Dark Scrolls Complete Guide: All 9 Heroes and Zones 2026

Updated 2026-10-15: Removed the old review score and brought the verdict in line with our current review, which reads the game from Steam reviews and critics: both land on Mixed.

TL;DR: Dark Scrolls is doinksoft's co-op roguelite, out June 22, 2026 on Steam and Switch, currently $9.99 in the US storefront. The official manual names all nine heroes: Grizz, Pigeon, Emerys, Biscuit, Quinn, Confit, Ironbeard, Saturn, and Nezumi. It also lists three route sequences instead of a fixed numbered-floor total. Co-op ships with local, online, and Remote Play Together at launch, while the Steam page confirms that fallen partners can be revived. Steam players rate it Mixed, and our review's call is a cheap co-op pick, not a solo buy.

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Is Dark Scrolls worth playing? (quick answer)

Dark Scrolls is worth playing if you want a compact co-op action platformer with a verified nine-hero roster and branching routes, at its $9.99 US list price. The official Steam page shows Mixed, and our review sides with that caution: the unlock grind, slippery controls and the lack of patches since July make it a co-op discount pick rather than a solo buy. Nezumi's learning curve, difficulty spikes, and co-op edge cases are worth considering before buying.

Dark Scrolls current status: September 2026

The live Steam listing currently shows Mixed at 56% from 135 user reviews and a $9.99 US list price. It confirms solo, local and online co-op, Remote Play Together, Steam Cloud, and 16 achievements. The official page still describes nine distinctive heroes, hand-crafted screens, unique bosses, and routes shaped by player choices and quests.

The official instruction manual remains the source of truth for the roster and routes. It names nine heroes and lists Forest to Bridge to Mountain to Moon, Forest to River to Cave to Castle, and Forest to River to Cave to Heck. Nothing in the current Steam page adds a tenth hero or a numbered floor total, so this hub keeps those claims bounded.

Key takeaways

• Developer: doinksoft (Portland studio behind Gato Roboto, Gunbrella, and the physical-only Demon Throttle), acquired by Devolver Digital in April 2023. Dark Scrolls is its first release as a full Devolver studio.
• Publisher: Devolver Digital. Released on Steam and Nintendo Switch June 22, 2026, currently $9.99 with no active discount, verified against the live Steam listing, though the price was oddly missing from the store page for the first day or so after launch.
• 9 heroes total, confirmed on the live Steam page ("nine distinctive heroes with unique skills") and in every guide on this site.
• Steam's own short description calls it "a fantasy-themed action platformer that fuses shmup-style chaos with roguelite progression."
• Solo, local co-op, online co-op, and Remote Play Together are all present at launch, day one, per Steam's category listing.
• Runs take roughly 30 to 50 minutes. The dungeon uses procedurally branching zones rather than a fixed floor count.
• The Star Meter charges when you deal damage. A full meter enables the chosen hero's special, while perks can be assigned to Star Levels. Bruce and Goose's Shoppe sells perks, devastating attacks, and summoned allies.
• Steam lists Dark Scrolls as Mixed, and critics land in the same place (our review's Reception box has the figures).
• Dark Scrolls Best Builds: All 9 Heroes Ranked 2026: Shoppe perk priority and co-op pairings for every named hero.
• Dark Scrolls Hero Tier List: All 9 Heroes Ranked 2026: S-tier through C-tier rankings, plus how the picture changes in co-op.

What is Dark Scrolls?

Dark Scrolls is doinksoft's hack-and-slash co-op roguelite: pick one of nine heroes, fight through procedurally generated runs built from hand-crafted rooms, and spend coins at Bruce and Goose's Shoppe between zones to build toward a run-ending boss. It launched June 22, 2026, published by Devolver Digital, the same publisher that acquired doinksoft in April 2023 following Gato Roboto, Gunbrella, and Demon Throttle. The pitch, and the joke, is baked directly into the Steam page: your quest is literally to "[INSERT GOAL HERE]."

