The first screen offers one button and almost no explanation. Press it, and a fire flickers to life in a cold room. From there the game hands you new choices a little at a time, and part of the pleasure is finding out what the next button will be.
You can play A Dark Room unblocked right in the browser, with no install and no sign-up. It is the open-source game by Michael Townsend, told in short lines of plain text. The build here is silent, since the original audio files had no clear license, but every event and system is intact.
How to play A Dark Room
Early on, your only job is to keep the fire going with wood. A stranger soon shows up half frozen. Keep the room warm while she recovers, and she becomes your builder. That unlocks a forest where you gather wood and set traps that catch fur, meat, scales and teeth.
Wood pays for huts, carts, traps and workshops. Huts bring in villagers, and you assign them work as gatherers, hunters, tanners and other trades. Each job turns one resource into another, so the village becomes a small economy you balance by watching the income numbers on each store.
Once you can buy a compass at the trading post, a path out of the village opens. You pack food, water and gear, then step onto a map full of ruins, caves and dangers. Every step drains supplies. The trip outward reveals the larger story, and it builds toward an escape you will have to steer by hand.
Controls
| To… | Keyboard | Mouse |
|---|---|---|
| Use an action (light fire, gather wood, build, trade) | — | Click the button |
| Switch between locations | Left / Right arrows or A / D | Click a location name at the top |
| Walk on the world map | Arrow keys or W A S D | Click the map on the side you want to move toward |
| Steer the ship during the escape | Arrow keys or W A S D | — |
| Double game speed, dark theme, save code, restart | — | Click "hyper.", "lights off.", "save." or "restart." in the bottom corner |
Tips
- Feed the fire before anything else. The builder only recovers in a warm room, and almost every later option depends on her.
- Don't trade away everything the traps catch. Scales and teeth are scarce and you will need a stack of them for the compass.
- Check the plus and minus numbers. If wood or meat starts falling, move a villager back to gathering or hunting before the stores hit zero.
- Water runs out faster than food. Plan short trips at first and loop past places that let you refill, then push farther once you carry more.
- Use hyper mode while you wait. It speeds the timers up, which helps during slow stretches of building up stores.
A Dark Room questions
Does A Dark Room save if I close the page?
Yes. Progress is saved in your browser as you play. The save option also gives you a text code you can copy and import later, which is handy for moving to another computer.
What happens if I die out on the map?
You lose what you carried on that trip and wake back in the room. The village, its buildings and its stores are still there, so you can restock and try again.
Can I play it on a phone?
It is built for a computer with a mouse and keyboard, and the late sections use arrow keys or W A S D for steering. A laptop or Chromebook is the best fit.
Why is there no music or sound?
The music and sound files in the original project came without a license, so this copy leaves them out. The story, events and rules are unchanged.
