Night over the Clockwork Spire. Tamsin, with Cog the brass owl on her shoulder, raises a wrench. Baron Grimgear watches from a balcony, and Princess Elara is lit in a high window.

Clockwork Ascent

Climb the Spire. Solve every floor.

A pixel-art puzzle climb for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Mesh gears, route conveyor belts and work your way up a tower that appears on no map, floor by floor, to bring Princess Elara home.

Coming soon to the App Store Chapter 1 is free

iPhone · iPad · Mac. No ads. No tracking.

Festival of Lanterns, Aurelmoor

The night the lanterns went dark

NarratorA thousand paper lights drift over the capital. Then the lanterns dim. Something huge and brass slides across the sky.

The Baron“Good evening, Aurelmoor! I’m collecting something this kingdom has owed me for years.”

NarratorIron arms close around the palace balcony. Princess Elara doesn’t scream. She throws a candlestick at the nearest claw.

Elara“Whoever is watching: his towers always have a coal chute!”

Tamsin“A tower nobody knew about, and a princess nobody is chasing. So. Me, then.”

The Baron's brass airship glows over the rooftops of Aurelmoor.
Tamsin and Cog stand beneath a barred grate high in the Spire, where Elara's face appears.

The climbers, and the reason they climb

Who you’ll meet in the Spire

Tamsin on a rooftop at the lantern festival, goggles up, one fist raised.

Tamsin

A young mechanic who spent four hours oiling hinges for a roof seat at the festival. She goes in through the coal chute with a wrench and a lamp on her goggle band.

Cog, a small brass owl, flares his wings beside Tamsin in the foundry.

Cog

A small brass owl Tamsin finds behind a boiler plate, wings jammed. Once mended he rides her shoulder and offers hints when a floor has you stuck.

Princess Elara on the palace balcony, reaching out as an iron claw descends.

Princess Elara

Carried off from her own balcony, she leaves a trail of notes, ciphers and lantern signals for whoever is brave enough to follow.

Warden Bellows, a furnace machine, glows over a heap of coal while Tamsin faces it.

Baron Grimgear

The man behind the airship. Each chapter of his Spire ends with one of his Wardens: great machines like Bellows, a furnace that guards the Foundry.

Try a floor

Wake the lift

Every floor is a stalled machine. This one is a tiny version of the first chapter. The motor on the left is turning. Get its power to the lift wheel on the right.

  • Tap an empty socket to place a spare gear. Tap it again to take it back.
  • Gears that touch side by side mesh and turn in opposite directions.
  • You have six spare gears, and the rubble in the middle won’t take one.
Spare gears: 6

The motor is turning. The lift wheel is still.

Season 1: The Clockwork Spire

Two machines, sixteen floors

Gears

The Foundry teaches you to read a gear train. Mesh gears to carry power across the floor, mind which way each one turns, and free axles that rust has locked.

Conveyor belts

The Cargo Lifts add belts that carry crates, one-way plates and counterweights. Later floors drive the belts with gears, so both machines have to work together.

Locked Axles, a gear puzzle with a gold gear train running across the board.
Locked Axles
Geared Belts, where a row of gears drives two conveyor belts carrying crates.
Geared Belts
Cog's hint sheet offering a Nudge, an Insight and a Step.
Cog’s hints
The Spire map with Chapter 1 cleared and Chapter 2 under way.
The Spire map

The map, top to bottom

Eight floors and one Warden per chapter

Each floor has a par, the number of moves a master mechanic needs. Solve at par to earn the floor’s Mastery Cog. New chapters climb higher with new machines.

Chapter 4 · The Boiler Crown

Coming soon

Steam, brass pipes and a storm outside

Chapter 3 · The Lantern Gallery

Coming soon

Stained glass and dusk light

Chapter 2 · The Cargo Lifts

Season 1
  1. 8BOSSWarden HaulPar 35
  2. 7Freight SortPar 26
  3. 6Elara’s SignalPar 21
  4. 5Geared BeltsPar 10
  5. 4CounterweightPar 18
  6. 3No Way BackPar 17
  7. 2Belt DrivePar 8
  8. 1Heavy LiftingPar 13

Chapter 1 · The Foundry

Free
  1. 8BOSSWarden BellowsPar 9
  2. 7The ClutchPar 4
  3. 6Locked AxlesPar 7
  4. 5Gear RatioPar 3
  5. 4Mending CogPar 4
  6. 3Spare PartsPar 5
  7. 2TurnaboutPar 1
  8. 1Coal ChutePar 2

How it’s sold

Fair to play, private by default

Start free

All eight floors of the Foundry, its story and its Warden are free. Unlock the rest of Season 1 in the app when you’re ready to keep climbing.

Hints you choose

Cog offers three kinds of help on every floor, and you decide how much to take.

Nudge · freeInsight · 25 coinsStep · 1 jewel

Nothing leaves your device

No ads, no accounts, no analytics and no tracking. Your progress stays on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Purchases go through the App Store.

Tamsin hauls on a lever beside a cargo lift cage, ready to go up.

The coal chute is open

Clockwork Ascent is coming to the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Chapter 1 is free to play.

Coming soon to the App Store