Game mode
Shadow Run: the daily roguelike maze
Shadow Run is Cromon Quest's daily dungeon, a roguelike in the classic sense: every maze is procedurally generated, and losses are real. It resets at midnight UTC, with one run allowed per Keeper per day. Each day offers 3 fresh layouts and you commit to one: Easy at 30 by 30, Medium at 50 by 50 or Difficult at 100 by 100 cells. You send a single explorer Cromon inside to scavenge Shards, CroCoin and items, fight the shadow creatures guarding the richer rooms, and manage an energy pool that refills through the day. Nothing is yours until you escape: reach the exit before the reset and the haul is banked, get knocked out and half the unbanked loot is gone, all of it if you refuse the Second Wind. It plays in your browser on Cronos, and joining is free to start: new Keepers receive three starter Cromons, any of which can brave the maze.
How a Shadow Run works
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1
Pick one explorer
A single Cromon enters the maze. Stats decide how hard it hits and how much it survives.
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2
Scavenge and fight
Rooms hold Shards, CroCoin and items. Shadow creatures guard the good stuff, and traps punish greed.
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3
Push deeper or play safe
Deeper rooms pay better, but every step spends energy, and a knockout puts the unbanked loot at stake.
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4
Escape before the reset
Reaching the exit banks everything. At midnight UTC, the maze regenerates for everyone.
What is inside the maze?
Corridors, and the things the generator hides in them. Loot piles of Shards and CroCoin, Shadow and Light orbs, consumable items such as potions, and shadow creatures that guard the richer rooms, half of them mirroring your explorer's stats, the deeper ones fixed and tougher. Fights are auto-battles you can attempt to flee. Event rooms ask a question rather than a fight: a door that only opens on the hour, a pact that trades HP now for a price a few steps later, a judge, a twitchy dealer, and, on Difficult, a three-colour vault that needs the matching keys found elsewhere on the map. A minimap fills in as you walk, fast travel walks you to any cell you have already seen for one energy per step, and other Keepers running the same layout are visible in the corridors, read-only: nobody can attack or rob you on the daily.
What happens when my explorer is knocked out?
The run stops and the unbanked haul is on the table. The daily offers a Second Wind, once per run and at full HP: re-enter the same maze with half the Shards, CroCoin and orbs your explorer was carrying, half the items, and all the XP, then walk to the exit and bank what is left. Refuse it and the run ends where it fell. Banking only ever happens at the exit, so the pull of one more room against the walk back is the whole game. HP is restored between days, the maze is different every morning, and a Cromon that went down in yesterday's run is not harmed as an NFT: nothing on-chain changes, only the day's loot. The weekly maze plays by another rule, with a fall instead of a knockout, described on its own page.
How should I pace a run across the day?
Energy is the clock. Easy and Medium start with 150 energy and regenerate 25 per hour; Difficult starts with 300 energy and regenerates 40 per hour, up to a base cap of 500 that the Camp's Energy Reactor raises by 10 per level. Every step spends one energy (fights cost HP, not energy, and a pitfall trap drains a few), so a Difficult run played in one sitting runs dry once its bar and the stamina phials found on the way are spent, while the same run started at the reset and revisited every few hours walks much further before midnight. The practical rhythm is short sessions: dive, clear a zone, leave the explorer where it stands (nothing can touch it while you are away), come back with a fresh bar. Pick Easy to learn the map, Medium for a quick daily haul, Difficult when your explorer has the stats for the deep rooms, and mine Cromite in The Deeps to raise those stats permanently. The Camp adds buildings that improve your runs (energy regen and cap, starter potions, vision), and consumables bought in the shop or found in earlier runs can be carried in.
Shadow Run at a glance
Shadow Run questions, answered
What happens if my Cromon is knocked out in the maze?
Loot you have not banked is at stake. A knockout ends the run unless you take the Second Wind: re-enter with half the Shards, CroCoin and orbs you were carrying, half the items and all the XP. Escaping through the exit banks everything, which is the whole tension of a run.
How big is the Shadow Run maze?
Every day spins up 3 fresh mazes and you commit to one: Easy at 30 by 30, Medium at 50 by 50 or Difficult at 100 by 100 cells. The smaller layouts are quicker sessions with lighter rewards, the largest is the full epic. One run per day total, so choose before you dive in.
What can I find in a Shadow Run?
Shards, CroCoin, Shadow and Light orbs, consumable items and fights against shadow creatures that scale with your explorer. Deeper rooms hold richer loot, so pushing further is always a bet.
When does the Shadow Run reset?
Daily, at midnight UTC. Each reset generates a new maze for everyone, so the race starts fresh every day.
What limits how far I can go in the maze?
Energy. Easy and Medium start with 150 energy and regenerate 25 per hour; Difficult starts with 300 energy and regenerates 40 per hour, up to a base cap of 500 that the Camp's Energy Reactor raises. Every step spends one energy, fights cost HP instead, so a run is paced across the day.
Today's maze is waiting
Free to start: connect your wallet, receive three starter Cromons and send your first explorer in.