Limbardo: Cross the Bardo

You died. You did not move on. You woke in the bardo, the liminal hush between one life and the next, and the way onward is a shifting maze that does not want to let you leave.

Limbardo is a pixel-art roguelite about a small lost soul and the wisp that drifts at its side. Climb through the floors of the in-between, one guarded stairway at a time, carving light into the dead who refuse to let you pass.

Carve the light

Combat is freehand. Hold and drag to carve a glowing line through the slowed air; release, and the line shatters into shards that loose outward from you. A long, clean stroke is a wide fan of light. A tight one is a focused lance. Time holds its breath while you draw, so every strike is a small, deliberate act.

The dead remember you

The souls you meet do not forget. Cut one down and you will meet its kind again, deeper in, wearing a harder shape and a colder word for you. Spend the crystals they leave at the altars of friendly spirits: more shards, shards that pierce, more life, more breath, more speed.

The Gatekeeper

Every stairway upward is barred by the Gatekeeper, and it grows with you. Each floor it returns with twice the resolve and a wholly new way to deny you: a wall to bar you, a lock to turn against you, a whirl to spin you off your feet, a charge to break you, a cage to seal you in. Reach the top and it becomes the final guardian of the gate, remembering every form it ever wore.

A fairground in the dark

Between the fighting, the strange kin of this place keep a little fairground: a coin drop with a real, tumbling coin, a striker, balloons, and a beast race to wager on. A grandfather waits with quiet gifts. A cousin will gladly take your crystals on a bad bet. Mind the goose.

The wonder of it

Foes and floors are not the only way out. The truly still find another door. Fill your seclusion to the brim and you may step off the wheel of samsara entirely, reaching release instead of being born back into the maze. Most souls climb. A rare few simply stop wandering, and are not seen again.

Made for Major Jam 8 (theme: Wonder)

Limitation: the player is locked in the maze. You cannot just walk out of the bardo. You earn your release, by force at the gate, or by the harder, quieter path.

Controls

WASD to move. Left-click and drag to carve a strike, right-click to repeat the last one. E to talk or enter. ESC to pause.

Tips

Collect your crystals before the doors will open. Tap any room you have already seen on the map to slip straight to it. And when a soul tells you it remembers you, believe it.