Getting Started
How to Play
Nights End is an over-the-shoulder 3D action RPG. Move with W A S D (or click to move), swing with the Left Mouse, and open your gear with I. Here's the whole journey — and every key you'll need.
1
Forge your hero
Pick your kin and calling — a dozen classes across warrior, ranger, rogue, arcanist, healer and bard archetypes, each with a signature ability and a spellbook to bind. Your ability scores, proficiency and starting kit are set from your choice. Press C any time to see your full character sheet.
2
The last free village
Every run begins in a lit village — your safe haven. H hires companions, K opens the blacksmith's forge, and walking up to a merchant + E trades. Take a wanted-quest from a townsperson, stock up on potions, torches and oil, then step into the dark.
3
Delve the dark
Enter a dungeon through an ancient meeting-stone. You see by your own light — carry a torch or a longer-burning hooded lantern and press T to light it (lantern first, then torches). Braziers cast their own pools of light. Fight in real time: Left Mouse attacks (skill slot 1), B blocks (an early block parries), Left Ctrl dodge-rolls, and skill slots R F G Z X fire spells and weapon skills. Quaff belt potions with 1–4. Every swing rolls to hit against a foe's armor, so keep your gear sharp.
4
Grow your power
Loot pours from chests and fallen foes — five rarity tiers, elemental affixes, sets and gem sockets. Equip from your bag (I / Tab), spend talent points (N), and reforge or enchant at the forge. Hire and gear companions who level beside you — and if one falls, carry them home and revive them in town.
5
End the long night
Follow the main quest (J) across an ever-shifting world toward a zone-sized boss castle and a final reckoning under the blood moon. Clear it, and New Game+ opens a crueler world with greater rewards. Bring friends any time — Steam co-op drops them into the very same world.
The Monster Compendium
Your living bestiary
Every creature you fight is recorded in a book you build over your whole time with the game — a knowledge trophy that grows the more you hunt.
- Open it — from your inventory (I), press B for Bestiary. A book icon in the corner reminds you.
- Table of contents — every one of the 340+ creatures, grouped by kind. Undiscovered ones read ???. Scroll with the mouse wheel, arrows or the D-pad and press Enter to open a page.
- Navigate — flip between monster pages with ◂ ▸ (or A/D). Tab jumps back to the contents; Q / Esc steps back out to your inventory.
- The more you kill, the more you learn — each stat stays hidden as ??? until you've slain enough of that foe: its name at 1 kill, hit points at 10, damage at 25, resistances at 50, weaknesses at 75, and its full behaviour, loot & lore at 100.
- See it to reveal it — the right page shows the creature's actual 3D model, slowly turning. It stays a silhouette until you've laid eyes on the beast at least once.
- It's yours forever — the compendium is tied to your account and kept outside your save files, so it survives new games, deleted saves and every playthrough. What you've learned, you keep.
Knowledge is power. Those resistances and weaknesses aren't just flavour — a creature that resists fire really does take half from your flames, and its weakness really does hit for double. Read the book, then bring the right weapon.
Controls
Every key
- Move — W A S D / arrows / left stick, or click to move
- Camera — hold Right Mouse to look, mouse wheel to zoom
- Attack (skill slot 1) — Left Mouse / Space / A (hold to repeat)
- Block / Parry — hold B (early = parry)
- Dodge roll — Left Ctrl (i-frames)
- Sprint — hold Left Shift (uses stamina)
- Skill bar — slot 1 = attack (LMB / A) · R F G Z X spells / skills
- Class ability — V / Right Trigger
- Belt potions — 1 heal · 2 mana · 3 antidote · 4 stamina
- Light — T (lantern+oil first, then torches)
- Inventory — I / Tab · Character — C
- Monster Compendium — B (from the inventory)
- Quests — J · Talents — N · Skill book — L
- Talk · Enter · Loot — E
- Hire — H · Forge — K (in town)
- World atlas — M
- Close window — Q (closes any open panel)
- Cancel / Back — Esc · Camp / Save / Quit — Esc when nothing's open
Full controller support. Everything above maps to a gamepad — left stick moves, right stick looks, and the face/shoulder buttons cover attack, block, dodge, abilities and menus.
