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The Citadel Pilgrim, a colossal six-legged walking landship with lit windows, walking a snowy forest road at dusk, the trees casting long shadows across the snow.

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Road Roamers: Ashfall Survival

Survive the Deep Winter. Build a home on the road north. Then take the whole settlement with you, aboard a walking landship.

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An experiment in survival

The snow keeps no promises.

Leave one more set of footprints.

Road Roamers: Ashfall Survival is a free survival, crafting and base-building game you play in your browser. Walk a 128 km road north through the Deep Winter, keep your lantern lit through the Long Night, found settlements of people who decide for themselves, and build walking landships that carry a whole town.

It is procedural, seeded and streamed: every journey's road is its own, and the world keeps living while you walk it.

128

kilometres of road north

9

regions of the wide country

~1,000

lives simulated, each deciding for itself

10

landships, from courier to walking town

Traces of other journeys, found on the road

  • Someone repaired this wheel with wire, then wrapped the handle in cloth. They expected to keep going.
  • The milestone has two distances carved into it. One points north. The other has been patiently scratched away.
  • Under the ashes: a cup, a button, and the outline of a second bed. Nothing here says who left first.
  • The note is folded around one dry match. It reads: Leave enough for whoever comes after you.
  • Every window faces the road. Even the abandoned houses seem to be waiting for someone.
  • A small bell hangs without its clapper. The wind still makes it move.

128 km, nine regions

The Road North

One road through the Deep Winter. Every journey's road is seeded, so the regions fall in a different order each time; this is one way north.

The White Mile: Open snowfields and the remains of the old crossing.

km 0

The White Mile

Open snowfields and the remains of the old crossing.

Cold

The Black Pinewood: Dark conifers packed to the verge; the road runs in their shadow.

km 14

The Black Pinewood

Dark conifers packed to the verge; the road runs in their shadow.

Cold

The Red Thicket: Crimson brambles, skeletal birches and lost wayhouses.

km 28

The Red Thicket

Crimson brambles, skeletal birches and lost wayhouses.

Cold

The Forgotten Parish: Broken towers, roadside memorials and abandoned shelters.

km 43

The Forgotten Parish

Broken towers, roadside memorials and abandoned shelters.

Cold

The Crag Highlands: Wind-scoured crags and hard climbs between high ridges. Ranges reach 60 to 150 m.

km 57

The Crag Highlands

Wind-scoured crags and hard climbs between high ridges. Ranges reach 60 to 150 m.

Cold

The Black Escarpment: Tall dark rock shoulders and exposed stretches of road.

km 71

The Black Escarpment

Tall dark rock shoulders and exposed stretches of road.

Cold

The Reed Fen: Frozen pools, reed beds and a causeway raised above the wet.

km 85

The Reed Fen

Frozen pools, reed beds and a causeway raised above the wet.

Cold

The Ash Barrens: Grey ash drifts, dead snags and old burn scars. Mesas and plateaus.

km 100

The Ash Barrens

Grey ash drifts, dead snags and old burn scars. Mesas and plateaus.

Cold

The Hollow Wood: Twisted old growth where the light goes strange at dusk.

km 114

The Hollow Wood

Twisted old growth where the light goes strange at dusk.

Cold

The road climbing into the highlands at dusk, the last light on the snow.

km 128

The three northern bells

At the far end of the road hang the three northern bells. Restore them, or simply keep walking.

Explore the world

Every sixth night

Into the Long Night

The dark will last twice as long, and something great walks in it.

Every sixth night the dark stretches out. Prowlers circle at the edge of the lantern light, and one of the season's giants walks the country. Keep the fire fed. Keep the lamps lit.

  • The Rime WalkerDeep Winter

  • The Mire FatherThaw

  • The Ash PilgrimBrief Summer

  • The Antler KingFrost-fall

The Citadel Pilgrim at night: rows of lit windows glowing in the snow while a camp fire burns up the road.
A lone camp glowing in a dark winter forest, with watchers and glinting eyes all around it.

The night attacks

They circle the camp.

Night falls

Your fire is a ring of light.

About six and a half metres of it. Inside, the camp. Outside, the dark, and whatever is drawn to a light in it.

Night pressure

“Eyes in the treeline.”

“Things are gathering where the light does not reach.” Stand unlit on a dark night and it builds. Watchers wait at the edge of sight, and vanish when light reaches them.

They circle

“They are closing in.”

“Make a light, or reach a fire.” A red ring warns before a prowler lunges. Far off, something howls, and something answers.

Hold the camp

Keep the fire fed.

Set the watch: up to two watchers a night, and hounds that smell them coming. String trip-lines with bells. A bright camp holds horrors at the edge of its light, and draws bandits; a cold camp hides from bandits, and invites the dark.

Night pressure

Move your torch: the watchers flee its light.Tap the camp to feed the fire.

