Deepglow

Mission briefing

Deepglow is a cozy pixel-art clicker in a bioluminescent night world. Each phase is a race against the timer: tap glowing trees, fruit bushes, springs, rocks and crystals to harvest them, then spend what you gathered on a branching upgrade tree with sharper tools, bigger yields and longer days. Watch your hunger and thirst, travel through six biomes and reach the heart of the Deepglow. No game over: every phase moves you forward.

Field manual

Click or tap a resource to harvest it before the timer runs out. Between phases, spend your resources on the upgrade tree to get stronger and unlock new biomes. Keep hunger and thirst up: hungry = weak hits, thirsty = half the materials. Desktop: mouse, or Arrows/WASD + Space to move and harvest; P or Esc to pause. Mobile: tap resources and upgrades; II button to pause.

Launch orders: press Launch mission above and the game loads on this page itself — nothing downloads and no form stands between you and the first move. It is designed for a landscape (wide) screen and takes its orders from mouse, keyboard or touch, depending on the mission. It is built wide, for a landscape screen — rotate a phone sideways, or give it a tablet or monitor to stretch out on. If it offers a fullscreen control, use it — a fight this size deserves the whole screen.

Field notes for survival operations

• Eat before you are hungry and drink before you are thirsty. Survival meters punish late reactions; the whole genre is a logistics exam disguised as an adventure.
• Build the shelter before the project. A safe place to return to converts every expedition from a gamble into a commute, and commutes are how survival games get beaten.
• Carry less, mark more. Inventory space is the real currency — leave the third backup of anything, and mark every resource you pass so future-you can run a supply route instead of a search party.

Deepglow — questions from the ranks

What does it cost to play Deepglow?

Nothing at all. The mission is free from the first order to the last — no sign-up, no download, no paid tier guarding the good levels. The advertising around this page is what keeps the board free.

What sort of mission is Deepglow?

Deepglow is filed in our Survival theatre. Like every operation on this board, it is a browser game — read the briefing above for the publisher's own account of what you are deploying into.

Can I run Deepglow on a phone or tablet?

Yes. It plays in the browser on phones and tablets exactly as it does on a computer. It is built wide, for a landscape screen — rotate a phone sideways, or give it a tablet or monitor to stretch out on.

Do I have to install anything before playing?

No installation of any kind. Deepglow is an HTML5 game: press the launch button and it loads on this page, and closing the tab leaves nothing behind.

After-action

Mission complete, or still pinned down? The full Survival theatre is one click away — Outlast the situation: hunger, weather, islands, sieges and things considerably worse than weather. One hundred and forty-seven ways to still be standing when the session ends.