For the full launch context, including doinksoft's studio track record and why a bigger publisher push behind the studio's fourth game was worth watching before release, see our Dark Scrolls launch coverage. It also covers what made Dark Scrolls' day-one co-op lineup unusual for the genre at the time.

The Star Meter is the loop underneath everything else in a run. It charges as you land hits, and a full meter unlocks the hero's special: Grizz's Axe Nova, Biscuit's Scary Bark, or one of the other seven named abilities from the manual. Perks you buy at Bruce and Goose's Shoppe between zones can be assigned to specific Star Levels, so the meter isn't just a cooldown gauge, it's also the thing your build actually revolves around once you've picked a direction.

Heroes: unlocking and tier list

The official instruction manual lists all nine heroes and their kits. Grizz is the barbarian with axe-lobbing, ground-pounding attacks and the Axe Nova special, which creates a circle of bouncing axes. Pigeon hurls dual daggers, double-jumps, and uses Stealth for temporary invincibility and critical hits. Emerys fires bouncy fireballs, blink-dashes, and uses Orbitals to summon damaging orbs that destroy projectiles. Biscuit fires enemy-piercing barks, has a bouncy double jump, and uses Scary Bark to stun every enemy on screen.

A Dark Scrolls run turns each hero's fixed kit into a route-planning decision: read the room, keep moving with the scroll, and save the special for the next pressure point.

The remaining five are not disputed or unnamed. Quinn shifts between walking and flying, fires love-infused arrows, and uses Aura for a healing ring plus a temporary fire-rate increase. Confit flips steaks and uses Cook to launch damaging food or create hearts. Ironbeard launches pickaxes, makes temporary platforms with double-jumps, and uses Tinker to build a cannon. Saturn flies with an alien machine gun and uses Abduct to pull in enemies, coins, and props for progression. Nezumi uses saxophone magic and Perform to trigger songs. The full roster and every special are documented in the manual, so there is no reason to mark any slot provisional.

For unlock triggers, the Dark Scrolls unlock heroes guide follows the manual's exact list: Grizz, Pigeon, and Emerys start unlocked; Biscuit comes from the first-boss cage; Quinn from the Camp wishing well; Confit from the Mountain quest and Castle key; Ironbeard after freeing Confit and throwing meat at him in the Cave; Saturn after completing Moon; and Nezumi from the meta-shop. For how the roster stacks up against itself, the Dark Scrolls hero tier list ranks the nine named heroes by consistency and Shoppe synergy.

Best builds

Every hero in Dark Scrolls has a fixed kit. The Shoppe perks you stack modify that base rather than replacing it, so pick a direction instead of buying whatever sounds most interesting. The official manual describes Shuriken as spawning a bouncing shuriken when you shoot. It describes Thorns as making damage drain collected money instead of health unless the money is depleted, not as contact-damage reflection. Summoned allies are the broad, low-commitment pick when you need independent screen coverage, particularly useful in co-op.

Grizz is the widely recommended starting build: his axe-lobbing and ground-pounding attacks are easy to read, and Axe Nova creates a circle of bouncing axes when the Star Meter is full. Pigeon has a higher ceiling if you are comfortable with dual daggers, double-jumps, and the invincibility window from Stealth. Biscuit remains a strong co-op candidate because Scary Bark stuns every enemy on screen. Nezumi is the build outlier discussed above: real reward, real learning curve.

The Dark Scrolls best builds guide has the full Shoppe priority list for every named hero, specific co-op hero pairings (Grizz and Pigeon, Biscuit and Grizz, Emerys and Nezumi), and a step-by-step routing checklist for a first full run from hero select to final boss.

