📌 High Concept

Aetherbound is a single-player 3D action roguelike focused on fast-paced combat, player progression, and itemization. Inspired by Risk of Rain 2, the game emphasizes replayability, evolving player builds, and chaotic-yet-readable enemy encounters.

🎮 Core Gameplay Pillars

• Dynamic Combat – fast, skill-based movement and shooting/melee with cooldown-based abilities.
• Scaling Chaos – as time progresses, difficulty and enemy density scale up.
• Build Variety – players collect randomized loot (gear, passive buffs) that alter their playstyle.
• Boss Fights – unique encounters at the end of every few stages

Similar to Risk of Rain 2, I want there to be endgame bosses that the player can defeat and decide to finish the run, but also decide to loop if they want.

🧠 MVP Goals

• One playable character with a full move set.
• One full biome with enemies, loot, and traversal.
• One boss fight.
• Basic UI (health, cooldowns, item pickups).
• Sound effects + placeholder music.
• Controller + KB/M support.
• Win/loss loop with restart.
• A few permanent upgrades