The Culling Games: How to Join

What the Culling Games are, how enrollment through Kogane works, when the Games run, and what happens to your gear.

culling-gamespvpeventskogane

The Culling Games are Arcbound’s recurring competitive event: a timed free-for-all inside sealed colonies where you earn points from PvP and exorcism, bank those points into Rule Tokens, and rewrite the rules of the match while it runs. Survive to the merger finale and you can be crowned and named in the Record.

How to join

  1. Wait for an enrollment window. Kogane, the floating shikigami host, appears at his post in the world whenever a window opens, and clickable [ Join ] announcements run in chat.
  2. Right-click Kogane (or run /cullingenroll).
  3. The How to Play screen opens every time. Read the terms, then click Accept & Enroll.
  4. When the match starts, the barrier descends and you are warped into a colony.

You can also open /kogane at any time for the hub: your standing, the season ladder, a countdown to the next Games, the Rule Board, and the lore of the Record.

Pre-enroll during the countdown

Kogane calls out the Games ahead of each scheduled window with the night’s terms and a clickable [ Join the Games ] line. Clicking it early pre-enrolls you through the normal gate, so you are already named when the window opens.

Your inventory is safe

The Games run on keep-inventory. You fight with your real gear, and dying in a match never drops or loses items. Rewards you earn mid-match (like a Sukuna Finger from a roaming boss) are delivered straight to your inventory.

If you disconnect mid-match you get a grace window of several minutes: rejoin and you are warped straight back with your points, kit, and squad intact.

The flow of a match

  1. The barrier descends and competitors warp into one or more colonies, scaled to how many players are online. Small rosters fight in a single PvE-rich colony; large rosters split across all colonies.
  2. Your sidebar gains a CULLING GAMES block: rank, points, progress to your next Rule Token, tokens held, and the active rule. A boss bar tracks the match timer.
  3. Earn points from player kills, curses, bosses, and events - see Points & Rules.
  4. In large matches the gates open late in the match (/cullinggate to travel), colonies collapse, and a merger finale funnels every survivor into one killing floor.
  5. The champion is crowned, rewards pay out, and the next Games are already counting down.

Matches run roughly 20 to 45 minutes depending on the size of the roster, and windows open on a regular cadence through the day plus fixed evening windows. The /kogane hub always shows the next one.

Staying inside

The colony is bounded. Leave the barrier and you get a loud red RETURN TO THE COLONY warning with a short grace period before you are warped back to the nearest spawn. Caves and vertical play inside the bounds are fair game.

Watching instead

Not competing? Run /cullingspectate (or click Kogane’s [ Watch ] chip while a match runs) to drop into spectator inside the arena. Spectators cannot deal or take damage, use items, or cast techniques, and they never appear in the standings. /cullingleave returns you exactly where you were. Watchers can also bet on the outcome - see Betting & the Proctor’s Ledger.

Commands

CommandWhat it does
/koganeThe hub: standing, ladder, next Games countdown, Rule Board, lore
/cullingenrollEnroll in the open window (same as right-clicking Kogane)
/cullingstatusYour current match standing
/cullingrulesOpen the Rule Board
/cullinggateTravel between colonies once the gates open
/cullingsquadSquad invites and management - see Squads
/cullingbetPlace a wager as a watcher
/cullingspectateWatch a running match
/cullingleaveLeave the match or spectate mode
/culling seasonThe season ladder and your milestones

Escape is not on the table

Warp and teleport commands are sealed while a match runs. As the barrier puts it: it does not open from the inside.