Draw and charge
Hold to charge in three stages: more damage, more range, and the third pierces the first enemy.
A Moon Cartridge metroidvania Free demo
The old forest has rotted. One archer goes down to its Heart.
Hazel has a bow, a nearly empty quiver and a firefly caught in a bark lantern. Along the way she finds arrows that burn, shine, turn into rope, freeze water, push the wind and break stone. Each one opens the forest in its own way.
In your browser · PC and mobile · English and Portuguese
- 52 rooms
- 6 regions
- 7 arrows
- 10 monsters
- 5 bosses
- 10 music tracks
01 · The story
The Heart fell ill, and the wood fell ill with it.
The Heart of the Forest has been corrupted. Everything that lived beneath the canopy, beasts and spirits alike, turned into monsters: wolves grown over with moss, stags made of loose light, crows that are nothing but shadow.
Hazel is the last Archer of the Edge. She walks into the wood to descend to the Heart and cleanse it. The light comes back little by little: a shrine lit, a new arrow, a gate that opens. Few words, short lines, and the forest telling the rest.
“The forest rotted from within. The Heart fell ill, and the beasts fell ill with it.”
02 · The archer
Hazel, the last Archer of the Edge.
A moss-green hood and cloak lined in amber, a quiver on her back and a pale wooden bow that glows in the colour of the chosen arrow. The firefly in her lantern follows every step through the dark.
The bow is the game
Aim your way
Auto-aim finds the target ahead; with a mouse, a stick or your finger, aiming is free and shows the trajectory.
Swap fast
Q and E, the number keys or the touch strip. Mid-fight, F equips the arrow the enemy calls for.
What she learns along the way
- Raven FeatherDouble jump.
- Hawk TalonsCling to walls and leap off them.
- Dragonfly BreathDash in midair.
- Vine LassoHang from ceiling anchors and swing.
03 · The arrows
Seven arrows. Each one opens the world.
Every arrow has its own colour and glow, readable in flight, in the quiver and on the bow. Each hurts one kind of monster and opens one kind of path.
Plain
The hunter’s arrow. Never runs out.
- Where
- Hazel starts with it
- Opens
- Stone buttons, straw targets
- Feared by
- Everyone, with no special weakness
Fire
Burns webs and dry roots, lights braziers.
- Where
- Edge and Trails
- Opens
- Webs, dry roots, brazier doors
- Feared by
- Moss wolves, spiders, ents and the Spider Queen
Light
A firefly that reveals what the dark hides.
- Where
- Hidden in the Edge
- Opens
- Shadow slabs and false walls
- Feared by
- Ghost stags, shadow moths and the Ancient Stag
Vine
Anchors and becomes a rope to climb.
- Where
- The Edge, after a fight
- Opens
- Vine anchors: ropes to climb
- Feared by
- No one in particular; the Heart will ask for it
Wind
Pushes, and opens the bird seals.
- Where
- Treetop Canopy
- Opens
- Bird seals
- Feared by
- Specter crows and blast mushrooms
Resin
Freezes water and sticks what it hits.
- Where
- Firefly Marsh
- Opens
- Ice bridges over the dark water, at night only
- Feared by
- Mud toads and the Elder Toad
Blast
Breaks rocks and sealed sprouts.
- Where
- Root Caverns
- Opens
- Sealed rocks
- Feared by
- Root worms, stone wardens and the Stone Warden
04 · The world
Six regions joined by roots.
Every room is one screen, and the passage between them is seamless. Arrows and abilities open gates; the map remembers what you have seen.
01 · 11 rooms
Edge and Trails
Glades, brooks and wolf woods. The beginning, Old Tatu’s shop and the Web Grotto.
02 · 9 rooms
Treetop Canopy
Thin branches, vine tangles and nests high up, with the wind and the crows.
03 · 9 rooms
Firefly Marsh
Stilt huts, mud and dark water that only freezes at night.
04 · 9 rooms
Root Caverns
Real darkness. Light is a choice, and the ground shakes.
05 · 9 rooms
Green Stone Ruins
Broken libraries, mechanisms and the Door of the Four Seals.
06 · 5 rooms
The Corrupted Heart
Where the forest fell ill. The end of the descent.
Shrines
Roots that light up. Save, rest, restock your arrows and travel between lit shrines.
Day and night
A whole day in twelve minutes. Night brings other monsters, lights the fireflies and lets the water freeze.
Map and people
The zoomable map keeps every room you have seen. And not everyone here is a monster: some sell, some heal, some tell the story.
05 · Bestiary
Every blow is telegraphed.
Monsters show the attack before it lands and leave an opening after. Watch the warning, wait, and use the arrow they fear.
