Zombie
Slow and stubborn. It walks straight at you and hits hard when it arrives. Burns well: fire does half again.
Weak to fire.
How to play in a minute
You carry the last fire that still answers. The Halls under the ruined temple are a maze that is built new every time, and the dead walk it in waves. You see through your own eyes, with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
- Survive the wave. Each wave is bigger than the last. When the last of them falls you get a short rest, and a checkpoint.
- Take down the champions. Every 5th wave an Iron Knight guards the wave, and bigger fighters come at the waves in between. Every boss or champion that falls makes you stronger: you gain a level, and a passive.
- Free the maidens. Five elves are held in the Halls. Each one you free sings, and teaches you something of her own.
- Keep the fire. If you fall, you rise again at the start of the wave, with at least half your health and mana back. Your game is saved in this browser, so you can come back and press Continue.
Play with a keyboard and a mouse on a computer, or with your thumbs on a phone held sideways.
Controls
| W A S D | Move |
|---|---|
| Shift | Sprint |
| F | Dash |
| Space | Jump |
| Left click | Attack |
| Right click | Block (the guard meter wears down) |
| Click while blocking | Bash |
| Shift + click | Cast |
| 1 2 3 | Select a spell (E fire, Q ice) |
| G | Bomb |
| V | Active item |
| Tab | Lock on (tap: next, hold: let go) |
| M | Map |
| C | Codex |
| X | Use a shrine, bell, lever or seal (and swap the active item) |
| T | Swap a passive by a maiden |
| 1 to 9 | Pick a passive |
| ` | Pause and settings |
Every key can be changed on the settings screen (the title screen has Settings, and so does the pause). It also has Mouse sensitivity and Invert up/down.
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- 1. Move Put a thumb anywhere on this side and drag: that is the stick. Push it to the edge to sprint.
- 2. Look Drag on this side to turn the view: one swipe across it turns you a little over half way round. Double-tap to lock on to an enemy; hold the second tap to let go.
- 3. Attack Tap to swing. While you hold Block, a tap is a shield bash.
- 4. Block Hold to raise the shield. A block raised just before a blow lands is a parry.
- 5. Dash A quick step out of harm’s way. It costs stamina.
- 6. Jump Over a low wall or a hazard.
- 7. Cast Throws the spell chosen on the spell bar (tap a spell to choose it).
- 8. Pause Stops the game. The pause card has the Codex and the Settings.
- 9. Use Appears only when something is within reach: a shrine, the bell, a lever, a seal, an item.
- 10. Swap Appears when a rescued maiden can swap one of your passives.
- 11. Item Appears when you carry an active item; it uses it.
- 12. Bomb Appears when you carry a Rune Bomb, with how many.
- 13. The radar Tap it for the big map; tap the map to close it.
Full screen
Turn the phone sideways and tap to begin: on Android the game then takes the whole screen and holds it sideways. If you swipe out of full screen the game pauses, and your next tap puts it back.
On an iPhone the browser cannot give a page the whole screen. Tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, and open the game from the icon: it has no address bar at all.
In Settings you can make the buttons bigger or fainter, switch to left-handed (the stick on the right, the buttons on the left), set how fast the view turns (Look speed) and how fast it tilts (Up/down speed), turn Invert up/down on, turn the vibration on hits off, and turn the full screen off. The buttons also fade by themselves after a few seconds without a touch.
Your first ten minutes
Block, and block at the right moment
Raising your shield turns most blows, but every block wears down your guard meter, and when it runs dry the shield drops and you are staggered. A block raised just before a blow lands is a parry: it costs you nothing and leaves the enemy open. Clicking while you block is a shield bash.
Mind your stamina
Sprinting and dashing cost stamina. When the bar is dry you are winded: you slow to a walk until it comes back, so do not run out with something chasing you.
Lock on
Press Tab to lock on to the nearest enemy in front of you. Press it again to move to the next one; hold it to let go. On a phone, double-tap the look side of the screen instead. While you are locked on, A and D circle the enemy, and a dash with a direction held hops round it.
