Aether
AETHER — Ultra Beta (Layer 0)
The fabric of reality is coming apart. You arrived just in time.
AETHER is an incremental game about fracturing a semi-reality from the inside. You start with a single click. You end by collapsing the Semi-Aether entirely — and that's just Layer 0.
What you'll find in this beta:
Collect Fragments, harvest Orbs, build generators, and unlock a permanent skill tree split between click nodes and harvest nodes. Soft-resets through Prisms multiply your production and reset your generators and tree — but your Eternal nodes survive. Three Catalysts fracture the fabric permanently. Complete all five Eternal pillars and the Semi-Aether collapses. Layer 1 is waiting.
Why "ultra beta": This is a playable, complete loop — but balance is actively being tuned. Numbers, costs, and timing may shift between updates. Your feedback on pacing (too fast? too slow? where did you get stuck?) is exactly what this release is for.
How long: An optimal run takes around 3 hours. A casual run is closer to 4–5. There's no grinding required — the game rewards decisions, not time.
Controls: Click to generate Fragments. Right-click generator buttons to buy the maximum you can afford. The skill tree is a canvas you can pan, zoom, and drag.
Development log
Comments
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No idea what does that mean:
Also the first few Orbs are Absolutely Brutal. 1000 fragments over and over again. If one find +1 upgrade fast enough it's better but if one will focus more on game without "Tree" than it's unplayable.
I see some resemblance to Revolution Idle. Hope more balance will help with initial gameplay.
Hey! Thank you so much for the detailed feedback — this is exactly the kind of input that helps shape the game.
You're completely right about the early game being brutal. The first few Orbs require grinding 1,000 fragments over and over with almost no visual reward — that's a design problem we're already fixing. The click upgrade also had a silent bug where Level 1 did nothing visible, which made the Tree feel useless unless you stumbled onto it. That's now corrected.
We're also working on making the Skill Tree more visually distinct from the stats and options — it deserves its own clear space.
The Revolution Idle comparison genuinely made us smile. We're aiming for something in that spirit but with a twist that will become clearer in Layer 1, which is coming in the next few weeks. It's going to change how you think about the prestige loop in a way we think feels fresh.
If you have anything else you'd change, or something you think is already working well, we'd love to hear it — every note counts.
Thanks again for playing and taking the time to write. Really means a lot this early. 🙏