AKOFENA: Blades of the Ancestors ("AKOFENA" or "the game") is made by Relu Spatial ("we", "us", "our"), based in Ghana. This policy explains what information the game collects, why we collect it, who can see it, and the choices you have. It covers the game at akofena.reluspatial.com and its online features.
The short version
- Guests: your player name and stats stay on your device.
- Accounts: we keep your email, player name, stats and match history so we can run your account, leaderboards, friends and tournaments.
- Online matches connect players directly, so your opponent's device can see your IP address.
- No ads, no tracking cookies, and we never sell or rent your information.
- To see, correct or delete your information, email [email protected].
1Who we are
Relu Spatial is responsible for the personal information described in this policy (the "data controller"). You can reach us at [email protected].
2What we collect
2.1 If you play as a guest
Guest play needs no account. The game keeps the following in your browser's storage on your device, not on our servers:
- your player name, your stats and your last 200 match results;
- your settings (graphics, controller layout, whether friends may watch your matches, quick chat and voice chat), and the players you muted;
- local tournaments you create, including the player names you type in;
- which in-game announcements you have seen, and whether you accepted these documents.
If you play online as a guest, your player name is sent through our servers to your opponent, and your device connects to our servers to set up the match (see 2.4).
2.2 If you create an account
- Account details: your email address, your player name, and your password. We store the password only as a secure one-way hash, so nobody (including us) can read it. We also keep whether your email is verified and how you sign in.
- Google or Discord sign-in (optional): if you sign in with Google, Google shares your name, email address and profile picture link with us. If you sign in with Discord, Discord shares your username or display name, email address and avatar link. We also store the sign-in tokens they give us, to keep the link to that service. We don't post anything to these services.
- Game data: your stats, ratings, leaderboard points and match history. Each match record includes the result, the legends and the arena; for matches that count toward rankings, leaderboards or tournaments, it also includes the record of controller inputs, which we use to check that results are genuine. We also keep your friends and friend requests, the tournaments you join, which announcements you have seen, when you accepted these documents, and your account status (for example, if an account is banned or flagged for suspected cheating).
When you sign in on a device that has guest history, the game offers to add that history to your account. It is only uploaded if you agree.
2.3 Sign-in sessions
When you sign in, we keep a session record with your IP address and your browser and device type. This keeps you signed in and helps us protect your account. A session ends when you sign out, or after 30 days without use. Expired sessions are deleted automatically.
2.4 Online play
- To set up online matches, rooms, Quick Match, Ranked and tournaments, your device talks to our servers. Our servers see your IP address and pass connection details between you and your opponent.
- Matches are peer-to-peer: your device connects straight to your opponent's device, so your opponent's device can see your IP address, and you can see theirs. An IP address can show roughly where you are (for example, your city or internet provider).
- When a direct connection isn't possible, the match is relayed through a server run by us or by Cloudflare. Our relay's logs contain a technical ID (your account ID, or a random ID for guests) for a short time.
- While you are signed in with the game open, the game keeps a connection to our servers so friends can see whether you're in the menus or in a match, and so you can receive invites. If friends watch your match, your inputs are sent through our servers to them as you play. The same goes for anyone watching a match of an online tournament you're in, when its organizer lets them (see section 4).
- Someone watching a tournament without an account connects to our servers without signing in. We use their IP address only to stop abuse (rate limiting) and keep nothing else about them.
2.5 Anonymous usage counts
When the game opens, and when a match ends, it sends an anonymous count to our server: phone or computer, first visit or not, and installed app or browser; and for a match, the mode, difficulty, legend, arena and whether you won. These counts include no account ID, cookie or device ID, and we store only daily totals. We use your IP address for up to 24 hours only to stop abuse (rate limiting). The game sends no counts at all if your browser has "Do Not Track" or "Global Privacy Control" turned on.
2.6 Security and server logs
Like most online services, our servers and network provider may record IP addresses and basic request details to keep the service running and secure. We also keep short-lived records of IP addresses to limit repeated requests (for example, too many sign-in attempts). These records are deleted within about a day, and logs within a short time.
2.7 Emails
We send only account emails: a link to verify your email address and, when you ask, a link to reset your password. We don't send marketing emails.
2.8 Quick chat, voice chat, blocks and reports
- Quick chat: in online matches you can send preset lines and emotes (such as "GG!" or 👏). Only the line's code is sent, straight to your opponent's device over the match connection. There is no free-text chat, and we don't store what is sent. When Quick Match pairs you with a computer-controlled opponent, it may answer with quick chat too.
- Voice chat is optional and only between signed-in players in friend rooms and friends' tournaments, for players aged 16 and over. Both players have to turn it on. The game uses your microphone only while voice chat is on, and your browser shows when it is. Your voice goes straight to the other player's device, encrypted. When a direct connection isn't possible it passes through a relay (ours or Cloudflare's) that forwards the encrypted audio and can't listen to it. We never record or store voice chat. The other player could record what they hear with other tools, so don't share anything you wouldn't want repeated.
- Blocks: if you block a player, we store that you blocked their account (or, for a computer-controlled opponent, the name it used) so we can keep you apart. They aren't told.
- Reports: if you report a player, we store your account, the reported account (or the computer-controlled opponent's name), the reason you chose, any note you add, and what your game knew about the match: how you met (for example a room code or match ID), the number of games, whether voice chat was used and the last quick-chat lines they sent. Reports never contain audio. The reported player isn't told who reported them.
- Mutes are kept only on your device.
2.9 What we don't collect
The game has no free-text chat, no purchases and no ads, and we never record or store voice chat. We don't collect your precise location, contacts, photos, payment details or advertising IDs. Scanning a QR code to pair two devices for a no-internet match uses your camera only on your device. The image never leaves your device.
