CINDERVEIL

The Premise

You are alone in the dark with a dying torch. Your light reveals the world around you — and everything in it. Navigate procedurally generated mazes, collect gems, avoid traps, and reach the exit before your flame goes out or the creatures of the dark find you.

Controls

Move with WASD or Arrow Keys. That's it. There are no other controls — survival depends on where you go and when.

Visual Guide

You — A warm circle with a flickering flame above. Your torch casts rays of light in all directions. As fuel depletes, your visible radius shrinks.

Gem — A spinning green diamond. Collecting gems increases your score. Every 5 gems collected on the same floor restores 1 HP.

Torch Fuel — An amber stick with a glowing flame. Walk over it to refuel your torch. These are your lifeline — your torch drains constantly.

Exit — A pulsing blue square. Reach it to descend to the next depth in Endless mode, or to complete the Daily Challenge.

Shadow Creature — Red eyes in the dark. In shadow, they hunt you. In your light, they freeze and flee. Walk into a lit enemy to destroy it. Touch one in darkness and you take damage.

The Wraith — A purple spectral form with glowing eyes. Appears at depth 3 in Endless mode. It is immune to your light and relentlessly pursues you. You cannot kill it — only outrun it. Purple flashes at the screen edge warn you of its direction.

Dart Trap — A red X mark on the floor, visible only in good light at close range. Stepping on it deals 1 damage. Invisible until you get close with your torch.

Cave-in Trap — A dashed amber square. When triggered, the tile collapses into a wall, reshaping the maze. You'll be pushed to an adjacent tile. Visible only at close range in light.

Sticky Trap — A faint blue square. Slows your movement for 3 seconds. Appears from depth 4 onward.

Danger Indicators

Red glows at the edges of the screen warn you of nearby enemies you can't see. The brighter the glow, the closer they are. The direction of the glow shows which side they're approaching from. Purple edge glows indicate the Wraith.

Torch & Sputtering

Your torch drains steadily. As it gets low, your visible radius shrinks. Below about 18% fuel, the torch begins to sputter — brief moments of near-total darkness where you're extremely vulnerable. If it reaches zero, you die.

Creeping Fog

After 30 seconds on any floor, dark fog begins creeping in from the edges of the map. It gradually reduces visibility in outer areas, pressuring you to keep moving toward the exit.

Game Modes

Endless — Descend through 8 increasingly dangerous floors with random mazes. The Wraith appears at depth 3. Traps appear at depth 2. Reach the bottom to escape.

Daily Challenge — A single fixed maze that's the same for everyone each day. You have 3 attempts. Your score is based on completion time, gems collected, enemies killed, and HP remaining.

Custom Seed — Enter any word or phrase to generate a specific maze. Share the seed with friends to race on the same map.

Scoring (Daily Challenge)

Time — Up to 5,000 points. Faster is better; sub-60 seconds earns the maximum.

Gems — Up to 2,000 points based on the percentage collected.

Kills — 200 points per enemy destroyed.

HP — 500 points per heart remaining at the exit.

Tips

Gems are more than score — every 5th gem heals you. Plan your route around gem clusters when you're hurt. Listen for the heartbeat — it means you're in danger, either from low HP or a nearby Wraith. Enemies flee your light, so approach them head-on in well-lit corridors. Conserve torch fuel by moving with purpose; wandering is how you die.