About the Game
White Knuckle is a first person roguelite speed-climbing game.
Use momentum-based movement mechanics with precision, deploy a variety of tools and resources, and ascend as fast as you can.
Just don't lose your grip, there’s eternity below you.
Manage your inventory or become encumbered and fall to your death. Failure to grab what you need from your bag in time can spell disaster.
Through run-based meta-progression, you’ll discover and unlock varied augmentations.
Bolster your will to ascend.
You're not alone down here. Strange life flourishes far underground, and darker things haunt these halls. Something oozes from the depths– following you, growing angrier… and it won't let up.
Travel through different regions with unique threats and gameplay challenges during your attempted escape of the underground megastructure.
The deep dry storage of the Silos, the putrid sewers of the Pipeworks, the haunted piers of Habitation. Each area will require adaptation to new obstacles and denizens.
Screenshots
28 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
Changes
Grapple Piton
Increased the Grapple Piton range by 5 meters.
The Grapple Piton now gets a 10 meter range boost with Piton Enthusiast.
Added a light which indicates whether the target surface is in range or not.
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug in the Rat King's AI and navigation where it wouldn't move to adjacent nodes when searching for the player, only ones further away.
Fixed the pouch respawning in the post Hadal Diver safe area.
Crash Notice
Hey there!
We've been getting reports about crashes on launch, and in nearly all cases they seem related to having mods previously installed that are incompatible with the newest version of the game. If you run into any issues, please uninstall any mods (including bepinex itself!) and wait for those to be updated to the current version.
With that out of the way:
Bugfixes
You can no longer get the Amalgamator with the Pitons and Beans binding.
Fixed an exception that could occur when loading user data for the leaderboards.
Fixed an error with the Rat King that could cause it to hang in place indefinitely.
Fixed the Parasite Wrench not being able to hit pitons.
Fixed bullets not correctly piercing tongues.
Fixed infinite flashlight recycling under some circumstances.
Fixed the "Grit" achievement not applying when completing Rotten Duct on Hard mode.
Fixed a bug that could cause the intro to Body Cavity to not seamlessly teleport the player under certain circumstances.
The Remains are no longer telefraggable.
Fixed employee ID not stopping turrets from shooting the player.
Fixed weird camera behavior when running up steep slopes.
Fixed Grapple Pitons not having the correct unlock sprite in the logbook.
Fixed the Mass being slow after revive.
Fixed the Abyss skip incorrectly transitioning into infested labs or hotzone after first visiting the Nest normally in a run.
Fixed not being able to easily save and exit in the post Hadal Diver safe area.
Fixed some breakable holds not shattering.
Bugfixes
Fixed keybinds not saving properly (sorgy)
Rho Lightning particles for the altars and Artifact Device is red again.
Vendors in the Duct To Abyss safe area now save and load properly.
You can no longer walk around while inside of the Diver to Nest safe area computer.
Powercells are no longer removed in Pitons and Beans
Resolved an issue which prevents escaping from certain computers on some devices.
Thank you everyone for playing and reporting issues! Here's our first hotfix of the S&A update <3
NOTICE: Due to a bug with saved keybinds and our new input backend, we've had to reset your keybinds once more to ensure a blank slate. Sorry about that!
Bugfixes
Fixed some players having incorrect binds when first loading in.
Fixed some keybinds (Scroll wheel, especially) not working in certain configurations.
Fixed the Rat King getting stuck in some situations.
Added some extra safety zones when hiding out of reach of the Rat King, so it should no longer softlock players in multiple spots.
Fixed an error when a failure occurs while attempting to submit to leaderboards.
Fixed a softlock when exiting Body Cavity
The Amalgamator can no longer be stored in lockers.
The Amalgamator can no longer grab items from lockers nor unpurchased items in the Bazaar.
The Remains can no longer snap your neck while you are in god mode.
Hadal Diver
Made it harder to translocate on top of it while it is passing by, to reduce the odds of strange behavior.
Now checks your global save for both the lever and the computer, preventing weird issues when returning to a saved run after a crash.
Pitons and Beans will no longer remove the Handwheel or Key items.
Fixed a bug where the Timepiece artifact could be grabbed before the other, allowing you to get two artifacts in Interlude Evacuation.
Fixed some unhammerable orchid blossoms in Infested Labs.
- Dark Machine Games
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45269509/4328ad487b66d4fde73c47a0f39991394e1f89c5.png"]
Bugfixes & Balance Changes!
Changes
Perks
Anomalous Bonds
Anomalous bonds now converts disks to special non-insertable disk trinkets on revive instead of disintegrating them.