3How we use your information
| Why | What we use | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| To run the game and your account: sign-in, saving stats, friends, online matches, leaderboards, tournaments, spectating | Account details, game data, sessions, connection details | Providing the service you asked for (contract) |
| To keep the game fair and safe: checking results by replaying match inputs, detecting cheating, stopping abuse, protecting accounts | Game data, match inputs, IP addresses, sessions | Our legitimate interest in fair play and security |
| To keep players safe: blocks, reviewing reports and acting on them | Blocks, reports, account details, the match details in a report | Our legitimate interest in a safe community |
| To connect quick chat and voice chat when you use them | Quick-chat codes, your voice (passed through, never stored) | Providing the service you asked for (contract) |
| To understand how the game is used and improve it | Anonymous daily totals | Our legitimate interest in improving the game |
| To send account emails | Email address | Providing the service (contract) |
| To keep a record that you accepted our Terms and this policy | Version and date accepted | Our legitimate interest and legal obligations |
| To meet legal obligations and respond to lawful requests | Whatever the request requires, kept to the minimum | Legal obligation |
We don't use your information for advertising, and we don't make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects by automated means alone. If our cheat checks flag an account, a person reviews it before a ban.
4What other players can see
- Everyone, including people without an account: leaderboards and tournament standings show your player name, your avatar legend and your points and wins (only accounts with a verified email are listed). Your public profile shows your player name, avatar legend, when you joined, your stats and your leaderboard positions.
- Your opponents see your player name and avatar legend and the quick-chat lines you send (and, as explained above, their device can see your IP address). When you both turn on voice chat, they hear you.
- Your friends see when you're online and whether you're in the menus or in a match, your record and your head-to-head results against them. They can watch your live matches unless you turn off "Friends can watch my matches" on the Friends screen. People watching see both players' names.
- Online tournaments: the players in one with you see its standings and can watch its matches. Who else can watch is the organizer's choice, shown when you're invited and in the tournament itself, and the organizer can change it: anyone (including people without an account, through a link or the game's "Live now" list, which show the tournament's name, its players' names and avatar legends, its bracket and results, and its matches as they're played), the organizer's friends, or only the players. In a tournament that only its players can watch, your friends can't watch your matches in it either.
- Anyone with an account can send you a friend request using your player name.
Choose a player name that doesn't reveal your real identity if you prefer to stay anonymous. When few players are online, Quick Match may pair you with a computer-controlled opponent. Their names are reserved for that purpose and never belong to real players.
5Cookies and storage on your device
- Cookies: we only use cookies needed for signing in: a secure session cookie that lasts up to 30 days, and short-lived cookies (a few minutes) used during sign-in. We use no advertising or analytics cookies, so we don't show a cookie banner.
- Browser storage: the game saves your guest data and settings (see 2.1) and a list of results waiting to upload to your account.
- Offline files: after your first visit, the game's files (code, art, sound) are saved on your device so it can load without internet. These files contain no personal information.
You can clear all of this in your browser's settings. Clearing it deletes your guest name and stats on that device.
6Who we share information with
We never sell or rent your personal information, and we don't share it for advertising. We share it only with service providers that help us run the game, and only as much as they need:
- Our hosting provider, which runs our servers and database.
- Cloudflare, which delivers the website, protects it from attacks, and helps devices connect for online matches.
- Resend, which sends our account emails.
- Google and Discord, only if you choose to sign in with them. Their own privacy policies apply to your use of their services.
- Google Fonts: the game and these pages load fonts from Google's servers, which receive your IP address and browser details when they do.
- YouTube or Vimeo, only if an in-game announcement shows one of their videos. Their videos load from their servers (YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode).
- Sharing apps (such as WhatsApp), only when you choose to share an invite or a victory card.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the rights, safety or property of our players, us or others, or as part of a merger, sale or transfer of the game, in which case this policy will continue to protect it.
7Where your information is processed
Our service providers may store and process information outside Ghana, including in the European Union and the United States. When they do, we rely on providers that protect it with appropriate safeguards.
8How long we keep it
- Account and game data: for as long as your account exists. When an account is deleted, its data is deleted too. Two exceptions: our record of moderation actions may keep the email address of a deleted account, and backup copies are overwritten after a limited time. Deleting your account also removes head-to-head records you share with other players.
- Sessions: until you sign out or they expire (30 days without use), then deleted automatically.
- IP addresses used for rate limiting: up to about 24 hours.
- Blocks: until you unblock the player or delete your account.
- Reports: until our team has reviewed them, then up to 12 months.
- Anonymous daily totals: kept, as they identify no one.
- Guest data: on your device until you clear it.
9Security
We use encrypted connections (HTTPS), store passwords only as secure hashes, limit access to account information to a small number of authorised administrators, and log every administrative action. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a password you don't use anywhere else.
10Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live (including under Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) and, in Europe, the GDPR), you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- ask us to correct it (you can change your player name in the game once a week);
- ask us to delete your account and its data;
- object to, or ask us to limit, how we use it;
- ask for your data in a portable format;
- turn off friends watching your matches (Friends screen), and stop anonymous counts with your browser's "Do Not Track" or "Global Privacy Control" setting.
To make a request, email [email protected] from the email address on your account (so we can confirm it's you). We reply within 30 days. You can also complain to Ghana's Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.org.gh) or to the data protection authority where you live.
11Children
AKOFENA is for players aged 13 and over. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 13 has created an account, email us at [email protected] and we will delete it. If you are under 18, please talk to a parent or guardian about playing online. Voice chat is only for players aged 16 and over.
12Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the game changes. The version and effective date at the top will change, and when the changes matter, the game will ask you to review and accept the new version before you keep playing.
13Contact
Relu Spatial · [email protected]