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Moss Wolf
Patrols and charges in a straight line.
- Where
- The Edge, by day
- The warning
- Crouches and growls
- Weakness
- Fire
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Web Spider
Waits on the ceiling and drops on its thread when you pass below.
- Where
- Edge, Canopy and the Heart
- The warning
- Its sac glows
- Weakness
- Fire
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Ghost Stag
A long charge from one side to the other.
- Where
- The Edge, at night only
- The warning
- Paws the ground, antlers light up
- Weakness
- Light
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Specter Crow
Flies in waves and dives.
- Where
- Canopy and Marsh, at night
- The warning
- Caws and coils
- Weakness
- Wind
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Young Ent
Slow, with its bark as a shield and a branch for a fist.
- Where
- Treetop Canopy
- The warning
- Raises its arm
- Weakness
- Fire
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Mud Toad
Long leaps across the mud.
- Where
- Firefly Marsh
- The warning
- Puffs its throat
- Weakness
- Resin
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Blast Mushroom
Stays put. Bursts into spores.
- Where
- Marsh and Caverns
- The warning
- Swells and blinks
- Weakness
- Wind
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Shadow Moth
Circles the light and strikes suddenly.
- Where
- Caverns, Ruins and the Heart
- The warning
- Opens its wings
- Weakness
- Light
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Root Worm
Bursts out of the ground right beneath you.
- Where
- Root Caverns
- The warning
- The ground shakes
- Weakness
- Blast
In-game movements: patrol, warning, attack and opening
Stone Warden
Patrols behind a shield and punches.
- Where
- Green Stone Ruins
- The warning
- Its fist glows
- Weakness
- Blast
06 · The guardians
Four seals and a Heart.
Four wardens bound the Heart, and each one keeps a seal. The four seals open the last door. Open the entries if you want to meet them first.
Meet the guardians · reveals names and images
Web Grotto · Edge
Spider Queen
Descends on her thread, calls her brood and covers the arena in webs. Only fire clears the way.
Fire
High Glade · Canopy
Ancient Stag
Charges and leaps that raise roots. It vanishes in the dark, and only light reveals it.
Light
Elder Lagoon · Marsh
Elder Toad
A long tongue and leaps that make waves. Resin holds it in place.
Resin
Warden Hall · Ruins
Stone Warden
Punches that crack the floor and a shield only the blast arrow breaks.
Blast
The Heart
Corrupted Heart
Three phases. Each shell calls for the right arrow.
several arrows
07 · Those who still live here
Not everyone here is a monster.
Old Tatu
The peddler of the Edge
Sells sap, a bigger flask and the map of the Edge. At night he curls into a ball and sleeps: the shop closes.
“Seeds in your pocket? My shop is poor, but honest.”
Madam Gourd
The healer of the Marsh
Marsh soup, fresh sap and bundles of arrows for whoever is about to face the lagoon.
“Ah, a light hunter! Come, come. The marsh bites, but I mend.”
Elder Firefly
The oldest of the light
Lives in the Caverns and teaches how to use light where it is scarce.
“Light is not a gift down here, it is a choice. Choose where to put yours.”
Echo
A spirit of stone
In the Ruins, it keeps the memory of when the forest still sang, and tells what happened to the Heart.
“...Do you hear me? Few do.”
08 · The demo
The whole first act, for free.
The demo has a beginning, a middle and an end: from the Waking Glade to the Heart, with the ending and the credits.
- 52 rooms in 6 regions, with secrets
- 7 arrows and 4 abilities
- 10 kinds of monster and 5 bosses
- 4 characters with dialogue and shops
- Shrines, a zoomable map and travel between shrines
- Day and night that change the forest
- Levels, sap, seeds and 3 save slots
- 10 music tracks, every sound made in code
- English and Portuguese
- Keyboard, gamepad or touch on mobile
Keyboard controls
| ← → | Move |
|---|---|
| Z / Space | Jump (hold to go higher) |
| X / J / mouse | Bow: hold to charge, release to shoot |
| Mouse | Free aim |
| C / Shift | Dash |
| Q E · 1 to 7 | Switch arrows |
| F | Equip the arrow the fight calls for |
| R | Drink sap |
| ↑ | Shrine, chest, talk |
| Esc / Enter | Pause, map and menus |
On mobile the controls appear on screen: drag away from the bow button to aim.
What comes next
Rootlight is still in development. The next acts, deeper in the roots, are being explored; they have no date yet and are not part of the demo.
Played it? Tell me how it went.
Did combat feel fair? Did the map help? Did the touch controls work on your phone? The itch.io comments are the best place to say.
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