Gold-Touching Sect
Big Guo
A brute anchor who turns raw Strength into staggering hits — and soaks the blows the rest of you can't.
1–4 Players · Co-op Narrative Campaign · Authentic Chinese Folk HorrorTHE EMPERORS ARE DEAD
A 150,000 words branching campaign of forbidden geomancy, a fate you carve.
Funded, mass-produced & delivered to 2,000+ players
the definitive English edition is on Gamefound.
Not a render. A shipped game.
NOT A PROMISE.
Most campaigns sell you a promise and a box of CGI miniatures. Netherworld Candle was funded, tooled, mass-produced, and shipped to over 2,000 backers in its original release — then refined, line by line, into this definitive English edition.
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Backers served
0 yrs
In development
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Words of story
1–4
Players · full co-op
The veil is torn
THE DYNASTY
THE DYNASTY
You are a Tomb Delver — a master of forbidden geomancy dragged into the collapse of the late Qing Dynasty. Poisoned and forced underground by the secretive Xiaoling Battalion, you are sent to retrieve a single legendary object: the Netherworld Candle. Bring it back, and you earn the antidote. Fail, and your soul is drafted into a dead emperor's army.
But you are not the heroes of this story. You are expendable. Rolling dice won't save you. Survival means ruthless resource management, modular exploration, and the old secrets of the Bagua — read the flow of qi through the tomb, or be read by what waits inside it. Every choice you make above follows you into the dark below.
A turn in the tomb
STEP BY STEP.
No dungeon master. No dice deciding your attacks. Just you, a deck that knows your fate, and a candle burning down to nothing.
EXPLORE
Flip modular Location cards into a tomb that rebuilds itself every game. No two expeditions share a map.
SPEND YOURSELF
Your Energy decides your danger. Low, and the Yin deck spits out horrors. High, and the Yang deck burns the candle faster. No safe number.
RESOLVE BY FATE
Attacks and geomancy are settled with your personal Fate Deck — never dice. Burn a Redraw to cheat disaster, but you only get so many.
WATCH THE CANDLE
The Candle Track is not a round counter. It is an executioner. When the flame goes out, the expedition — and the soul — is lost.
GROW, OR BURN
Survive, and bank Experience. Unlock cards, reshape your deck on the Tree of Fate, build Reputation. Your delver becomes a legend you forged.
Four ways to die
MEET THE DELVERS
In co-op, your skills don't overlap — they interlock. Pick your master, and your deck grows down its own path.
Unearth the arsenal
PREMIUM, TACTILE,
Enough physical content to make the suffering you signed up for deeply, tactically tangible. Tap any relic to look closer.
By cockcrow or candlelight's demise
TIME IS A
The Yin & Yang Decks
Your exhaustion dictates your fate. Low Energy spawns terrors from the Yin deck; high Energy burns the candle faster through the Yang. Choose how you wish to suffer.
The Qimen Dice
Every roll of the Qimen Dice risks advancing the flame. The tomb is alive, reacting to your greed — decode the shifting trigrams before the dark swallows you.
Shifting Feng Shui
Use the Decode action to cover the Bagua icons on each location, disabling traps and stripping the enemy's supernatural advantage one tile at a time.
The Candle Extinguishes
Yellow. Blue. Green. As the flame shifts color, catastrophic global events trigger. When it goes out, your expedition — and your soul — is permanently lost.
Heard in the dark
WHAT THE TABLES SAY
“The lore, the unique character abilities, the backstories, and the plot itself—they all tie together seamlessly. It builds an incredibly immersive world that just pulls you right into the dark.”
“It blends the tomb-delving theme with the game mechanics perfectly. Whether you're pushing your luck looting artifacts or feeling the suffocating pressure of the Candle Track, everything serves the theme flawlessly.”
“The detail on these miniatures is seriously worth bragging about. Out of all the heavy thematic games I've played, the crispness and sculpt quality here are on a completely different level.”
Inside the box
A MASSIVELY OVERWEIGHT BOX
We bypassed standard retail inflation to put it all in one ruthless, accessible box.
- 4Asymmetric DelversUnique decks, stamina economies & 32mm miniatures
- 150KWords of branching campaignA story that remembers every choice you make
- 1200+Cards, tokens & componentsEncounter, Location, Action, Fate, Equipment & more
- 49Enemies & horrorsFrom mortal bandits to Shan Hai Jing nightmares
$74Core Pledge · Early-Bird Price on Gamefound
Five years in the dark
THE ARCHITECTS
Forged over five relentless years, Netherworld Candle is the work of designers Ai Yanbin and Gu Lezhang at Infinity Hex Games.
Born from an obsession with late-Qing history and authentic Eastern folklore, every mechanic — from the Cooldown Zones to the mathematical distribution of the Fate Decks — was tuned by hardcore players until it was perfectly, deliberately ruthless.
Before you sign
QUESTIONS FROM THE
How many players, and how long?
1–4 players, fully co-op. A scenario runs about 90–150 minutes; the Story Phase between expeditions, 30–60. It's a campaign, built across many sessions, with full save-and-resume.
Is there a solo mode?
Yes — a dedicated true-solo mode plus a two-handed option, tuned for solo play rather than bolted on.
How heavy and complex is it?
Heavy. A deep tactical campaign for players who want a punishing, rewarding system — closer to Gloomhaven than to a gateway game. A Quick Start Guide gets new groups in fast.
Is the English a real localization?
Yes. All 150,000 words are localized line-by-line by native English editors — not machine-translated.
What about shipping, customs and VAT?
Fulfillment from regional hubs to keep shipping fair and avoid surprise customs fees. The full, finalized breakdown lives on the Gamefound campaign page at launch.
When does it deliver?
The game is already designed, manufactured once, and proven — so this is production and freight, not a leap of faith. Confirmed timelines are posted on Gamefound.
Sign the blood pact
LEAVE YOUR
Get a launch-day alert with early-bird access before the candle is lit for everyone else, plus secret lore drip-fed from the Silk Manuscripts. We send only what matters.