Portable Bank
Unlocked earlier in general progression
Now provides a minor temporary movement buff (roughly half of a food bar) whenever you bank a roach.
Readded the old deposit effect.
Overwhelmed
Overwhelmed charges a bit faster, decays a bit slower, and has a half second grace period during it's charge.
New audio and visual cue when you are charged enough for double jump.
Increase Latissimus Optimization's climb speed buff from +30% to +40%
Armored Plating now reduces damage by 60%.
Increased Steadied Stance's knockback resist.
Changed wording on a bunch of perks for improved clarity. (Stamina Usage Reduction, Overwhelmed, Portable Bank)
Trinkets
Yearning Photo
Yearning Photo now has consistency in it's labelling.
Yearning Photo has been buffed:
+15% Climb Speed
+20% Grounded Walk/Run Speed
Competitive Mode
Now skips the end cutscene.
Denizens
Turrets
Cannot see you if you are standing outside of around 45 degrees from their current laser angle. Previously, they would see you if you were in their shooting radius at all, now you can briefly sneak when they look away.
After you are spotted, crouch stealth will be basically non-effective until they lose you.
Buddy
Will hover near his spawn when at I1 instead of saying hello to the player first and getting in the way.
QOL
Forward Plus has been moved from experimental mode only.
Hitting 'New Game' on the main menu now provides a popup asking if you want to erase your currently saved run.
Lore
Lore?
Bugfixes
Crashes & Soft-Locks
Fixed a case where reviving with multiple pouches and specific retained items could cause the game to crash mid-revive.
Dying while in a computer should no longer lock your mouse and soft-lock your game.
Physics
Fixed items falling through the Interlude 02 elevator when you drop them. That's right, the items stay on the elevator. Massive dubs for the tether elevator stocks.
Fixed items falling through the I3 tram when you drop them. That's right, this one is fixed too. Take all your grubs on a (rather short) ride!
Fixed a long standing bug where landing on/jumping from a moving platform while your inventory is open would cause it to rotate substantially, often closing your bag.
Items
Fixed the Barnacle Hook preventing you from double jumping when it's in it's primed but not attached state.
Fixed a few handgun reload bugs (Hopefully no more junk 10mm mags)
Fixed the cryogun getting stuck in your hand after hold-recharging.
Fixed the missing hammer item dialogue for the Mother
Fixed Auto-Pitons not adding the strike buff to their damage (From damage improvement perks)
Fixed Meat not providing the correct addClimb buff.
Denizens
Fixed Barnacle Zombies just absolutely blasting in random directions when they try to attack you while you are stealthed.
Visual
Fixed some missing pixels on the base hand grab sprite.
Fixed some extra pixels on a few roach sprites.
Fixed underlines in perk tooltips crossing over each word.
Fixed extra pixel on the Wraps cosmetic running pose.
Hopefully fixed the lightmap load nightmare once and for all (knock on wood knock on wood)
Fixed a Forward+ light prioritization issue which was affecting (as far as we know) a single player. Hopefully solved! Donut of Darkness, BEGONE
Perks
Fixed Regenerative Pads not providing correct stamina regen.
Fixed some select perks not properly staying in rho challenges.
Fixed Pulse Organ's icon having the wrong color.
Fixed Motherly Instinct not providing a climb speed bonus properly when petting grubs.
Fixed Anomalous Bonds not applying if you exit a run unsafely.
Other
Fixed the roach bazaar in the abyss bringing back the mass.
Removed the trough-entrance announcement being in the random pool for trough.
I know we say this every time, but thank you all for reporting issues you come across. It really helps us find and smash any problems that come up.
- Dark Machine Games
Hey everyone! Big hotfix coming in with a bunch of QOL changes as well!
Changes
Items
Reload/Shoot Pocket Buffer
Your pocket button now is buffered when shooting or reloading sidearms (Handgun, Flaregun, Cryogun), so if pressed it will pocket the first frame it is able. In addition, you can now instantly pocket the handgun before the magazine is ejected to cancel the reload.
Rho Stone
Added a Rho Stone and a note to Interlude: Evacuation. (Only in normal mode)
Rho stones now additionally provide a damage reduction and knockback resist buff.
Rho stones now slow down time for a short period after shattering them.
Rho Stones become less common at the Bazaar the further into an endless run you go.
Rho Stones are no longer effected by metabolic stasis.
Rapier
Can now be pocketed.
Double-Rapier interaction has been improved. Double rapier pogoing is big fun.
