Heartlight

Dodge falling boulders, exploding grenades, get all the hearts!

A remake of the legendary classic "Boulder-dash" type Atari DOS game. Dodge falling boulders, avoid exploding grenades, and solve extremely challenging puzzles in your quest to get all the hearts! Expect to be challenged in ways you can't even imagine!

Heartlight is a puzzle game originally developed by Janusz Pelc for 8-bit Atari in 1990. In 1994, an MS-DOS port (Heartlight PC) was published by Epic Megagames along with two other games by Janusz Pelc in the Epic Puzzle Pack.

The game is set up on a 12x20-square grid. Some of the levels make full use of the space, others fill unused space with a moving background. The game is played as from the side (unlike some bird-eye-view puzzle games), with gravity playing an important part.

The object of the game is to help Percival, the elf character you guide with your keyboard, collect all the hearts on each level and get to the door. Different objects with unique characteristics aim to make reaching this goal more complex.

Basic objects you will see on almost every level include bombs, rocks, and hearts. While hearts are one of the goals, they can also fall on and kill Percival. Bombs blow up when squashed or dropped on a hard surface. Rocks squash Percival and can blow up bombs. There are several other objects that you come across while playing the game, and the only way to learn about them is to experiment. Several kinds of walls and empty space also have unique properties that must be tested.

Heartlight has been compared to other popular puzzle games such as Boulder Dash and Supaplex.

Programmed by Roan Cooney

New Music by Lennie Budgell

Original game released under the Creative Commons