Labrys: The Buried City of Caria
Beneath the olive groves of southwest Türkiye lie the ruins of Caria — the land of Mausolus, of the sacred double axe, and of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Labrys is a cozy archaeology incremental game. Dig layer by layer through 2,500 years of history, brush buried mosaics back into the light, restore shattered relics and build a museum worthy of what you find.
⛏ Dig, don't mine
- Real soil, not blocks. Carve an organic pit and watch the strata shift from Roman clay to Hellenistic sand to Carian bedrock.
- Pickaxe or brush? The pickaxe is fast but can shatter relics. The brush is slow — and brings them out flawless.
- Buried structures. Reveal a Roman mosaic, Hellenistic column bases and a Carian temple platform, each granting a permanent bonus.
🏛 Five lost cities
Excavate five real ancient sites of Caria — Stratonikeia, Labraunda, Halikarnassos, Knidos and Kaunos — each with its own soil, ruins and relics. Earn Prestige, unlock the Academy star map and return stronger.
🧑🔬 Your excavation team
- Hire diggers, conservators, surveyors and night guards who work the pit on their own.
- Piece broken relics back together in the restoration workshop, sealed with gold.
- Explore a fog-covered skill tree full of sealed secrets.
🌩 The site is alive
Summer storms flood the pit, looters creep in at night, earthquakes crack open hidden cellars, and the Ministry keeps sending contracts.
📖 A field journal
Read the real history of every site, catalogue 30 relics, complete collections and earn achievements.
🖱 Plays in your browser · 💾 Progress saves automatically · 🌐 English & Türkçe
Development log
Comments
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For v0.10.4 I had the same issue as amanteater. This happened at a couple of sites. I think it happens when the artifact is covered by a structure. I kept digging until it said it needed a dig permit to go deeper, but I had already maxed out the upgrade in the skill tree.
I did finish all 5 sites, although I could not get 100% completion on all of them. I enjoyed it! I actually liked doing things myself, rather than hiring workers, so I only really made use of them after the first season. I did have a mistaken impression that breaking artifacts was permanent, so that may have contributed to my avoiding automation. But I also found the process of slowly uncovering things manually, and the visual change to the site as I did this, to be really rewarding. Thank you for making and sharing this game!
Thank you so much for playing all five sites and for the detailed feedback! Your guess was right: a few parts (one at Halikarnassos, two at Knidos) were placed under structures and could never be uncovered. v0.11.1 fixes this, so every site can reach 100% and your save carries over. Also good to know: breaking a part is never permanent, the Workshop puzzle restores its quality, and the game now says so when a part breaks. Really glad the slow manual uncovering felt rewarding, that is exactly the feeling I was going for.
Potential bug. I can't complete the Halikarnassos dig despite having every dig permit & deep dig level. I get a locked layer message.
Thank you for the report and the screenshots, they made this easy to track down. One part of the Mausoleion relic had been placed under the fallen lions structure, so no amount of digging could reach it. v0.11.1 moves it into open ground; your save carries over and the part will be waiting for you. The misleading "Deep Dig required" message on bedrock is fixed too.
It worked! Thanks for fixing it so quickly!