Ring the bell
The wave before a boss or a champion, a bell of black iron rises in the middle of the maze. Go to it and press X: each ring (up to 3) makes the fighter that comes stronger and its rewards richer. Ring it only if you are ready.
Use the shrines, and spend your bone marks
Shrines are hidden in the maze: some heal and bless you, some ask for a price and give a reward. Walk up to one and press X when it asks. Bone marks are what the dead leave behind; they pay for the shrines.
Read the colours
Everything you can wear comes in six rarities. The colour of an item’s name tells you how good it is:
- Common
- Uncommon
- Rare
- Epic
- Legendary
- Mythic / Relic
Know the Halls
The map (M, or a tap on the radar on a phone) shows what you have found. Wide halls, narrow gates, the overgrown ruins and the Moon Fountain (one full heal, when you need it) are worth finding. Every run is under a full, half or new moon: a full moon strengthens the Moon Wave and the Fountain, a new moon darkens the maze and gives more loot. From the third wave some of the dead are elites, with a coloured ring under them: they are tougher and pay more. In the middle of the maze stands the Tree of Life: every maiden you free settles under it.
Choose your spell
Press 1 2 or 3 to choose a spell, and Shift + click to cast it. Spells cost mana, which comes back over time. There is more on them below.
Creatures
What the game’s own book says once you have met one of them.
Skeleton
A rattle of old bones that is quicker than it looks. Frail, and the most common thing in the Halls.
Demon
A caster in black armour lined with red. She stops and raises an arm before every fireball: that pause is the moment to strike or to step aside. Ice bites her.
Weak to ice.
Shield Skeleton
Its raised shield turns every blow from the front. Flank it, break the guard with a bash, or bomb it.
Weak to Rune Bombs.
Skeleton Archer
Keeps its distance and looses fast, quiet arrows. Close the gap or break its line of sight.
Ghoul Hound
Howls, crouches, then charges in a straight line. Step aside, or dash out of the line: a hound that meets a wall lies stunned.
Weak to fire.
Wisp
A drifting light that passes over the walls and dives at you. Look up. Ice does double against it.
Weak to ice.
Shade
A smear of darkness until it is close, striking or hurt. A lit torch shows it, and so does the Veil-Piercing Lens.
Weak to fire and the Moon Wave.
Champions and bosses
The first is the Iron Knight, who comes to guard every fifth wave. The rest are kept under covers, so you can meet them in the Halls yourself. Open one if you want to know what is coming.
Iron Knight
The Heavy. Three plates of armour shrug off a share of every blow and fall as it is hurt. The slam shows red before it lands. A perfect parry staggers it; a bomb ignores its plates.
Weak to Rune Bombs.
Bone Colossus tap to reveal (spoiler)
Bone Colossus
A walker of bone that never runs. A spell that lands while it winds up drops it to its knees, and only then do your blows count. The soul-fire in its ribs burns brighter each phase.
Drowned Lich tap to reveal (spoiler)
Drowned Lich
A water shield turns every blow aside; only ice touches it. Three Ice Shards freeze it solid. It raises the drowned, and it knows the Spire of its own making.
Veiled Matron tap to reveal (spoiler)
Veiled Matron
She walks unseen and puts out every torch she passes. Light is the answer: a torch lit again beside her, a fireball, a Moon Wave, or the Veil-Piercing Lens as she raises her sickle lays her bare. At the last she lets down the veil over the whole maze.
Ember Tyrant tap to reveal (spoiler)
Ember Tyrant
A queen in burning plate who turns the sword aside and cannot be burned. Lightning shatters a plate; ice bites it. Hold up a mirror when she throws her fire, and her own flame will bring her to her knees.
Weak to ice, fire, burning and Rune Bombs.
