I built Sands of the Vault as a cinematic sword-and-platforming descent: you play Layla, a rogue breaking into a buried vault to reach a queen who sleeps at its Sand Heart. You'll wall-climb out of dungeon cells, cross collapsing desert bridges, parry armoured wardens, and take on the three-phase Vault Keeper — all against a countdown clock. Every seal you find and every lore letter you read changes which of the game's endings you earn.
Sands of the Vault is a hand-built 2D action platformer that runs entirely in your browser — no install, no account, nothing to buy. I wanted the movement to feel like classic cinematic platformers: deliberate jumps with a little forgiveness baked in, a slow wall-slide you can convert into a climb, and a sword that rewards spacing over button-mashing. Underneath the arcade action there's a quiet story told through letters you pick up along the way, and a set of four seals that decide how it all ends.
The run takes you down through five distinct regions. You start in the torch-lit Dungeon Depths, break out into the open Sand Wastes, push into The Vault itself, ascend the void-touched Apex, and finally reach the Sand Heart where the sleeping queen waits. Along the critical path there are seventeen rooms; four more are hidden behind cracked walls you have to break open with your blade, for twenty-one rooms in all.
Start with the Exile Sword (short, reliable arc). Find the Rogue Dagger hidden in Act 1 — fast, with a flurry hit that doubles damage — and the Vault Spear in Act 3, which reaches far and pierces every enemy in its line.
Press G to raise a brief parry window. Time it against an incoming swing and you open a riposte window for bonus damage — and it's the only way to crack a Shield Sentinel's guard.
Press into a wall to slide down slowly. Hold ↑ while sliding to climb upward and reach ledges a normal jump can't, or jump off the wall to kick across to the opposite side.
Shards are tucked into every room — some in plain sight, others behind a climb or a leap. They're your currency at the Bazaar and in the Skill Tree, and they feed achievements at 10 in a run and 50 lifetime.
The Vault Keeper has 60 HP and three gears. It opens with leaping slams, enrages at two-thirds health to hurl arcing projectiles, then hits its final form with a faster barrage. Defeat it to earn the Vault Breaker feat.
Each act has its own countdown. Hourglass pickups add 30 seconds and the Bazaar sells more time, but linger too long and the run ends. Beat the boss quickly to set a best time on the online leaderboard.
The Cells, The Corridor, The Forbidden Library, The Armory, and The Ancient Tomb. Torch-lit stone, patrolling Sand Wardens and a Palace Guard, spike floors, ladders, and swinging guillotine traps teach you the fundamentals.
Desert Ruins, The Broken Bridge, and The Canyon Pass, ending in a Plague Chamber. Sliding platforms over spike pits, loose ledges that crumble instantly, timed sand-columns, and the fast Hollow Plague Wraith mini-boss.
The Antechamber and Inner Sanctum lead to the Chamber of the Keeper. Purple-lit halls guarded by ranged Sand Archers and heavily armoured Bone Colossi, plus paired guillotines and a sand-column trap.
The Apex Gate, the Void Archives, and the Sand Heart. This is the void-touched stretch where teleporting Void Shades harass you between the last two seals and the final letters of the story.
The Heart Threshold and the chamber of the Sleeping Queen form the epilogue. Reach it with the right seals and lore and you unlock the game's true ending rather than a lesser one.
Cracked walls (two sword hits to break) reveal the Hidden Vault, the Buried Tomb, the Sealed Crypt, and the Mirror Hall — home to the alternate weapons, extra lore, and a Phantom Rogue that mirrors your own moves.
Finishing the story is only the start. Everything below runs on the same movement and combat, and your unlocks and best scores are saved in your browser so a run is never wasted.
Timers are halved and the game records splits for the Dungeon, Sand, Vault, Apex and boss segments so you can chase a clean, fast full-clear.
Face the Plague Wraith and the Vault Keeper back-to-back in one arena, against the clock, for the Arena Challenger feat.
A shuffled pool of rooms goes ever deeper. Reach depth 20 to earn Abyss Walker and push your best-depth record.
Hold a single arena against escalating waves of enemies. Survive ten waves for the Arena Survivor feat.
Toggle Glass Cannon, Blindfolded, Mirror Run or Iron Resolve for a harder run, or accept Run Curses at the start to trade danger for bonus shards.
Carry your progress into New Game+, spend shards on six persistent Skill Tree upgrades, and pick between three difficulties: Historian, Rogue and Dervish.
Between fights you can open the Bazaar and spend the shards you've collected on eight run-scoped boons — a Life Crystal for an instant heal, a Ward Rune that soaks three hits, Swiftness for faster movement, a Blast Rune that extends your sword's reach, and more. Cursed Relics offer a sharper bargain: the Iron Shackle grants extra health but slows you down, the Void Eye stops shades teleporting but drains your clock faster, and the Sand Heart makes you immune to sand-column damage at the cost of a lifeline.
Threaded through the rooms are four seals and six lore letters, collected into an in-game Journal and Codex. They matter beyond flavour: how many seals you carry and how much of the story you've uncovered decide which ending you reach — from a bad ending where the vault claims its price, up through standard, good and golden endings, to the true ending where the queen awakens whole. There are nineteen achievements in total covering exploration, speed, no-damage clears, curses and the endgame, so there's always another feat to chase.
Yes — it's completely free and runs in the browser with no download and no account. Your shards, achievements, best times and settings save automatically to your device, and online leaderboards track fastest clears.
Yes. On phones the game detects portrait orientation and shows a touch joystick alongside dedicated Jump, Run, Attack and Parry buttons, so every keyboard action has an on-screen equivalent.
A story clear moves through seventeen rooms across five acts, with four extra secret rooms if you break the cracked walls. Each act is timed, so pace matters — Time Trial and Boss Rush give you shorter, score-focused sessions.
It has three phases at 60 HP. Learn its leap in phase one, then punish the recovery after each projectile burst in phases two and three. Bring extra HP from big vials and a Ward Rune from the Bazaar if you're struggling.
The four seals and the lore letters you collect determine your ending, from the bad ending up to the true ending. Grabbing all of them across a run is the path to the best conclusion of Layla's story.
The starting Exile Sword is balanced and always available. The hidden Rogue Dagger is faster with a double-damage flurry, while the Vault Spear trades speed for long reach that pierces multiple enemies — pick to suit the room.
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