The rapier will no longer pogo off of most interactables (handholds, etc) when looking upwards. (Eg: When skating)
Improved rapier pogo hit detection for increased reliability on ground surfaces (Less pinging off into the abyss)
Perks
Unstoppable Conviction
Now shows a temporary jump counter on it's perk icon, and in it's description.
Carnal Bloodlust
Increases your melee damage.
Now only tracks kills since the perk was first picked up, not all previous kills.
Now shows a count of all accumulated kills since gained.
Now lists your current total buff.
Profit Motive
Reduced roach bonus to 3% per roach
Now is stackable, up to five times.
Now shows the number of roaches you have in your inventory, and the exact movement buff.
Motherly Instinct
Increased the pet-grub buff from 10 seconds to 12 seconds.
Now shows the number of grubs you have in your inventory, and the exact movement buff.
Adhesive Perspiration
Can now stack, each stack increases your total sticky-climb time by +0.5 seconds.
Autotomous Skeleton
Now shows a cooldown on the perk icon until your earliest hand can use the ability again.
Timed Unstable Perks
Now show their exact time remaining over the perk.
Bindings
Lowered Roach Mode's boost jump force from 0.115 to 0.105
Inventory
When automatically grabbing an item from your inventory, it prefers items in your bag versus items in pouches.
The Nest
Added a variant chase finale to the end of Infested Labs.
Tweaked Mass speed in endless feeding trough.
Ruby Roaches now no longer fly out of the recycler while it is running. Rejoice!
Command Console
New Command - Infinite Charge. Nearly all recharge based items replenish instantly when enabled. Good for testing artifacts!
Bugfixes
Worldgen & Levels
Fixed a bug that would cause the Nest's generation to bug out and insert another safe area level if you revived after visiting Hot Zone or Infested
Fixed (Hopefully) certain rooms consistently breaking their lightmaps in longer endless runs.
Split out the infested labs entrance room and the i4 entry climb into their own levels to attempt to fix an infested labs level loading bug. It seems related to the game thinking you are in a previous branching path (i4) and my hope is by fully unloading that branch it will resolve the issue. Hopefully. oh please work
Fixed Delta Labs random events being active in Trough's entrance room.
Fixed a rare issue which would break SSL when it tries to load.
Fixed some misapplied bounding boxes in Service Shaft 04, preventing players from standing in a gap on the wall.
Added a small platform beneath the funny Abyss Bazaar entrance.
Removed Funny Square from Transit Scaffolds 04
Fixed irregular lighting in some parts of Deadman's Handle 02
Added extra bounding boxes to the drop and extending ladders to prevent players from getting stuck under them.
Grub Crimes
Fixed removing grubs from item lockers making them permanently immortal.
You can no longer get infinite meat from grubs in lockers. You monsters!! Stop torturing the little gals.
You can no longer infinitely kill grubs inside of lockers.
Item Lockers
You can no longer store a Barnacle Hook inside item lockers (Contraband)
Fixed being able to barnacle-hook items out of item lockers, for weird behaviors.
Perk Fixes
Grapple-jumping with the barnacle hook no longer uses a double jump.
Fixed Carnal Bloodlust not providing it's temporary perk after a set number of kills.
Fixed timed perks resetting their time when continuing a saved run.
Fixed calming buddy's slowness affecting controller input speed.
Employee Retention & Motivator & Mass Damper now properly affect the Hunter.
Chimney
Fixed the broken Chimney coolant visual.
Denizens
Squeak fix
Removed Sprider debug hotkey (whoops!)
Fixed Spriders gaining the magical gift of flight if you jump off of them while holding them. We've deprived them of joy and whimsy, for your sake.
Fixed (Hopefully) a bug that would leave the player with some barnacle-grapple effects after killing a barnacle zombie. I've added an extra safety check here which I think should cover edge cases but if not I'll have to be more aggressive.
You can no longer stunlock the Ravelin by shooting it in it's face.
Other
Fixed the Translocator and Timepiece not staying through revives if you are priming it in your hand. This fix should also fix other items not carrying over properly in similar situations.
You no longer get an instant refresh of your translocator or an immediate single remote charge if you save, exit, then reload.
Translocator kills now count towards your kill count (for things like Carnal Bloodlust)
Fixed a bug that would eat the artifact spear when you threw it at the dead zombie in I4.
Fixed (Hopefully) reloading from pouches sometimes breaking. Made the item-grab-order more reliable. If you encounter this issue in this build, or any other inventory related issues, please make a report!
