Larger, connected maps
Chapters 2–10 have 1.8–2.6 times their previous walkable area. Six connected annex rooms add machinery cover, loops and raised objective gantries. Find blue access, restore power and unlock amber doors to reach your goal.
Native Windows & Linux · v0.4.0
IRONWAKE
Take the part. Wake the ambush. Reach the airlock.
A keyboard-only, 1990s-style first-person shooter built in assembly. Explore ten chapters, recover nine scattered engine parts, and fight your way home. Version 0.4.0 expands chapters 2–10 with connected rooms, locked routes and enemies waiting behind hidden doors.
New in 0.4.0
More to explore. A harder journey back.
The return becomes an ambush
Every chapter ends at its starting airlock. In chapters 2–10, taking the component opens three hidden rooms and releases twelve enemies. Remember the route back: collecting the item is only half the trip.
A towering cannon spider
From chapter 2, face an eight-legged siege robot with worn armor, exposed mechanisms and glowing orange eyes. Its body is twice the heavy robot’s size, it takes more hits to kill, and smaller enemies can be crushed or shot if they get in its way.
Ten barrels. One trigger.
Find the chaingun in chapter 2’s annex armory. Its ten barrels rotate while firing, backed by a deeper, stronger report than the machine gun. It uses bullets and joins your carried arsenal; press 6 to select it.
Clearer battles and distant views
Enemies have more detailed armor and joints. Distant walls remain visible, mountains have finer detail, and upward aim avoids the old sky gap. Fullscreen status bars span the screen, with smaller objective and key lettering.
Solo or with friends
Play with solo chapter checkpoints, share the campaign with up to 32 players in co-op, or fight in Foundry deathmatch. Windows and Linux players on the same release can play together, with lobby chat, voice and joining in progress.
The campaign
Silence the signal beneath the city.
The city has gone silent, but its guards and machines still obey a command from below. The Ironwake is an emergency pulse engine built to break that signal. Its nine components were separated before the evacuation. Bring them back together. In chapters 2–9, work through the original district for blue access, then follow the expanded annex routes to the component gantry and return to your arrival airlock.
The Silent Foundry
Recover the Core
Access cards, a power relay, and the upstairs reactor. Return to the entry airlock with the first part.
The Freight Scar
Recover the Induction Coil
Explore rail sidings and freight cover, then enter the expanded annex. Find the chaingun, confront the cannon spider and recover the coil from the new gantry.
The Drowned Exchange
Recover the Coolant Heart
Reservoir loops surround a pump island. Search the old control-room route for access, then enter the annex as razor skitters close in.
The Glass Ward
Recover the Memory Prism
Branching labs and upper records hold access to the annex. Burst troopers and marksmen guard the route to the Memory Prism.
The Ember Cuts
Recover the Ignition Lens
Winding mines, excavations and smelter routes lead into connected annex rooms. Recover the lens and survive the return ambush.
The Hanging Line
Recover the Gyro Ring
Cross exposed courtyards and the maintenance gallery to open the annex route. Armored wardens join the hunt for the Gyro Ring.
The Hollow Bastion
Recover the Command Seal
Search barracks wings, outer loops and the old armory for access. The Command Seal waits beyond the annex’s locked routes.
The Signal Spire
Recover the Resonance Fork
Circle signal machinery and climb the relay gallery for access. Recover the fork from the annex, then return through the awakened defenses.
The Black Vault
Recover the Wake Key
Vault circuits and armored lanes lead to the annex gates. Secure the Wake Key from the objective gantry and bring the ninth part home.
The Ironwake
Assemble all nine parts
Recover the control fuse from the annex, then return to the engine court. Fit all nine parts, clear every wave and reach the starting airlock.
Know what is hunting you
New threats along the route.
Cannon spiders
From chapter 2. A spherical armored body rides on eight tall, articulated legs. A central cannon fires at you; another enemy caught in the line of fire is destroyed instead. Smaller enemies under its feet are crushed. Its broad body needs wide routes, and its armor takes substantially more punishment than earlier enemies.
Razor skitters
From chapter 3. Blade-equipped robots pursue faster and pressure you at close range.
Burst troopers
From chapter 4. Red-armored soldiers close diagonally and fire more frequently.
Marksmen
From chapter 4. Blue optics mark enemies with heavier, slower shots. They back away when crowded.
Wardens
From chapter 6. Gold-armored heavy enemies pursue faster and land harder melee strikes.
Remember where you came in
Your exit is the starting airlock.
In chapter 1, find blue access in the archives, restore power in the engine hall, and reach the upstairs reactor. Press E to collect the Core. You are still in the Foundry: carry it back to the entry airlock and use the exit.
In solo play, “Chapter Secured” confirms the extraction. Press Enter for the next briefing, then Enter again to deploy to the Freight Scar. In chapters 2–9, collecting the component opens hidden enemy rooms. Fight back to the modeled green airlock at the starting point and press E to leave.
Keep moving forward
Gear up. Keep your parts. Make the last stand.
Find your arsenal
Use fists, a pistol, an axe, a shotgun, a machine gun and the new chaingun. New chapters place weapon caches near arrival and upstairs, with ammo and medical supplies along the routes. Weapons carry into the next chapter; transfers restore health and top up low ammo.
Continue your campaign
Solo progress saves at chapter transitions. Press L on the title screen to continue, J in solo play for your parts journal, and R to retry the chapter. Checkpoints do not save mid-chapter; starting a new campaign replaces the old checkpoint.
Build under fire
In chapter 10, first recover the control fuse from the annex. Hold E at the engine console to fit each of the nine parts and survive its reinforcement wave. After all parts are installed and every wave is defeated, return to the starting airlock to finish the campaign.
Choose your platform
Download Ironwake.
Version 0.4.0 · Expanded maps, cannon spiders and the chaingun. Extract the IRONWAKE folder from the ZIP to any location. No assembler is needed to play.
Windows
Download for WindowsOpen the extracted IRONWAKE folder and double-click Play.cmd.
Linux
Download for Linux
Open a terminal inside the extracted IRONWAKE folder and run
bash Play.sh. See the included Linux guide for
required libraries.
Download SHA-256 checksums · Both packages include all ten maps and the campaign guide.
Linux targets Ubuntu 24.04 x86-64 and requires SDL2, desktop OpenGL, libcurl, and libpulse; these system libraries are not bundled. Other distributions and graphics drivers may need further testing.
All on the keyboard
Your first few moves.
- New campaign / deploy
- Enter
- Move / strafe
- W A S D
- Turn
- ← →
- Run
- Shift
- Attack
- Space
- Use / open
- E
- Select / cycle weapons
- 1–6 / C X
- Aim up / down
- Q Z
- Explored map
- Tab
- Network lobby
- N
- Fullscreen
- F11
- Pause / back
- Esc
- Continue saved chapter (title)
- L
- Parts journal (solo)
- J
- Retry chapter (solo)
- R