Free weekend: the three-hour plan
The trial ends Monday November 16, and the discount ends with it. Three hours is enough to know whether you will still be playing in a month.
Hour one: Threat 1, Guardian, finish a Depth 1 run. Hour two: Threat 2 and push to Ramok at Depth 2. Hour three: reroll a bad draft and try Balgorath's Depth 4 once, purely to see the ceiling.
The free weekend started on November 12 and runs through Monday November 16, with the game at 50% off for the same window. Both end on the same day, which is the detail that catches people.
Anybody can play as much as they want during the window. There is no level cap and no content lock during the trial, so the question is only how to spend three hours.
Dates and price, checked 2026-11-15
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Free weekend starts | November 12, 2026 |
| Free weekend ends | Monday November 16, 2026 |
| Discount | 50% off |
| Price during the window | $14.99 |
| Price after | $29.99 |
| Restriction | None, play as much as you want |
The trial and the discount share an end date. Wanting the half-price copy makes Monday the decision day, not next week.
Three-hour route
Three hours is enough to reach the second Gatekeeper and form a real opinion. Seeing Depth 4 takes more than three hours, and rushing there is the worst use of the trial.
Hour 1: learn the loop. Pick Guardian, set Threat 1 and Cautious pace, and finish a full Depth 1 run. The point is not the clear, it is learning that a floor has a timer, that the elevator is the only exit, and that upgrades come from a draft.
- Break the glass box at the entrance and take the Flare Gun.
- Follow the cable to the elevator rather than exploring everything.
- Deposit Expenite at the R.E.P.D. drone as soon as a draft is available.
- Kill enemies on your route, since kills now drop Expenite.
- Leave a floor when the timer turns critical, not when it expires.
Hour 2: push to Depth 2. Raise to Threat 2 with Standard pace, and take the same class. Fight Ramok. You will probably lose, and losing to Ramok is the most informative thing the trial can give you, because it shows how the game escalates without changing its rules.
Hour 3: look at the ceiling. Join a Depth 4 lobby from the server list, which is allowed even though you have not unlocked Depth 4, and watch a Balgorath fight. You will die. You will also understand why only 3.6% of players have that kill, which is the answer to whether this game has somewhere to go.
Check these before Monday
Three questions, and the answers decide the purchase:
- Did the timer feel like pressure or like nagging? This game is built around it, and no patch will remove it.
- Did the upgrade draft feel like a decision or a slot machine? Shared rarity is a deliberate design choice.
- Did a loss feel like a setback or a waste? The tagline for the whole game is "dive, dig, die, and dive again", and that is either the appeal or the deal-breaker.
If you are buying anyway
The six-month recap page lists everything added since launch, which is the fastest way to see whether the version you are buying is the one you bounced off in May. It is not.