In this update5
Full notes
Full Rift Miner update
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What changed
- Gameplay
- Events
- Balance
- UI and audio
Rift Miner changes
From the Rift to the Moon
Hey everyone - Lars here. This page is usually all about Rift Miner, but I'm borrowing it for one small piece of shameless cross-promotion: my next game, NARON, now has a Steam page.
NARON isn't Rift Miner 2, and it isn't meant to replace it. But the two games clearly come from the same part of my brain: unstable worlds, valuable resources, roguelite runs, and the persistent question of whether going one level deeper is a terrible idea.
Visit NARON on Steam and add it to your wishlist
What Rift Miner and NARON share
In Rift Miner, you're on your own. You mine against the clock, grab everything you can, and make it back through the portal before time runs out. Echo Cards, permanent upgrades, and the high-risk Deeper Rifts let you push each run further.
NARON shifts that pressure from the clock to the crew.
Rift Miner asks
How much can you extract before time runs out?
NARON asks
How far can your crew descend before the moon collapses around you?
What NARON does differently
NARON is a co-op mining roguelite for 1-4 players. Together, you descend twenty depths into a dying moon aboard a massive drillship.
Together, not alone. You mine, fight, and improvise as a crew.
Objectives, not just extraction. Every depth gives you a job. The drillship will not move until you complete it.
Choose your route. At the route table, you can see two depths ahead and vote on where the crew goes next.
Risk versus reward. The safer route gives you less. The dangerous one gives you more. Once you've chosen, there is no turning back.
If the crew falls, the run is over - and you begin again with everything you learned along the way.
When can you play it?
The first Steam Playtest will take place in October 2026. The public demo will launch for Steam Next Fest in February 2027.
The playtest will focus on putting the core loop, balancing, and crew dynamics under pressure as early as possible. The Next Fest demo will be NARON's first proper introduction to a wider audience.
I'll share more details about the playtest on the NARON page and in the Discord.
Why am I posting this here?
Because if you enjoy Rift Miner, there is a good chance NARON will make sense to you as well. Both games share my fondness for mining, destructible caves, run-based builds, and decisions that seem perfectly reasonable until they ruin everything a few seconds later.
[p>The difference is the scale: Rift Miner puts one miner against the clock. NARON puts an entire crew around a route table, arguing over which path is probably the least deadly.\
If that sounds like your kind of bad decision, please add NARON to your wishlist. It helps more than you might expect.
Thanks for letting me swap drills for a minute. Now, back to the Rifts.
Lars
Source
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