Pickaxe Pioneer

You are a mining cat from the Clowder, a feline space-station civilization drifting between worlds. Your job: land on alien planets, dig as deep as you dare, and surface alive with your haul.

But energy is finite. The deeper you go, the more it costs. And everything you're carrying vanishes the moment you die.

MINE. MANAGE. SURVIVE.

Select a planet from the Clowder Warren overworld, descend into a 128-row procedurally generated shaft, and mine deeper for richer ore. Copper near the surface. Iron mid-shaft. Gold and gems in the depths guarded by five escalating boss encounters:

• Giant Rat King - mine through its segmented body to reach the core
• Void Spider Matriarch - destroy void-web segments under energy pressure
• The Blind Mole - tremor attacks collapse the tunnels around you
• Stone Golem - phase armor requires mining the right ore to crack it
• The Ancient Star Beast - three-phase final boss that reseals mined tunnels

UPGRADE YOUR CAT

Bank minerals safely by surfacing (or via your Scout Cat companion, who auto-collects 40% of nearby ore and deposits it directly — even when you die). Spend at the Clowder Workshop:

• Thicken Pelt - more HP
• Strengthen Paws - faster movement and deeper energy reserves
• Sharpen Claws - mining power for tough tiles and boss armor phases
• Refine Whiskers - wider sonar ping to find ore through solid rock

Build out the Clowder Chambers for run-wide passive bonuses. Socket gem upgrades into your upgrade tracks for permanent stat boosts.