Lanternfall

What is Lanternfall?

The lanterns of the world above have gone out one by one. A survivor wakes in the Cinder Deep holding the last of them and a glaive, then fights downward through ember-lit ruins toward whatever waits at the bottom. Lanternfall is a top-down hack-and-slash roguelike built to run inside a browser frame rather than an installed client, and it costs nothing to start.

The descent covers two strata and 20 chambers. Blessings come from four patron gods: Ignara burns, Hollowmere freezes, Kharvos chains lightning, and Noctyra strikes from shadow. Guardians close out the journey, and chambers are generated from a seed, so the route changes but can be reproduced. Death ends a run, yet the currency banked along the way becomes lasting power back at the Sanctum.

The project is in active development. The Rimewater Cisterns, the second stratum, are the newest addition, and more strata are planned for later.

How to play

A run starts in the Cinder Deep and moves chamber by chamber. Each room presents a decision: claim the reward on offer, spend at a shop, or push through a door deeper into the ruins. Boons arrive as a choice of three, and holding boons from two different patrons unlocks Duo boons that blend their effects.

Combat rewards timing more than button speed. The glaive swings in a three-hit combo, the Special lands a heavier blow that can break a guard, and the Cast gives a ranged answer to enemies held at distance. The dash carries invincibility frames, which makes it a defensive tool as much as a way to reposition. Enemies flash and show a warning before they strike, so a hit taken is usually a dodge missed.

Death is not a full reset. Soulglass, Ironhorn Shards and Sovereign Ash carried back to the Sanctum buy upgrades that persist across every attempt. Toppling Vaelgrim, the Ashen Sovereign, opens a stair down into the Rimewater Cisterns, where a different enemy roster takes over.

Controls

Lanternfall runs on a keyboard and mouse, and the game wants one click inside the play area before it will accept keyboard input. Movement sits on WASD. The left mouse button attacks, and holding it keeps the glaive swinging rather than forcing repeated taps; the right button fires the Special. Space or Shift performs the dash, Q casts, and E handles everything interactive, from claiming a reward to buying to stepping through a door. Boons are picked with the 1, 2 and 3 keys, and R rerolls the selection once that option has been unlocked. Esc or P pauses the action, and M mutes it.

The fullscreen button in the bottom-right corner gives the cleanest view of the ember-lit chambers. A desktop browser is required, specifically Chrome, Edge or Firefox, and there are no touch controls, so the game does not run on phones. Progress is stored in the browser, which means returning in the same browser keeps the Sanctum upgrades intact.

Tips for your first run

The opening descent is a reading exercise as much as a fight. Warning flashes come before every swing, so the first few chambers are best spent learning the rhythm of a dash rather than chasing damage. Two habits carry most runs: dodge into the attack instead of away from it, and keep at least one patron's boons in hand with an eye toward a second patron for a Duo.

• Watch for the flash and warning that precede an enemy strike, then dash through the attack rather than retreating from it.
• Bulwarks guard their front, so circle behind them or break the guard with the Special.
• Hold the left mouse button to keep the three-hit combo flowing instead of tapping each swing.
• Mix boons from two patrons to open up Duo boons rather than stacking a single god.
• Bank Soulglass, Ironhorn Shards and Sovereign Ash in the Sanctum early; those upgrades survive every death.
• Preview a seed on the Cartographer's Table before committing to a descent.

Content and replayability

The build carries 24 boons across four patron gods, and Duo boons appear when boons from two patrons are held together. Four boss fights mark the road: the Ironhorn Matriarch, Vaelgrim the Ashen Sovereign, the Drowned Bellwright and Morvane the Tidebound, each with its own attacks and phases.

Two strata are playable now. Vaelgrim's defeat opens the way to the Rimewater Cisterns, where ice sheets, frost vents and a fresh enemy set change the pace. Because chambers are built from a seed, a descent can be repeated exactly, previewed at the Cartographer's Table, and passed to a friend to play.

Permanent upgrades give the loop its long spine. Everything banked from a run, successful or not, can be spent in the Sanctum on improvements that apply to later descents, so a failed attempt still moves the account forward. More strata are planned for future updates.

Presentation and performance

The camera sits above the action, looking down into ruins lit by ember glow, and the visual language is built around readability. Warning flashes telegraph incoming attacks, which suits a combat system where the dash is the answer to most danger. The Rimewater Cisterns shift that palette toward ice and frost vents, giving the second stratum a different feel from the burning ruins above.

The game runs in an HTML5 frame inside a desktop browser, Chrome, Edge or Firefox, with keyboard and mouse. There are no touch controls and no phone support. Clicking the play area once gives the game keyboard focus, and the fullscreen button in the bottom-right corner expands the view for a cleaner read of the chamber.

The artwork started as ChatGPT image generations that were edited and assembled into the game, and the code was written with assistance from Claude (Anthropic). Rough edges should be expected while development continues.

Who should play it

Players who like the shape of a run, meaning a seeded descent, a boon decision in every chamber and a boss at the end, will recognize the pull immediately. Combat is fast and readable rather than fussy, so anyone who prefers dodging telegraphed strikes to memorizing obscure timing will settle in quickly. Four patrons with separate elements, burning, freezing, lightning and shadow, give build-tinkerers plenty to chase, and Duo boons reward mixing two of them.

It also suits anyone who wants a browser game with no install and no cost, and who is comfortable with a project that is still growing: the second stratum arrived recently and more are planned. It does not suit phone players, since there are no touch controls, or anyone who wants a finished, unchanging release. Boss-hunters get four named fights with separate attacks and phases, and seed-sharers get the Cartographer's Table.