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Shroom and Gloom map and pathways

Early Access has 2 routes down to The Gloom, a third one promised, and an in-game map that players say stays revealed after you die. This page sets out what each route is, how the second one opens, and what is still unknown about the layout. Looking for the development roadmap rather than the in-game map? That is on the Early Access and roadmap page.

The shape of a run

The two Early Access pathways, the promised third, and where they leadA run goes down The Forgotten Path through camps and tunnels to a boss. Players report that beating that boss gives a key to the second pathway, The Facility, which ends at its own boss. The launch post promises a third and final pathway, which has not been named. All of them lead to The Gloom.The Forgotten Pathcamps, tunnels, doors to choose betweena boss waits at the endplayers say a key drops hereThe Facilitythe second pathway, its own card poola second boss waits at the endA third and final pathwaypromised at launch, still unnamedThe Gloomwhat every pathway aims atPlayers report the same layout every run; whether it is generated has not been answered
The two pathways and the promised third come from the Early Access launch post. The key between them is how players describe getting into the second pathway; no official post says it.

The pathways at a glance

PathwayIn Early AccessWhat is officialHow it opens
The Forgotten PathPlayableThe name, from the achievement “Map every tunnel of The Forgotten Path” (on Shroom and Gloom global achievements on Steam)Not published
The FacilityPlayableIts own card pools, enemies and rewardsQuests; the specific quest has not been published
Third pathwayNot yetPlanned as “the third and final pathway to The Gloom” (in Steam announcement: Shroom and Gloom explodes into Early Access!)No name or date

Both open pathways lead to the same place. The August 2026 dev log described them as “Two separate paths to reach the Gloom, each with entirely unique card pools.” (Team Lazerbeam, in Steam announcement: Release Date Reveal! Shroom and Gloom Aug Dev Log! How the card pools differ is on the cards page.

A chained, padlocked door in a brick wall, with an explore hand of five cards below it
A chained, padlocked door in a brick wall, with Rest, Rat Jerky, Shovel, Bash and Map in hand. Frame from Shroom and Gloom - Dev Intro Trailer, on the Team Lazerbeam YouTube channel.

The Forgotten Path

With The Facility officially the second pathway, this is the first. Before launch, the developers said the first character on the first path is meant as the accessible introduction, with the harder characters coming after (replying in Steam discussion: Dear Devs). Players on that thread and another describe the first area as the more forgiving one (for example in Steam discussion: Is there a good amount of variety yet?).

Mapping all of it is its own goal. Spelunker, for mapping every tunnel of The Forgotten Path, is held by 22.6% of players on Steam. Players also connect that goal to unlocking Concerned Parent; before patch 0.6.41 some reported the character stayed locked, a bug the developers say that patch fixed, and the characters page covers it. The path ends with the Gloom Worm.

Some of its look goes back to the demo, where Team Lazerbeam added doors into “special environments (mossy, thorny or trippy)” (demo patch notes, Steam announcement: 80K Wishlists, Demo update and NorthernLion! Shroom and Gloom Aug 2025 Dev Log!). Whether those rooms are all still there in Early Access has not been said.

The Facility

The second pathway is the sci-fi one, and it was shown off for almost a year before Early Access:

  1. October 2025. Announced as a new series of levels with a “retro futuristic asthetic, sci fi setting” (in Steam announcement: Overwhelmingly Positive & new levels revealed! Shroom and Gloom Oct 25 Dev Log!)
  2. December 2025. Its first act was playable at Playtopia Fest as “the first act of our second pathway to The Gloom” (in Steam announcement: Award win & insane booth at Playtopia Fest! Dec 2025 Shroom and Gloom Dev Log)
  3. March 2026. The team went back to building its levels, described as a series of tunnels with “a unique legion of enemies and bizarre cards to slay them with” (in Steam announcement: Game Dev Is Hard! New level preview! Mar '26 Shroom and Gloom Dev Log)
  4. September 2026. Opened in Early Access as “an entirely new path towards The Gloom, complete with entirely new card pools, enemies and rewards” (in Steam announcement: Shroom and Gloom explodes into Early Access!)

Opening it. The launch post says you will “have to do some mushroom-hunting to earn these advanced characters and access to The Facility” (in Steam announcement: Shroom and Gloom explodes into Early Access!), without naming the quest. One reviewer had opened it by the time they beat the final boss, 11 hours in (in a Steam user review). NiaMeowDB, a fan database built from the game files, lists a quest for reaching the gloom that rewards a new path; that is file data, not a developer statement.

What it is like. The developers say their goal for the Janitor and the second path is a more complex, challenging run for players who have mastered the first (replying in Steam discussion: Love the game, hate the janitor). A forum player puts it bluntly: “the second map is much harder” (in Steam discussion: Is there a good amount of variety yet?). A player on the Steam forum names the Gunk Worm as the final boss of the second dungeon. What players are actually running into there, from a room that never counts as discovered to the difficulty, is on the Facility page.

The third pathway

The launch announcement lists it as the long-term goal: to “add even more characters and eventually open up the third and final pathway to The Gloom” (in Steam announcement: Shroom and Gloom explodes into Early Access!). The store page’s Early Access notes also plan a new pathway with its own explore and combat cards (on Shroom and Gloom on the Steam store). In the game it currently shows as “coming soon”, according to a launch-week reviewer (in a Steam user review). It has no official name and no date. Patches as they land are tracked on updates.

Inside a tunnel

There is no official breakdown of a tunnel. One reviewer describes the rhythm this way: “You will go through a hallway and end up at an exploration room where you can use your exploration deck to try and get upgrades for your health and cards.” Then you walk on into the battle room. The same reviewer adds that “There is also a branching path in a lot of these sections to choose if what reward you want after your next battle.” (in a Steam user review

A chained blue door with a padlock and a single Key card in hand
A single Key card in hand in front of a chained, padlocked door. Screenshot: Team Lazerbeam / Devolver Digital, via the Steam store page.

At least some of those branches are locked doors that need a card from your explore hand. A launch-week reviewer thought the game was broken at their first rest area until they realised a card had to unlock one of the doors before they could walk toward it (in a Steam user review). Players also describe a side door that only opens if you use it before either main door; what waits behind it is on the old frog page. What you do in the room before that door, and what resting there costs, is on resting and camp.

Is the map the same every run?

The in-game map