Fixed custom cosmetic interact icon swaps not applying to overlay interact icons, preventing the very important modding of the little dollar sign for shop items.
Tweaked timing on a number of Dahl's recorded lines.
Fixed the Tangled Sink entrance app not handling controller input after unlocking correctly.
If you get more than 500 meters from any level bounds, you are teleported back into the level.
Reloading two handguns simultaneously no longer only uses one magazine.
Keep climbing, and thank you for all your discussion and bug reports!
- Dark Machine Games
Lotsa changes! Some big, some small, lots of fixes too.
We've been trying to smash this Nest rare level gen issue and I'm hoping this hotfix does it. We haven't been able to recreate it internally, so if this update somehow doesn't fix it please let us know!
Okay, onto the stuff!!
Changes
Added a Hunter safety zone to the Pipe Organ Rho altar.
Added dialogue for previously missing item exam lines from the Mother.
Added a random alternate bazaar layout for endless & random spawn entrances.
Its a bit smaller, and has a slightly adjusted spawn pool.
More common for random bazaar entrances.
Less common for endless breakrooms.
The smaller variant will never show up in I2.
Removed the Mass Damper from the endless Bazaar item pool.
Replaced it with a chance for a Rho Stone in the endless Bazaar item pool.
Moved random announcement sources across the Nest closer to the level for ease of hearing.
Competitive Mode's Locker Picker is no longer an experimental feature.
Perks
Motherly Instinct now only shows up if you haven't crushed any grubs, and have a grub in your inventory.
If you satisfy those requirements, it's frequency is higher than other perks.
Piton Enthusiast is now twice as likely to spawn if you also have the Carabiner.
Lowered the per-kill bonus of carnal bloodlust.
Changed Heavy Strike's description to make it clear it increases the damage of all weapons.
Bugfixes
Adjusted worldgen to hopefully fix a bug where Infested Labs doesn't generate all the way..
Fixed the Roach Ending portal not appearing after 0.60e.
Fixed the service shaft elevator playing it's crash sound every time you re-enter the level.
You can no longer get stuck on I4's control room windows after mother pulls you in.
Fixed beans sold in the Bazaar on Pitons & Beans getting swapped to bandages in Survival mode (allowing you to steal them for free)
Fixed Chimney incorrectly generating it's loop.
Added missing subtitle lines for the Nest.
Fixed misaligned reverb zones in the Infested Lab escape level.
Fixed misparenting of a supply box in Infested Labs, which would cause it to enter your inventory when picking up a nearby injector.
Fixed floating door in Infested Labs.
Added extra safety checks for game closure and a current session save. Should help in case of crash, computer shutdown, etc.
Thanks for your support, and your bug reports!
-Holly
Bugfixes
Fixed the competitive mode perk pool not actually reducing perks.
Fixed artifacts rarely not recharging.
Fixed a bug which would prevent the Mother achievement from activating.
Sister Grubs should no longer leap to their untimely demise in Interlude: Symbiosis
Fixed two instances of being forced to look at Mother after she gets enraged but cannot kill you.
Fixed Rapier being missing from endless Abyss' starting pool.
Changes
The Nest
Added a flashlight spawn to the Nest safe room.
Added a secret flaregun to the Nest safe room.
Endless Nest
Made the subregion transitional vents for the nest two meters high, allowing for walking/sprinting navigation.
Lowered the Mass speed in Infested Labs
Lowered the number of rooms that generate in Endless Feeding Trough from 5 to 4.
Added Hotzone_Outro_01 to the hotzone level pool.
Added a pile of extra starting items. Enjoy blasting!
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue which would cause saves to load incorrectly
Fixed some leaderboads not showing up on the main menu.
Fixed the Barnacle Hook not carrying over on revive.
Fixed being able to softlock yourself in the Nest entry elevator
Fixed the Cryogun and Barnacle Hook not having descriptions in the Endless Bazaar.
Fixed the Endless Nest music cutting out abruptly in some transitions.
Fixed an issue which would cause your starter loan to not be applied after restarting from a saved run.
You can no longer enrage the mother to have her kill you until after she drops you, to prevent sequence-breaking issues.
Fixed the logbook not showing the 10mm ammo unlock for vendors.
Changes
Bazaar
You can now get the Barnacle Hook from the Bazaar in any endless mode.
You can now get the Cryo Gun (From the chimney) from the Bazaar in any endless mode.
When you have the Cryo Gun, each break room spawns with a cryo-refueler.
Added some directional guidance from Mother if you try to climb up in I4.
