Mithril & Mud

Mithril & Mud is an idle mining game about a hold of cheerful, stubborn dwarves who dig too deep.

You start with one ore vein and a pickaxe. Click the vein, hire Dwarf Miners and build rooms around the cave. Soon the carts are rolling along the track, the tavern is full, and your dwarves want to know where the next tunnel goes.

Dig deeper

Every descent costs more and pays more. Cave-ins block the way, and trolls and Lithodore the dragon come raiding. Your Runic Warriors fight them, and once you forge the Runic Warblade you can click a raider to strike it yourself.

The main dig ends at depth 20 with a crown to forge. After that the tunnels keep going through four biomes: the Emberdeep, the Drowned Halls, the Crystal Choir and the Hollow Dark. Each one changes a rule (more mithril, faster expeditions, more cave-ins, more raids) and the ore vein takes on its look. Halfway through each biome a Warden rises. Beat it for a trophy relic. From depth 60 the biomes come around again, tougher each time.

Build the hold

• 13 rooms open up as you dig, from the Surveyor's Office and Lumber Mill to the Runic Workshop and the Dark Forge.
  
• Assign workers and turn ore into blueprints, timber and mithril.
  
• Send expeditions to 8 destinations.
  
• Tame beasts at the Beast Den for extra bonuses.

Hand the chores to your helpers

Automation is earned, not bought. The Foreman, the Overseer, the Quartermaster, the Smeltmaster and the Depth Charter each sign on when you meet their checklist, and each one takes a job off your hands. Switch them on or off, save profiles, or pause them all at once.

The last helper on the rack is the Ancestral Engine. Tell it when a dig is done (an Ancestral Knowledge target or a depth) and it starts the New Dig for you, keeps your last challenge, and can spend the Knowledge on Blessings.

The Forge, relics and the shelves

Craft artifacts, cut gems and forge Mythic Upgrades. Find relics on expeditions and from Wardens, slot runestones, and buy skill tree nodes with Rune Shards. Everything you own goes up on two display shelves in the cave, and the shelves grow a plank as the collection does.

The Trade Post

Trade with ten nations, each with its own embassy in your cave. Higher tiers give bigger bonuses and cost a little Trade Point upkeep each hour. You decide which nations get paid first. Hire mercenaries or buy an embargo when you need one.

Heroes and Kings

Twelve named dwarves join the Hall of Heroes once you have done their deed, like breaking 250 cave-in walls or earning a Gold medal. Seat up to three. Each one changes a single rule while seated, from cheaper rooms to longer offline time, and grows stronger as they serve.

Each Warden was holding an old King of its biome. Free them, and after your first Ascension one King can take a seat on a carved stone chair by the campfire. Heroes and Kings stay with you through every New Dig and Ascension.

New Digs, Blessings and Ascension

When progress slows, start a New Dig. You earn Ancestral Knowledge and spend it on Blessings, permanent bonuses that keep levelling past their listed max. Ascension resets further and adds a second layer of permanent perks.

Omens and challenges

Before each dig the elders read the stones. Pick one of three omens, each a trade of something better for something worse, or dig with no omen. There are 14 to find.

Or take on one of 5 challenges for Bronze, Silver and Gold medals. Medals teach your helpers new upgrades, and a Gold medal hangs a banner from your cave ceiling.

71 Steam achievements

Most come with normal play. Some take a long time: reach depth 70, beat every Warden five times, have all ten nations at Tier 15 at once, fill both shelves. Four are hidden.

Idle when you want, active when you want

Your hold keeps working while the game is closed. Offline time is counted at your full rate for up to 12 hours (some omens, relics and heroes make it longer), and a Welcome Back report shows what your dwarves did. Clicking the vein and striking raiders still pays when you are at the keyboard.

Made to be comfortable

• Minimal UI (F8) cuts the screen down to icons and numbers so you see more of the cave. Calm HUD keeps the small pop-ups in the log.
  
• 9 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
  
• Colorblind mode, a reduce screen shake and flashes option, rebindable keys, UI scaling and scientific notation.
  
• Steam Cloud saves, 3 save slots, and save export and import.
  
• An in-game music player.

Mithril & Mud is made by CampbellSoft Studios, a small studio.