remembers your dead, and milestone celebrations along the way.

- **Free, in the browser or on PC.** Play free in your browser or download for Windows and Linux. Name-your-own-price, no ads, no paywalls.

## Keeping up with what changes

These highlights describe the game as it stands now. For update notes going forward, ContextOwl's native Changelog carries the running record of releases.

## Related

- [Key Features](/docs/underroot/key-features)
- [Standout Moments](/docs/underroot/standout-moments)
- [Game Fact Sheet](/docs/underroot/game-fact-sheet)
- [Frequently Asked Questions](/docs/underroot/frequently-asked-questions)