Bugfixes
Removed the Bio Backup app that was left on the endless nest computer.
Fixed a softlock when entering Hot Zone
Fixed lighting on breakable wall in Deep Storage 07
Fixed the Rapier not being available from Endless monoliths.
Fixed (Maybe) an issue where your starting roach loan wouldn't apply.
Fixed a rare issue where leaving the Bazaar would cause your screen to turn white.
Fixed a bug which would allow you to kill a Sister grub in I4 without Mother killing you (but still locking your camera to her)
Fixed zombie standing back up in i4 after you leave and come back.
Added a safety check to your grabs to help prevent a phantom grab issue.
Fixed leaving the bazaar by shooting/throwing stuff at the hatch.
Fixed bazaar entrances showing up in Iron Knuckle.
Potentially fixed save-load crash relating to pouches.
White Knuckle Beta 0.60c
Changes
Lowered the Climbing Shoe Trinket jump-buff stamina effect to 66%
Raised the Chalk Trinket stamina buff from 10% to 20%
Raised Regenerative Pad grounded stamina regen to 100% from 75%
Raised the Somatic Painkiller stamina buff from 30% to 40%
Bugfixes
Fixed moving pistons in Chimney - Gelid Spire
Fixed leaderboards not appearing on the main menu. They weren't broken in game at least!
Removed silly dev bazaar access from the starting silo.
We're looking into performance issues (Try Forward+), and some load issues in the Nest, along with plenty of other things. Thanks for reporting problems!! <3
-Holly
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug preventing players from entering SSL.
Fixed an issue where the mass would sometimes consume the player immediatly upon leaving the Bazaar.
Fixed some achievements not granting in steam. If this affected you, simply start the game and they should auto-fill!
Removed a debug testing trigger in the playground that forced all items to drop.
Fixed a typo in Motherly Instinct.
Fixed a typo in the Infested Hand unlock condition.
Added an extra invisible wall to the roach trader to make it harder to clip inside.
White Knuckle Beta 0.55q
Console Changes
Added aliases, which allow for defining new commands in the console.
The Delay command can now also have a frame count or second count specified.
Binds can now include space in their keychords.
Bug Fixes
Forward+: Reworked tiling algorithm to remove most instances of edges of lights not affecting edges of screen, especially on higher FOV.
Fixed regression where Ruby Roaches would fly out of recyclers too eagerly.
Fixed typos in credits tab.
Fixed mechanical barnacles bleeding organic blood.
Hopefully fixed audio offset issues.
Fixed Autotomous Skeleton's Bone Spears despawning on drop when using Piton & Beans binding.
Limited maximum rotation of Habitation Yellow's Endless Breakroom's Item Locker door.
Fixed Ladder and Cheatrooms leaderboards.
Fixed Parasite batteries not being auto-insertable via Focus Mode.
Fixed being able to grab walls in Focus Mode when under effect of Grubs.
Fixed Anomalous Bonds not storing pouch content correctly.
Fixed Item Lockers being able to remove your stored Bone Spears with Piton and Beans binding and replacing your Beans with Bandages with Survival binding.
Hopefully fixed issues around fans in Air Exchange not affecting player.
Increased damage of floor fan in Air Exchange 04.
Fixed shooting the flare gun not reducing player's encumbrance.
Fixed Employee ID trinket not disabling Delta Labs 02 laser floor.
Added SAPS warning when Delta Labs 02 laser floor activates.
Fixed Delta Labs 08 SAPS warning playing when Employee ID has disabled laser floor.
Fixed recyclers being able to infinitely recycle dropped items after reloading a save.
Fixed being unable to take items out of Recyclers.
Fixed Explosive Rebar and Grub triggering Recycler events every time an item was destroyed.
Decreased Flood speed in Training Sector - Item Mastery 04.
Fixed Rabbit DNA boost jumps not having coyote time.
White Knuckle Beta 0.55r
Bug Fixes
Fixed bug where reviving with Pouch trinket would duplicate all items that would normally carry over on death (trinkets...)
Fixed bug where after losing final life, player could still save their game and quit exactly once. Now they cannot save at 0 lives.
Current Release
Build 25556372
Uploaded Sep 28, 2026
System Requirements
How to Install
White Knuckle.exe to play
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
Needed when extracting (WinRAR / 7-Zip) — not a site login.
B59252DB
263e36bfd3fc8671230b306fa02c1a240fe316943b5c061361729894de4750c2
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Download White Knuckle for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of White Knuckle for free. White Knuckle is a Early Access released by Dark Machine Games.