In-game capture: The light and the dark

Know what hunts you

Enemies of the road

The field guide
Looking past dark pines toward a distant campfire at night; pale eyes glint low among the trunks and hooded shapes wait at the edge of the glow.
Watched from the treesIn the game
A lone traveller's lantern on a snowy road at night; beyond the small circle of light, eyes and dim hooded shapes line the verge and something moves on the road ahead.
Something on the roadIn the game

  • Bandits

    They raid the stash and the beasts, and a bright camp draws them from further off. Bandits shout; horrors shriek, rattle and howl.

    Road cutthroats, snow raiders, masked marauders, the Wolf-cloak Captain

  • Wolves and beasts

    Wolves raid the meat on the drying rack. Unlit beasts at the camp edge are what the horrors hunt first; keep the picket line inside the light.

    Waste hounds and the wild things of each region

  • The watchers

    When your resolve runs low, the world watches back: tall shapes at the edge of sight, never there when you arrive.

    Seen by you alone

  • Whispers and footsteps

    Whispers in the dark, and footsteps behind you that are not there. No one in your company hears them.

    When resolve falls below 35

  • The horrors

    They walk at night and hunt in eight ways, from the rusher that closes and strikes to the leech that clings and drains.

    Wraiths, ash crawlers, grave hounds, bell-throats, soul leeches and worse

  • The Giant

    From the second season, once a season, a giant walks toward your nearest settlement. Signs come first.

    The Rime Walker, the Mire Father, the Ash Pilgrim, the Antler King

  • The Long Night

    Every sixth night the dark lasts twice as long, and one of the great foes walks in it. Kill it and take its trophies.

    Bosses such as the Spine Lord and the Gatekeeper

Horrors, by the way they hunt

RusherRoad cutthroat
Closes and strikes.
BruteThe Ash Giant
Slow, heavy, a long windup. Step aside.
SkitterAsh crawler
Fast, fragile, in packs.
LeaperGrave hound
Pounces from range.
StalkerWraith
Nearly invisible until close. Fire hurts it most.
ThrowerFrost widow
Keeps its distance and throws along a telegraphed line.
HowlerBell-throat howler
Calls the others, and its cry drains your resolve.
LeechSoul leech
Drains warmth and resolve while it clings. Fire, above all.

The landship hangar

Ten ships that walk

All ten, in detail
The Citadel Pilgrim landship in the game

Drag to turn her

Colossal

Citadel Pilgrim

Walking town

A walking settlement that founds itself anew.

Moves on
6 legs
Crew
20 + 60 migrants
Length × beam
48 × 22 m
Built at
Grand Yard
Cruise
2.2 m/s
Climbs
22°

Survive and build

Make it through the night. Then make it home.

Survive & Build

Survive

Warmth, hunger, wounds

Health, resolve, warmth and breath. Eat, drink and stay warm; dress cuts and bites before they bleed you out. Your lantern holds the dark back, and burns fuel.

  • Hunger, thirst and spoiling food
  • Injuries, sickness and clothing
  • Four difficulties, from Hearth to One Life

Fight

What hunts you

Staff strikes, a hunting bow, quick steps and a brace that parries. 56 kinds of foe: bandits, horrors and bosses.

  • Horror dens and bandit camps
  • Seasonal giants
  • Neighbours who come to help
A camp around one big fire at night, tents and lanterns in the snow.

Camp

The moving camp

Pitch it away from the road each evening, strike it each morning. It grows from a lean-to and a fire ring to canvas tents and a palisade.

  • Your company raises it together
  • Sleep to dawn when no foes are near
The in-game crafting panel listing recipes, what they need and where to make them.

Craft

206 recipes

Knap a stone axe, bind a pitch torch, smoulder charcoal, grind flour. Crafting shows what you can make now, what is missing and where.

  • Stations from workbench to foundry
  • Tools that wear and tiers that matter

Build

The homestead and settlements

Found a settlement from your camp, name it, and build: dozens of buildings, from a smithy and watermill to a bell tower and a coaching inn. One base per region.

  • 24 new buildings in 1.8.1 alone
  • Walls, gatehouses and towers
  • Settlers who live and work there

Grow

Farming and animals

Sow winter rye, red turnips and pale flax; water and fertilise. Tame and raise animals, each with its own produce, in pens, byres and stables.

  • 14 animals you can tame
  • Ice houses and root cellars slow the spoil

A living world

About a thousand lives, and none of them waiting for you.

Every villager weighs hunger, thirst, warmth, rest, safety, belonging and purpose, and chooses for themselves.

They work, eat, talk, teach and tinker. They argue, hold grudges, steal, and sometimes leave. Villages open their own projects, price their goods by supply and demand, and send caravans down the road. When someone is attacked, the people nearby come running.

  • 7 needs per person
  • 8 needs per settlement
  • 10 roles that emerge from work
  • 26 named places

Open Mission Control (Shift+N) to see what everyone in your settlements is doing, and why, and change it.

Hearthpine Village on a golden winter afternoon: timber houses round a market square, smoke from the chimneys, and dozens of villagers at work between them.
Hearthpine at workIn-game capture

The story so far

Eight chapters of the road

Read the story
A snowy road through the White Mile in daylight, a wayside cabin and a fence along the verge. Story film coming

Chapter I · The world

The Deep Winter

The snow keeps no promises.

