Death Leaves a Trace — an old-school isometric MMORPG

An MMORPG where dying
is never erased

You wake up in a temple, a weapon in your hand, with no past. A stone in your pocket binds you to this place: when you fall, it brings you back. But never whole.

On the island of Ravenholm, every death leaves something behind. It is a mechanic and a world in the same idea.

What's new · 14 October 2026

A second town,
a new menu

The world is filling out fast to be ready for 26 November. Newborough has just risen from the ground, bigger and richer than Greywell, and the game menu has been rebuilt.

Newborough: a hero in armour in a courtyard, between the bank and two houses; shop signs, oak doors, candlelit tables — Newborough, the island's second town

The new menu: the chosen hero stands full-length on a rock, three red pennants hang from an iron bar, one per hero — The new menu: your heroes under their pennants

The island

Ravenholm

An island of grey stone, marsh and deep forest, beyond the roads of the mainland.

Sailors named it for its ravens.

Here, the dead do not always rest.

For what is left in the ground comes back, and walks.

Whoever the Temple brings back returns alive.

But not whole.

— From the prologue

Greywell
Newborough
The Bonefield

Three generations came here for the stone, the fish and the land. They built a well, then a village: Greywell. Later, a richer town, Newborough.

Yet in the south of the island, no one builds. The land there is dead. There is iron under the black grass, bones under the earth, and things that should have stayed there. The elders call it the Bonefield.

No one knows who died there. No one knows who won. And no one knows why the ravens still go there.

The map

Ravenholm,
from above

Hover over a place, or tap it, to see what waits there.

Ravenholm as a relief map at dusk: forests, shores, the village of Greywell, the mountains and the Bonefield in the south

Greywell
The village around the Temple, where everyone wakes up. Market, bank, forge and tavern.
The Crypt
Beneath the cemetery, the first dead who do not rest, and the First Buried in his open tomb.
The Cavern
Tunnel goblins and cave trolls, beyond a rope bridge over the chasm.
The Dwarven Mine
An abandoned quarry, three levels deep. The miners died in the collapse; they still dig, and their stone guardians still keep the forge.
Goblin camp
Tents and a fire in the middle of the island, and a goblin who does not share.
Greyrock
Grey stone, where the first settlers came to quarry.
The Marsh
Reeds and still water on the west coast.
Newborough
The second town, behind its rampart: town hall, tavern, bank, forge and armoury.
Built in October: its inhabitants are on their way
The Orchard
The orchards of Newborough, by the sea.
The Bonefield
In the south, no one builds. Skeletons in armour rise from the black grass.

An illustrated map, built from the game’s own maps: every tree and every house stands where it stands in the game. The relief is invented for the picture.

Play

The pace of the old days

A fixed camera, seen from above. You click to walk, you click to strike. The fight starts on its own and goes on as long as the target stands. It is slow, readable, and it leaves you time to look around.

Click the ground

You walk. There is no other pace.

Click a monster

You engage it, you close in, you strike — to the end.

Dodge and armour

One decides whether the blow lands, the other what it costs you.

Death

The bond brings you back to the Temple. You return. But not whole.

No sprint
No jump
No camera rotation
Nothing to buy to go faster

Five hundred, not five hundred thousand

Each server takes five hundred players at most, and that is deliberate. Few enough that you end up knowing the names: who forges, who heals, and who you never turn your back on.

A community, not a crowd.

The real state

This is not an intention.
It is a server that is running.

Most games at this stage show pictures. Here instead is where this one stands, today.

Playable onlineState

Dedicated server, 24/7Infrastructure

Windows and Linux, 64-bitPlatforms

Closed Alpha #2, 26 November 2026Next step

In the game today: one account with several heroes, a character shaped by their answers, their weapon and their looks, Ravenholm, its two towns and its temple, the first quests, a merchant, a trainer, the inventory, the character sheet, the quest log, potions, and a chat to talk from one end of the island to the other.

The road

DoneClosed Alpha #1September 24, 2026
Next · 100 spotsClosed Alpha #226 November – 10 December 2026
PlannedClosed BetaFebruary 2027
PlannedOpen BetaMarch 2027

The great gate of Newborough: a hero in armour walks between two towers of the rampart, a brazier lit on each — The great gate of Newborough

The town hall of Newborough: furnished rooms, fireplaces, beds and candlelit tables — The town hall of Newborough

The great dwarven forge, deep in the mine: the hearth glows between two stone guardians — The great dwarven forge

A street of Greywell: the tavern terrace, a bench table, crates and grass along the walls — A street of Greywell

The temple of Newborough: dark stone, the red altar, the benches and the faithful — The temple of Newborough

The arch of the cave, torches lit, outlined in gold when you hover it: one click and down you go — The cave entrance

In the crypt, the wall hiding the hero fades around their silhouette while giant spiders close in through the mist — The crypt

A cave: blue crystals light up the rock, bones and fallen beams on the ground — Crystals of the caves

The black forge at the bottom of the chasm: imps, and fire running through the rock — The black forge

The in-game map open on the plan of Greywell: the streets, the temple, the square and the NPCs to find — The plan of Greywell

The inventory on its banner: the hero in full, the equipment slots and the bag — The inventory

Creating a hero: the looks on the left banner, the hero in the middle, the attributes and the dice on the right — Creating a hero

These images are captures of the game as it runs, untouched. The rendering, the light and the mood are still ahead of us — the illustration at the top of this page shows where we are going, not where we are. We would rather say so.

The community

The game is made
with the players

Everything happens on the Discord first: the news of the day, the patch notes, the alpha announcements, and the developer who answers.

FirstThe news and the patch notes, as soon as they land in the game.
Alpha #2The announcements and the sign-ups for Closed Alpha #2: 100 spots, from 26 November.
Your sayIdeas, bugs, questions: they are read, and many end up in the game.

Join the Discord

The workshop

An island drawn
in colours

The world is not built in a game engine. It is drawn in a painting program: an image where one pixel is one metre, one colour per kind of ground. Green becomes grass, blue becomes the sea, and the island comes out in a few seconds.

The rest — the houses wall by wall, the creatures, the items — goes through three tools written for this game and for no one else.

The CartographerLay out the world, paint the ground, raise the houses.
The WorkshopCompose the creatures and their colours.
The ForgeName the weapons, the armour, and what they are worth.

The same island seen from above, drawn from the painted image — Slide: the painted image, one pixel per metre, and the island it becomes

The painted image of the island: one pixel per metre, one colour per kind of ground — Slide: the painted image, one pixel per metre, and the island it becomes

Khyri Chan Studio

One person,
and a great deal of patience

This game is made by one person, helped by an assistant that codes and tests. No publisher, no team, no imposed schedule.

One working rule: one thing at a time, and working before moving on to the next.

Leave your trace

The game is not open yet. It will open first to those who followed the work.

Closed Alpha #2 opens on Thursday 26 November 2026, 9:30 pm (Paris time). 100 spots, sign-ups are open.