The Fiftieth Night tap to reveal (spoiler)
Forge Golem
A forge that walks, with the last red fire banked in its chest. Its plates shrug off the sword, but a Rune Bomb cracks one off. When it draws breath and the furnace door swings open, a bomb that bursts at its chest goes off inside it and brings it to its knees. Let it run at a wall, and the wall will do the same.
Weak to ice, fire, burning and Rune Bombs.
The Last Night tap to reveal (spoiler)
Hollow King
The king who never came, hollow under his crown. He fights as a swordsman of the old court and throws cold fire, and five fires open him one by one: the glass in his chest shows the colour of the one he cannot bear, and the maiden of that fire sings. Answer the colour, and he kneels.
Gear & spells
Swords and shields lie in the maze and drop from the bigger fighters; the best of them come only from bosses. You start with the Worn Iron Sword and a wooden shield.
Swords
| Sword | Rarity | Damage | Reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worn Iron Sword | Common | 15 | 2.6 m |
| Footman's Flanged Mace | Uncommon | 20 | 2.5 m |
| Tempered Moonsteel Blade | Rare | 28 | 2.7 m |
Shields
| Shield | Rarity | Blocks |
|---|---|---|
| Splintered Wooden Shield | Common | 80% from the front |
| Soldier's Iron Shield | Uncommon | 85% from the front |
What the bosses carry tap to reveal (spoiler)
| Item | Rarity | Damage or blocks |
|---|---|---|
| Executioner's Greatsword | Epic | 42 |
| Cursed Damned Blade | Epic | 44 |
| Spire of the Drowned Lich | Legendary | 60 |
| Relic Sunblade | Mythic / Relic | 85 |
| Tyrant's Ember Mace | Mythic / Relic | 95 |
| Forge Hammer | Mythic / Relic | 100 |
| The Hollow King's Sword | Mythic / Relic | 110 |
| Dreadguard Damned Shield | Epic | 92% |
| Moon-Mirror Aegis | Legendary | 95% |
| Aegis of the Forgotten | Mythic / Relic | 97% |
Spells
| Spell | Cost | Damage | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fireball | 25 mana | 35 | Burns. Zombies, in particular, hate it. |
| Ice | 20 mana | 25 | Slows what it hits to 50% speed for 3 s. |
| Lightning | 40 mana | 50 | On a chilled enemy it shatters: 1.8 times the blow, and it staggers. |
Fire and ice are also what some creatures are weak to: look at the card of each in the list above. A Rune Bomb (G) hurts everything round where it lands, and breaks a shield wall.
Cursed relics
Some items are marked as damned. A cursed relic gives you something strong and takes something away. You can carry only a few, so read the plate that appears when you look at one.
Tips & questions
Where is my game saved?
In this browser, on this device. Press Continue on the title screen to carry on from your last checkpoint. Clearing the browser’s site data clears the save, and a different browser or device has its own.
How do I get the whole screen on a phone?
Turn the phone sideways and tap to begin: on Android the game then takes the whole screen. On an iPhone, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, and open the game from its icon.
It runs slowly. What can I do?
On a phone use the phone’s version (the page /m/): it has a lighter picture. Close other tabs and apps. On a computer make sure the browser’s hardware acceleration is on; a laptop in battery-saver mode may need to be plugged in. In Settings you can turn off screen shake and the hit-stop pauses.
Can I change the keys?
Yes: the Settings button on the title screen and on the pause card lists every key. It will tell you if a key is already taken.
What is a passive?
Each level gives you one: a small permanent gift, chosen from a few. The freed maidens teach more, and you can swap one passive for another by standing near a maiden between waves.
What are the little flames round my level?
They come only to those who have kept the Vigil to its end and chosen to rekindle the fire. Each time you rekindle it, a new Vigil begins from the first wave, and one flame is added to the ring round your level, in the colour of one of the maidens. From the sixth the whole ring burns and a number sits under it. The dead come back 15% tougher each time, and you carry a little more health and stamina; what you have learned (the book of creatures, the stones, your bone marks) stays with you.
Where are the patch notes?
At /patch-notes/, with the legal page at /legal/.