Dungeon floors

Dark Scrolls does not publish a numbered floor total. The official manual instead gives three route sequences:

• FOREST -> BRIDGE -> MOUNTAIN -> MOON
• FOREST -> RIVER -> CAVE -> CASTLE
• FOREST -> RIVER -> CAVE -> HECK

The Steam page describes hand-crafted screens, unique bosses, and evolving routes shaped by player choices and quests. That is enough to explain why a route guide should be organized around branches, not invented Zone 1 to Zone 5 thresholds. The Dark Scrolls dungeon guide now uses the manual's route names and calls out where the source stops short of specifying a fixed floor count.

The visual language changes with each route, but the practical rule stays the same: identify the next branch before the scroll forces the screen forward.

Co-op and the Ghost system

Dark Scrolls shipped with solo play, local co-op, online co-op, and Remote Play Together all present on day one, matching both our launch coverage and Dark Scrolls' live Steam category listing. That's still unusual for a pixel-art roguelike. Couch co-op in particular tends to arrive in a post-launch patch, if it arrives at all.

The mechanic that makes the co-op feel deliberate rather than bolted on is the revive promise on the official Steam page: players can combine attacks and revive one another if they fall in battle. A third-party guide adds that the fallen player remains as a ghost that can act as a platform and fire weak stagger shots, and reports recovery at the Shoppe or a checkpoint. Those ghost behaviors are useful player guidance, but they are not presented as a full mechanic list in the official manual, so exact edge cases should be treated cautiously.

Hero pairing still matters, and it's worth planning before you queue up rather than improvising mid-run. Grizz and Pigeon make a readable beginner pairing, while Biscuit's screen-wide Scary Bark can create an opening for a partner. Emerys's Orbitals destroy projectiles, and Nezumi's songs trigger effects for both players when a valid song is performed, making that pairing worth learning. The Dark Scrolls co-op guide now separates official co-op facts from guide-level observations instead of asserting an undocumented player-count scaling formula.

• Dark Scrolls: Devolver Co-op Roguelike Launches June 22: Dark Scrolls launches June 22, 2026 from doinksoft (Gato Roboto, Gunbrella) and Devolver.

Beginner tips

New players die more often to the autoscroll than to any individual enemy. Dark Scrolls doesn't have a formal tutorial: you're dropped into a run and expected to learn that the scroll boundary is the real threat, not the boss waiting at the end of the zone. Two habits separate a first run that ends in under two minutes from one that reaches a Shoppe visit intact: stay attacking, since the star meter only builds on hits landed, not shots fired from a safe distance, and stop treating the left edge of the screen as safe ground to retreat to.

The other common early mistake is Shoppe indecision. The perk list rotates on every visit, and spreading picks across incompatible categories, a projectile modifier and a trajectory-changer in the same run, for instance, produces a mediocre generalist build rather than a coherent one. One perk that matches your hero's weapon type, bought consistently across visits, beats two unrelated ones nearly every time. The Dark Scrolls beginner tips guide walks through a recommended structure for your first three runs, starting with a coins-untouched observation run and ending with your first deliberate Shoppe pick.

Is Dark Scrolls worth playing?

Our full review reads the game from Steam reviews and critics, and both land on Mixed. The praise is real: nine heroes with genuinely distinct playstyles, a Shoppe synergy system that rewards planning without punishing improvisation, and co-op that works locally and online. The complaints are just as specific: the July manual explains hero kits but not unlock objectives or Nezumi's note system, later zones spike in difficulty faster than earlier zones telegraph, and Steam reviewers point to no control rebinding and slippery controls.

Right now, Dark Scrolls is $9.99 on Steam, down from its $14.99 launch price. Steam's news feed shows the July manual as the last post, so there is no patch on the horizon to wait for. The review's call: it suits fans of old-school auto-scrolling arcade platformers and co-op pairs who want a cheap couch game; solo players, anyone who bounces off grindy unlock systems, and players who need rebindable controls should skip it.

