Soul Ricochet

What Is Soul Ricochet?

Soul Ricochet is a free roguelike dungeon crawler created by The Expedition Codex for Ham Jam #2, playable right in your browser on itch.io. The game's central mechanic is brilliantly dark: when you die, your soul ricochets into the body of your last victim. You inherit their weapons, their abilities, and their place in the cycle of violence.

You enter a cursed dungeon armed with a sword and bow. Waves of enemies pour in, each one a potential new host body. Die as a swordsman, and you might wake up as an archer. Die again, and you might find yourself wielding an enemy's unique weapon with its own progression tree. The only constants are the dungeon, the bloodshed, and the kill counter ticking ever higher.

The developer's personal record is 104 kills, and one player reports a personal best of 165. Every kill you commit eventually ricochets back to you — death is not the end, it is a handoff of the torch. The developer has announced plans to release the game on Steam for free, with leaderboards and achievements in the pipeline, and the Steam page is already up for wishlisting.

Soul Ricochet Details

Getting Started: How to Play Soul Ricochet

The soul-binding mechanic: Every enemy you kill becomes a potential future body. When you die, you immediately take control of the last enemy you killed — with their weapon, their position, and their remaining health. This creates a unique strategic layer where your last kill before death determines your next life. Kill a powerful enemy last and you get a strong host body. Kill a weak enemy last and you're back to square one.

Weapon mastery system: Both the sword and bow have individual progression tracks. Kill enemies with the sword to level up your sword mastery, unlocking new abilities like charged slashes, spin attacks, and parry counters. Kill with the bow to unlock rapid fire, piercing shots, and explosive arrows. Some enemies drop unique weapons that have their own separate mastery trees — axes with wide sweeps, spears with long reach, and dual daggers with lightning speed.

Wave-based survival: Enemies come in waves that increase in difficulty. Early waves feature slow, predictable enemies. Later waves introduce faster enemies, ranged attackers, and special elites with unique attack patterns. There is no end — the game continues until you die without a suitable host body to possess.

Between lives: When you die and possess a new body, there's a brief window to reposition before enemies re-engage. Use this time wisely — check your new weapon, assess your surroundings, and plan your next move.

Each weapon's mastery is tracked separately, and the menu shows your total kills, kill record, and each weapon's mastery level. The waves keep increasing until you inevitably meet your demise — whether you die to a swarm, an elite, or a mistimed parry, the cycle just hands you a new body.

Controls

• Move: WASD
• Aim: Mouse
• Sword Attack: Left Click
• Bow Shoot: Right Click (hold to charge)
• Parry / Block: Space (timing-based, blocks melee and deflects projectiles)
• Open Menu / Stats: Tab (v0.2.1 moved the menu to Tab so Esc can exit fullscreen)

A known friction point is that attack and shoot are bound to mouse buttons. If you play with a touchpad, consider using an external mouse — one player reported the touchpad-only experience is difficult, and the developer has discussed adding keyboard alternatives in a future update.

What v0.2.1 Changed

The current version, 0.2.1, shipped a meaningful patch round based on community feedback:

• Fullscreen button added with a fixed internal resolution, plus an in-game credits button.
• Menu moved to Tab because Esc now exits fullscreen.
• Dagger powerup levels the projectile skill — the dagger's progression is no longer a dead end.
• You can no longer strike and block at the same time, closing an exploit that let players parry while attacking.
• The parry cooldown now rewards perfect parries — nail the tight timing and the cooldown resets faster.
• Hitboxes now sit on the moving sprites instead of a static rectangle, so attacks connect more accurately.
• The feet hitbox used for walls works on all creatures, and is no longer counted for connecting attacks — arrows can't be eaten by walls anymore.

Tips and Tricks

Plan your final kill. Before you're about to die, make sure the last enemy you take down is one with a good weapon and decent health. That corpse is your next body. Prioritize killing the strongest enemy in the room before you go down.

Level both weapons. Don't commit to just sword or bow. Each weapon tree unlocks powerful abilities at higher levels, and you never know which weapon your next host body will have. A balanced build means you're dangerous no matter what you wake up holding.