The year begins in the Deep Winter and never quite leaves it. The sun rises late and sets early; the thaw is short, the summer shorter, and frost-fall is only the Deep Winter clearing its throat.

Read chapter I
The Ash Barrens from above: grey drifts, dark rock and dead snags. Story film coming

Chapter II · What came down with the snow

The Ashfall

Under the ashes: a cup, a button, and the outline of a second bed.

Some winters the snow comes down grey. There is ash in the drifts of the barrens, old burn scars under the dead snags, and on certain summer days ash falls from a clear sky.

Read chapter II
The winding road climbing through the Crag Highlands in the last light of a winter afternoon. Story film coming

Chapter III · 128 kilometres

The Road North

The milestone has two distances carved into it. One points north.

A single road runs north for 128 kilometres, through nine regions of the wide country. It is walked by pedlars and caravans, by villagers visiting kin, by hunters and by worse.

Read chapter III
The Blackroot shrine: standing stones, red banners and dark rock in the snow. Story film coming

Chapter IV · Beyond the verge

Ash Country

Where the light goes strange at dusk.

Off the road the land turns wild: the Black Pinewood packed to the verge, the crags of the highlands, the Black Escarpment, the Reed Fen, the Red Thicket, the Forgotten Parish and the Hollow Wood.

Read chapter IV
A Titan Walker landship parked in the highlands at night, lamps lit on her decks, a camp fire glowing up the road. Story film coming

Chapter V · Every sixth night

The Long Night

The dark will last twice as long, and something great walks in it.

Every sixth night the dark stretches out. Prowlers circle at the edge of the lantern light, and one of the great foes walks the country.

Read chapter V
Hearthpine Village at night in falling snow: lit windows, a watermill and lanterns on the square. Story film coming

Chapter VI · People who decide for themselves

The Living Road

Every window faces the road. Even the abandoned houses seem to be waiting for someone.

Villages along the road run themselves: people who eat, argue, teach, trade, fall out and make up, and remember who came to help when the raiders did.

Read chapter VI
The Citadel Pilgrim, a colossal walking landship with dozens of lit windows, standing in snowy woods at dusk. Story film coming

Chapter VII · Towns that walk

The Landships

If the road will not come to you, take the town to the road.

Someone built the first walker from a cab, two springy legs and stubbornness. Now yards along the road raise ships of timber and iron that walk on four legs, six, or roll on eight wheels, burning charcoal from the forests they pass.

Read chapter VII
Three landships parked together in the snow in the morning: a small courier, a pack walker and the Citadel Pilgrim. Story film coming

Chapter VIII · Next on the road

Tribes to Come

One more set of footprints. Then many.

The road was never meant to be walked alone. Co-op, then tribes, are next on the road: friends in the same world, shared camps and settlements, landships crewed together, and a world that keeps turning while the tribe sleeps.

Read chapter VIII

How to play

Your hands on the road

Every control
Left click
Walk to that point on a safe route
Double-click
Run there
Right click
Actions for what you point at
Wheel
Camera in and out
F1
Every key, in the game; all can be remapped

Your first night

  1. Walk the road

    You start on the White Mile with one basic fire kit: two lengths of timber bound with a strip of cloth. Scavenge the verge as you go.

  2. Light your first fire

    When the dark comes, find a stone fire ring and use the kit (E, or Use on a phone). Fire is warmth, and light holds the prowlers at its edge.

  3. Read the Field Note

    Your first fire teaches your first tool: the stone axe, 3 timber and 2 stone. The note pins it, and counts what you still need on screen.

  4. Gather and knap

    Loose stones and fallen timber lie along the verge. Open Crafting (C) to knap the axe, then a stone pick.

  5. Keep the lantern lit

    Your lantern (L) burns fuel, dim or bright. Pitch camp (B) away from the road before the next night, and the road opens up.

Made by

Created by Ramy Bektor. Developed by GetIllustrations.

Road Roamers is developed by GetIllustrations, the illustration and icon library: the largest library of vector illustrations and icons for websites, apps, and presentations. 35,000+ illustrations and 19,000+ icons across 400+ packs, 100% human-made, used by 56,000+ users.

About and credits

From the road

Latest news

All news
A Titan Walker landship striding along the road through the Crag Highlands in blowing snow. Out now

The Landships: ten walking bases arrive in 1.9

Walking and rolling bases that carry your people, your stores and your work across the country, from the two-legged Hearthrunner to the colossal Citadel Pilgrim.

The game on a phone held sideways: the traveller on the snowy road, a floating stick at the left and action plates at the right.

Play on your phone and tablet

Touch controls and a layout that fits: a floating stick, three action plates, pinch to zoom, and full-screen panels.

Early access · Free in your browser

The road is waiting.

Play free

In your browser, on desktop, phone and tablet. Nothing to install.

Co-op and tribes are next on the road. See what is coming.