The Lamp-Walk on Thwaite Moor

What is The Lamp-Walk on Thwaite Moor?

The Lamp-Walk on Thwaite Moor is a top-down folk-horror roguelike from TorkelRunarson, set high on the North York Moors. Abel Stainthorpe carried a lamp over that ground for sixty-odd years; he is gone now, and the walk falls to someone new. Play opens in Grandad's cottage at Hollin Rigg, where an illustrated map of the moor is spread out and destinations are chosen rather than stumbled into.

Fourteen named places wait on that map, thirteen out on the open moor and one hidden: the Ironstone Workings. Among them are the Rag Tree, Hollin Gill, Kettle Beck, Jet Scar, Black Howe and the Chapel. Each has its own ground, weather and beasts, and clearing one opens the routes beyond it. Three hold a boss: the Gytrash Mother on Thwaite Rigg, the Bog Queen in Kettleby Ings, and the Turner, who works his lathe inside the Chapel.

The look is fine procedural pixel art rendered at 1600x900, and the whole thing runs in a browser with keyboard, mouse or touch.

How to play

The lantern is the spine of every walk. It burns constantly, and oil comes from wells, barns, cottage lamps and wayside posts — never quite enough of it. Lifting the lamp overhead drives off whatever is out there at three times the oil cost, so scaring something away is also a decision about how long the night can last.

Banish creatures to earn XP, and each level hands out a skill point for the Flame, Wick and Hearth trees. Those trees reach as far as an orbiting ring of up to five lanterns that fire on their own. Shadows only creep closer while the light is off them, which is worth remembering when something is circling.

The right hand always holds the lantern. The left takes a choice: a turned targe in ash, bog oak or iron-banded wood, raised to block at a stamina cost; Yorkshire puddings thrown to splash, knock back and stun; a rowan staff ward; or a bag of salt for laying lines that beasts will not cross. Find Grandad's Old Book and flame can be thrown as well.

Progress runs two ways. Out on the moor you meet a stranger on the road and a witch who wants to trade, and you gather twelve pages of Abel's diary while filling a Moor Journal with everything encountered. At home, the cottage is the rest stop.

Controls

Movement is on WASD or the arrow keys. Space, or a held left mouse button, raises the lamp. F throws flame, and a right click sends that flame at the pointer instead. E, or a held Shift, uses whatever sits in the off-hand slot — blocking with the targe, throwing a pudding, raising the ward or laying salt. K opens skills, M opens the map, N opens sound, P or Escape pauses, and R restarts the walk.

Touch compresses the same set into an on-screen left stick plus buttons for LAMP, THROW, OFF-HAND, MAP and SKILLS. On the moor map a place is tapped and then confirmed before setting out, and the pole lathe mini-game is cut by tapping the scene.

Tips for your first run

Oil first, heroics second. Every well and wayside post is a scheduled stop rather than an emergency one, and the lamp only needs lifting when something is already close enough to matter.

• The Gytrash is a black dog with coal eyes that crouches before it charges; treat the crouch as the cue to block with the targe or move.
• Will-o'-wisps pull walkers off the path and drink the oil, so following one shortens the night.
• Barrow-wights throw bones, bog hags spit poison and the Hob o' t' Hollins is a slow, heavy brute — each wants a different answer.
• The Turner walks through walls and wants you for its lathe.
• Salt lines stop beasts crossing, puddings splash and stun, and the rowan staff is a held ward.
• Rebuild at home: a handful of Yorkshire stone blocks turn up each night, and wights, hobs, the Turner and bosses drop more. Five visible stages — wall, hearth, stone workshop, better lathe, lookout — each grant a lasting bonus, from more nerve and more oil to home-baked puddings, cheaper benches, a wider lathe cut and a brighter lamp.
• Turned bowls, charms and spindles finished in the pole lathe timing mini-game each give a permanent boost.
• Daily Moor is one seeded walk a day, identical for everyone and stripped of upgrades: the fairest way to measure a best score.

Content and replayability

Four characters can walk the moor, three of them unlocked along the way. Nights vary between fog, blood moon and snow, all of which raise both the stakes and the score. Lantern parts and glass tints can be fitted at home, and the cottage itself is rebuilt in stages.

Around the walking loop sit the roadside stranger and the trading witch, twelve diary pages, the Moor Journal, the pole lathe mini-game and the salt, pudding and ward options for the off-hand. Daily Moor supplies one seeded walk every day, the same for everyone and free of upgrades, with a best score to keep and share.

There is also a Hallowe'en event that adds extra shadow figures at the lamp's edge; it does not appear in the first story chapter.

Presentation and performance

The art is procedural pixel work at 1600x900: heather, dry-stone walls, thatch and slate, soft wall shadows, moths and roosting crows, with lamplight flickering through drifting mist and embers. Procedural sound — wind, howls, a heartbeat, fire crackle — is off by default. A settings panel reachable from the title screen, the pause menu or the cottage carries master, music and effects sliders that are saved.

The game plays offline and needs no network, which matters for a browser title. The photosensitivity load is considerable: flickering light, red flashes when hurt, brief white lightning in storms, rain streaks, drifting pipe-smoke clouds, extra shadow figures during the Hallowe'en event, screen shake (low by default and adjustable or switchable off), brief hit-stop freezes, bright light bursts including a golden beam on rare drops, and controller rumble that can be turned off. The reduce-flashes setting dims lightning and the red hurt flash. Content runs to darkness, pursuit, jump-scare-adjacent tension, peril and implied death, with no gore.

Who should play it

Folk-horror players who like their dread regional and their monsters named will find a full bestiary here: a Gytrash, a Bog Queen, barrow-wights, bog hags, will-o'-wisps and a Turner at his lathe, all delivered with Yorkshire dialect throughout.

Roguelite players get skill trees, unlockable walkers, nightly modifiers and a seeded daily to chase. Players who want a quiet margin around the danger get a cottage to rebuild, lantern parts to fit, a pole lathe mini-game and puddings to throw at things. The browser version is free with donations welcome; the downloadable offline zip starts at $3 with $4 suggested. Touch players get an on-screen stick and buttons.