Master the parry. The Space bar parry is the most powerful defensive tool in the game. A well-timed parry blocks all incoming damage, staggers the attacker, and gives you a free counter-hit. The parry window is generous but requires practice to nail consistently. Since 0.2.1, perfect parries refill the cooldown faster — the reward for tight timing is a near-constant parry uptime.

Keep moving. Standing still is death. Enemies approach from all directions in later waves. Circle-strafe around the room, use the bow to thin crowds at range, and switch to the sword when enemies close in.

Check the menu for stats. Pressing Tab opens a menu showing your total kills, current kill record, weapon mastery levels, and unlocked abilities. Review this between waves to understand what tools you have available.

Enemy weapons are worth mastering. Some enemies carry weapons you can't start with — axes with wide sweeps, spears with long reach, dual daggers with lightning speed. When you possess an enemy wielding one of these, take the opportunity to level up that weapon's unique mastery track. If you land a dagger, remember: its powerup feeds the projectile skill.

The first few waves are for setup. Use the easy early waves to build up your kill count and weapon levels before the difficulty spikes. A strong foundation in waves 1-5 makes waves 10+ survivable.

Don't get greedy. When your health is low, play defensively. Use the bow from distance. Parry instead of trading hits. Your goal is to die to the right enemy, not to survive at all costs. Sometimes the correct play is to accept death — but make it count.

Read the wave composition. As elites and ranged attackers appear, identify which enemy you'd most want as your next body, then keep it alive until you need it. That enemy is both a threat and a future asset.

Advanced Tips

• Track the "last victim" more than your own health bar. The soul-binding rule makes your threat assessment a two-body problem: what kills you matters less than who you kill last. Every engagement should be entered with an exit body in mind.
• Let elites come to you. A strong elite is the best possible next body. Rather than charging the strongest enemy in the room, thin the weak crowd first, then let the elite reach you — if you die to it after taking it down, the trade is maximal.
• Perfect parries are the 0.2.1 meta. With the cooldown refund for tight timing, a skilled parry chain can keep you invulnerable through most of a wave. Practice the exact window on early waves until it is instinctual.
• Use the bow's charge shot to force body selection. A charged bow shot can finish exactly the enemy you want as your next host, even in a cluttered room — precision last-hits are the skill ceiling of the game.
• Prepare for Steam. The free Steam release with leaderboards and achievements is confirmed in development. If you care about competing, the current browser version is the training ground; the kill records you set now are the skill you will carry over.

Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

FAQ

Is Soul Ricochet free? Yes, completely free. Play it in your browser on itch.io — no download required.

How long does a run take? A typical run lasts 5-15 minutes depending on skill. Getting to 100+ kills like the developer takes mastery and can stretch to 20+ minutes.

What platforms is it on? Browser (HTML5). The current version is browser-only; the developer has announced a free Steam release with leaderboards and achievements planned.

Is there an end? No — Soul Ricochet is an endless wave survival game. The goal is to beat your personal kill record. There is no final boss or victory screen, only the ever-increasing kill counter.

Can I save my progress? Weapon mastery and kill records reset each run — this is a roguelike. Your personal best kill count is the only thing that persists (and that's up to you to remember).

Will there be updates? Yes — version 0.2.1 added a fullscreen button, fixed hitbox and parry issues, and rebalanced the dagger. The developer (The Expedition Codex) continues to support the game and is working toward Steam release.

Is there controller support? No — keyboard and mouse only.

What does "one-hit-kill" mean for the game? The game is tagged one-hit-kill. Both you and enemies are fragile — combat is fast and lethal, which is exactly why the soul-ricochet possession mechanic matters so much.

What is the developer's high score? The developer's all-time kill record is 104 kills. A player comment reports a personal best of 165 — the bar is high.

How does the dagger powerup work now? Since patch 0.2.1, the dagger powerup levels the projectile skill instead of being a dead end, so possessing a dagger host is a real build path.

Why is the menu on Tab now? Patch 0.2.1 moved the stats menu to Tab because Esc exits fullscreen. This also gives Esc a single consistent job in the browser build.

Can I wishlist it on Steam yet? Yes — the developer has published the Steam page for the upcoming free release, though the exact date has not been announced.

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Last reviewed by Game How To Editorial. We play each game, verify controls against official sources, and update guides when game mechanics change.