HOW TO PLAY THE CASTLE
The Castle is a free pixel-art escape game played entirely in your browser — no download, no install, no account required. Every room gives you a choice of doors, and every door is a coin flip. Luck decides whether you move forward or start the level again. What you keep, run after run, is knowledge: the rooms you have seen, the artworks you have unlocked and the objects you have found. This page explains the rules, the four levels and how the collection works.
The basic loop
You wake up in a dark room with no memory of who you are. Each screen shows an illustrated room and one or several exits. Choosing the right exit takes you deeper into the level; choosing a wrong one ends the run and sends you back to the first room of the level.
Nothing is lost when a run ends. Every room you reach is permanently added to your collection, so a failed run is still progress. Patience, and the willingness to try the same corridor again, are the only real skills the game asks for.
The game auto-saves your progress. Playing as a guest keeps progress in your browser only; signing in stores it on your account so you can continue from any device.
The four levels
The Castle — stone corridors, torch-lit halls, a throne room and a crypt. This is where you learn the rhythm of the game and find your first three objects.
The Garden — you step outside into overgrown hedges, greenhouses, ponds and statues left behind by whoever lived here.
The Mountain — lakes, marshes, cliffs and storms, an abandoned camp, stone trolls, orcs and a Dahu, before the path leads into an old mine entrance.
The Mine — mine carts on rails, dwarven halls, underground waterfalls, gas pockets, a tomb surrounded by the remains of an old battle, and a cave lit by glowing Etherium stones.
Objects, artworks and 100% completion
Each level hides three objects. They belong to the person you used to be, and together they slowly answer the two questions the game opens with: who are you, and why are you here?
Your collection stores three kinds of images per level: the prologue artwork (the first room), the victory artwork (shown when you escape the level), and one artwork for every room you have discovered.
Complete a level entirely — every room discovered and all three objects found — and you unlock a bonus artwork made specifically for that level, in which the creator of the game appears alongside the three objects you recovered.
Sound, language and supporting the game
Each level has its own soundtrack, which evolves from medieval strings in the Castle to stone and metal in the Mountain and the Mine. The ♪ button in the header mutes and unmutes the music at any time.
The game is available in English, French, German and Spanish. Use the language selector in the header to switch at any moment; your progress is not affected.
The Castle is free. Optional Supporter Packs remove ads and unlock extra supporter artworks and a Pantheon gallery, but they are never required to finish any level or to complete the collection.