What the Bucket Brought: a cosmic horror idle game

What the Bucket Brought is a cosmic horror idle game for Android, about a flooded well, a bucket on a chain and whatever floats up out of the dark. Drop the bucket, crank it back up and scoop the strange curios drifting in the black water, then upgrade and go deeper. It's for players who like incremental games and creepy, eerie atmosphere without gore: a dark little game for Halloween, or any night the well is calling.

Get it on Google Play

Free to download. No purchases of any kind. Supported by ads.

What the Bucket Brought title in engraved pixel letters with the tagline "DROP. CRANK. DO NOT LOOK DOWN.", beside a red-veined eye staring out of a dark well

What you do in What the Bucket Brought

Steer, scoop, crank. Drop the bucket, then turn the big wheel with your finger to haul it up: a ratchet you can hear and feel. A little stick under your other thumb steers the bucket through the water so you can scoop what floats on the way up.
Fill the bucket wisely. It only holds so many curios. The deepest ones sell for the most, the rare ones glow, and a steady crank makes the chain sing: those hauls sell for more.
Descend through six strata, each worse than the last. Pass topsoil, clay, sandstone, shale and a bed of bones, and then something that was never mapped. Faces pressed into the clay open their eyes as the bucket passes.
Feel the tug. Sometimes something takes hold of the chain. Hold still and it leaves a gift. Crank and it lets go.
Collect 64 strange curios. Among them are a plumb bob that hangs upward and a vial that climbs toward whoever holds it. Scoop 20 of the same curio to master it, and from then on it sells for half again as much.
Explore a map of 110 upgrades. It spreads from the well in seven arms: longer chains, bigger buckets, longer candles, luckier finds, workers and clockwork wells. Every upgrade shows plain numbers.
Let the Works run. Build a yard of up to 24 side wells, each with a little hooded worker at the crank or brass clockwork that needs no one. Your workers keep hauling while you're away.
Seal the well and start deeper. When the well hits bottom, seal it for seals: upgrades you keep forever. Five sites, each with its own rule and its own curios.
Drawn like an old engraving. Bone paper and black ink, with every strange find glowing in colour.

How to play What the Bucket Brought

Light the candle and drop the bucket into the well.
Turn the big wheel to haul it up, and steer with the little stick to scoop the curios floating in the water.
Sell what you bring up for gold.
Spend the gold on the upgrade map to reach deeper, where everything is worth more.
Hire workers and build clockwork wells in the Works so the hauling goes on while you're away.
When the well hits bottom, seal it for seals and start again at the next site, stronger than before.

Runs are short: 45 seconds at first, and never more than a few minutes.

What the Bucket Brought screenshots

What the Bucket Brought gameplay: the bucket on its chain 18 metres down a flooded cistern drawn like an old engraving, with curios floating in the dark water and the crank wheel and steering stick below

What the Bucket Brought gameplay: 600 metres down in the shale, pairs of eyes watch from the dark while a huge red eye and tendrils rise toward the bucket

What the Bucket Brought gameplay: the upgrade map, with arms of coloured upgrade nodes spreading out from the well's chain, a card for a seal upgrade and a button to seal the well

What the Bucket Brought gameplay: at 1,800 metres the bucket sinks into the bone bed, where a ribcage as wide as the cistern waits in the water

What the Bucket Brought FAQ

Is What the Bucket Brought free?

Yes. It's free to download on Google Play, with no purchases of any kind. It's supported by ads.

Does What the Bucket Brought have ads?

Yes, it's supported by ads: optional short videos give a bonus that's stated before you tap, and an occasional short ad plays between runs, never during one, and none in your first twenty minutes. You can finish the game without watching a single optional video.

Does What the Bucket Brought work offline?

Yes. It plays offline, with no Wi-Fi, account or sign-in needed. Your progress stays on your device.

Is What the Bucket Brought on iPhone?

Not yet. Right now it's on Google Play for Android phones. This page will link the App Store as soon as an iPhone version is out.

Is What the Bucket Brought scary?

It's cosmic horror without gore: dread, not blood. Expect eyes in the dark, faces in the rock, tendrils and a ribcage the size of the cistern. It's made for players aged 16 and up.

Is What the Bucket Brought an idle game?

It's an incremental game with idle parts. Runs are short and hands-on, and once you've built the Works, your workers keep hauling while you're away (up to 30 minutes, or an hour with the cistern).

How long is a run in What the Bucket Brought?

45 seconds at first, and never more than a few minutes, so it fits a short break.

How do I master a curio in What the Bucket Brought?

Scoop 20 of the same curio. From then on, it sells for half again as much.

What does sealing the well do in What the Bucket Brought?

When the well hits bottom, you can seal it for seals, which buy upgrades you keep forever, and start again at the next site. There are five sites, each with its own rule and its own curios.

Do I need an account to play What the Bucket Brought?

No. There's no account and no sign-in.

Privacy

What the Bucket Brought needs no account and keeps your progress on your device. Read its privacy policy.

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INKFARERS: a pixel art roguelite RPG where you draw shapes to parry and counter. Out now on Google Play.

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