Brightfall playtest

About Brightfall

Make it through the darkness - or become a part of it.

Push back a living darkness in Brightfall - an isometric open-world survival-craft built for solo and co-op play, set across cursed Celtic islands the Crown left off its maps. Brave the dark alone or with your friends as you:

• customise and upgrade your character
• explore abandoned Celtic ruins
• build and expand your safe haven
• vanquish powerful foes

and craft stronger light sources to push deeper into the ever-shifting gloom.

But beware - light fades, monsters grow stronger, and even your friends can fall to madness.

Welcome to the Isles the Crown Pretends Don’t Exist

The Great Plague has just ended… but it seems your troubles are only just beginning.

You awaken shipwrecked on Brightfall, an archipelago so cursed that sailors swear every plague in history began here. Storms guard its shores, treacherous currents still draw the unlucky towards its cliffs, and the Crown never quite got around to putting the place on its official maps.

And yet, for over a century, people have found their way here - refugees, deserters, settlers, pirates, and anyone for whom a cursed archipelago somehow sounded like an improvement.

One of them was you.

Survive the living darkness

On Brightfall, darkness is not just the absence of light. It can physically influence the world - bend trees, poison plants, and corrupt living creatures until nothing human remains.

But you are not powerless.

Every spark of light buys you a minute of sanity.

Use it wisely to carve a circle of safety in the gloom, pushing corruption back one step at a time. When focused, light can weaken enemies, stun them, and interrupt their abilities - turning it into one more weapon between you and the dark. But the deeper you dare to go, the stronger that light must become.

Let it fade, and Brightfall will take you back.

Claim your place in the gloom

You start with nothing but your bare hands. Hunt for scraps, stitch together rags, and raise your first shelter to keep the light shining a little longer.

At the centre of your refuge is the Brightheart - a powerful source of light that keeps the darkness at bay and gives you a small corner of Brightfall that is, by local standards, almost reassuring.

So yes, keeping it alive is considered good practice.

Every expedition into the darkness is a risk - but the good ones change everything. The further you push, the more options open up. Gather resources to unlock new crafting and building blueprints. Trade crude tools for iron, then put aside your blade and craft a musket. Expand your camp with sawmills, quarries, mines, and other tools that help you hold the darkness back.

Step by step, your base grows from a fragile campfire into a true sanctuary.

Carry the light forward

To move forward, you must reclaim Brightfall piece by piece.

Cleanse ancient standing stones to create sanctuaries of light where you can gather your courage for the next push into the dark. As you progress, you unlock new ways to extend your reach, and keep vital resources flowing while you explore. Later, special locations let you build facilities that automate part of your resource production, turning survival into something a little more ambitious than desperately hoping your flame lasts another minute.

But Brightfall never gives up ground for free.

Powerful bosses guard the way forward, and only by defeating them can you reach harsher isles beyond: deserts scorched by false suns, icy cliffs where even shadows freeze, and finally, the Heart of Darkness itself.

If you ever intend to leave Brightfall, you will have to reach it.

Venture into the Unknown - alone or together

Brave Brightfall alone or share the struggle in co-op*. Scavenge and build while your friends argue about who forgot the bandages again.

Prefer to walk the path alone? Brightfall won’t let you face it completely unaided. A flicker of ancient will - a Celtic spirit bound to the light - can guide your steps, mend your wounds, and whisper warnings when the dark closes in.

Be kind to your companions - living or spectral. You might need them to drag you out of the grave within the next hour.

*Brightfall enters Early Access with solo play and 2-player co-op, with support for up to 4 players planned for full release.

Survive the dark, or become part of it

Stray too far into the dark, and it will begin to whisper. The longer you linger beyond the safety of the light, the more dangerous every step becomes.

Managing the darkness means knowing when to push forward - and when it is time to turn back. Keep your light alive, stay close to your companions, and do not assume the island will give you a second chance simply because you were almost home.

Sometimes surviving on Brightfall means knowing when you have pushed your luck far enough.

Everything clear?

Jolly good - now try not to die, lad!

Or better yet: join our Discord or the Steam discussions and tell us what you’d like to see on the island.

Brightfall is a story we want to write with you - one mad idea at a time.

RULES OF SURVIVAL

• Beware the Living Darkness - Light is your last defence. Use it to push back corruption, and carve circles of sanity in a world that twists with every flicker.
• Hold the Light, Alone or Together - Brave the cursed archipelago solo or in co-op. Scavenge and build while arguing over who forgot the bandages again.
• Venture into the Unknown - Explore ruined settlements, cleanse ancient Celtic sites, and brave increasingly hostile isles as you push towards the heart of Brightfall.
• Die, Learn, and Rise Again - Unlock new blueprints, equipment, and ways to expand your reach as you reclaim more of the archipelago.
• Keep Your Sanity - Keep your light burning, know when to turn back, and do not let Brightfall get inside your head.

From the game's Steam page.