All Dark Scrolls guides

Every article that fed into this Dark Scrolls complete guide, in one place:

• Dark Scrolls: Devolver Co-op Roguelike Launches June 22: launch coverage, doinksoft's studio history, and the day-one co-op mode lineup.
• Dark Scrolls Unlock Heroes Guide: All 9 Characters: the manual-backed unlock trigger for every hero.
• Dark Scrolls Hero Tier List: All 9 Heroes Ranked 2026: S-tier through C-tier rankings, plus solo vs co-op tier shifts.
• Dark Scrolls Best Builds: All 9 Heroes Ranked 2026: Shoppe perk priority and co-op hero pairings for every named hero.
• Dark Scrolls Dungeon Guide: Routes and Shoppe 2026: the three manual-listed routes and cautious Shoppe guidance.
• Dark Scrolls Co-op Guide: Ghost System and Hero Pairings: the ghost mechanic, revive economy, and co-op difficulty scaling explained.
• Dark Scrolls Tips: 9 Things to Know Before First Run: beginner fundamentals covering the autoscroll, the star system, and the Shoppe.
• Dark Scrolls Review: 9 Heroes, One Sharp Roguelite: the full verdict on gameplay, co-op, and who should skip it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Dark Scrolls? Dark Scrolls is doinksoft's co-op hack-and-slash roguelite, published by Devolver Digital on June 22, 2026. Pick one of nine heroes, fight through procedurally generated runs, and spend coins at Bruce and Goose's Shoppe between zones to build toward a final boss.

How many heroes are in Dark Scrolls? Nine total: Grizz, Pigeon, Emerys, Biscuit, Quinn, Confit, Ironbeard, Saturn, and Nezumi. The official manual names all nine and describes each special.

How do you unlock Biscuit in Dark Scrolls? Free the dog from the cage during the Stage 1 boss fight. Biscuit joins your permanent roster the moment you do it and stays available on the hero select screen for every future run, including if you die during that same run.

How does the ghost system work in Dark Scrolls co-op? The Steam page confirms that fallen co-op partners can be revived. Games.GG reports the more specific ghost behavior: the fallen player can act as a platform and fire weak stagger shots, with Shoppe/checkpoint recovery. Treat those details as a third-party guide report rather than as an official manual specification.

How many dungeon floors does Dark Scrolls have? The manual gives three route sequences: Forest -> Bridge -> Mountain -> Moon; Forest -> River -> Cave -> Castle; and Forest -> River -> Cave -> Heck. The Steam page confirms hand-crafted screens, bosses, and routes shaped by choices and quests, but it does not give a numbered floor total.

Is Dark Scrolls worth playing? Only as a co-op discount pick. Steam players rate it Mixed and critics land in the same place, citing the unlock grind, slippery controls and no patches since July. It suits arcade-platformer fans and couch co-op pairs at the $9.99 US price; solo players should skip it.

How much does Dark Scrolls cost? $9.99 on Steam, confirmed live with no active discount. The price was oddly missing from the store page for the first day or so after the June 22, 2026 launch, which our review flagged as a launch-week rough edge.

Related Reading

• Dark Scrolls Unlock Heroes Guide: All 9 Characters: manual-backed unlock triggers for every named hero.
• Dark Scrolls Hero Tier List: All 9 Heroes Ranked 2026: the roster ranked for solo and co-op consistency.
• Dark Scrolls Best Builds: All 9 Heroes Ranked 2026: Shoppe perks and hero pairings for a planned run.
• Dark Scrolls Co-op Guide: Ghost System and Hero Pairings: official revive support separated from third-party ghost observations.

References

• Dark Scrolls on Steam
• Dark Scrolls official instruction manual (PDF): official roster, specials, unlocks, routes, perks, trinkets, and Nezumi songs
• Dark Scrolls official Steam announcements: official hero posts, including Saturn, Biscuit, Quinn, Confit, and Ironbeard
• Games.GG Dark Scrolls guide: third-party report on autoscroll and ghost behavior
• Devolver Digital: Dark Scrolls
• doinksoft on Twitter/X