Lantern is a game of keep-away across an archipelago of floating islands, linked by arches that are genuine portals — look through one and you see the far side rendered live; walk through and you come out somewhere else entirely.
One pale wisp drifts the islands. In the open it burns bright enough to spot from another island; come close and it slips behind the standing stones and dims; close further and it bolts through an arch and is gone. Catch it and it is yours — and every second you hold it scores. You are faster carrying it, and lit like a beacon, so the moment it is in your hands everyone knows where you are and starts running.
Two island shapes make the chase. Hubs are discs with four arches, two of which re-form every 25 seconds — junctions where you arrive and choose. Corridors are long spans with one arch at each end — committed runs where your pursuer sees you the whole way. So a chase is choose, commit, choose, and the shortcut you counted on may be gone when you reach it.
Carry it over an edge and the void takes it back. The wisp fights free by itself eventually, so nobody holds it forever.
How to play Lantern
GOAL — Hold the wisp. You score every second it is in your hands; most points when the clock runs out wins. Rounds last two minutes.
CONTROLS
· Desktop — WASD to move, mouse to look (click once to capture the pointer).
· Phone — drag the left half to move, the right half to look.
FINDING IT
The loose wisp glows, and in the open it is visible from other islands — sweep the horizon rather than searching island by island. It dims behind cover, and moves between islands on its own.
TAKING IT
Touch the wisp to take it. If someone else is carrying it, touch THEM to steal it — but not in the first couple of seconds after it has changed hands.
KEEPING IT
Carrying it makes you faster and throws a pillar of light visible from anywhere. The longer you hold it the brighter you burn and the more it tires you, so a long hold ends with you slower than everyone chasing. It fights free by itself after about fifteen seconds.
THE ARCHES
Every arch is a real hole in space — walk straight through. Pale arches never change. Amber ones re-form every 25 seconds: that is how you break a pursuit, and how you lose your way home.
THE EDGE
There are no walls. Step off and you fall; carry the wisp over the edge and it returns to the void.
