Wicklight

Your head is the last flame in the world. Throw it.

WICKLIGHT is a native Linux 3D pixel-art action-adventure. You are Wick, a small wax automaton with a living flame for a head. Throw it to burn enemies and light braziers, recall it to burn everything on the way back, then warp into it to cross gaps and climb cliffs.

Lumen Hollow forgot what night was. The Great Lamp at the top of the Lighthouse Spire went out, and the Hush came down like water and drank the light from every window. Light it back up.

Free. Open source (MIT). No browser, no Electron, no engine runtime, and no asset files: every texture, model, sound effect and music track is generated in code.

🔥 Source code

You can see the source code at github.com/rxvy-dev/wicklight.

▶ How to run it

1. Download the .tar.gz below.
2. Extract it: tar -xzf wicklight-linux.tar.gz
3. Open a terminal in the extracted folder and run:

./build.sh run

That builds the game and launches it. (Plain ./build.sh just builds without launching.)

You need a C++17 compiler and the SDL2 runtime. Install them for your distro:

Distro	SDL2 runtime	Compiler
Arch / Manjaro / EndeavourOS	sudo pacman -S sdl2	base-devel
Debian / Ubuntu / Mint / Pop	sudo apt install libsdl2-2.0-0	build-essential
Fedora	sudo dnf install SDL2	gcc-c++
openSUSE	sudo zypper install libSDL2-2_0-0	gcc-c++
Void	sudo xbps-install SDL2	base-devel
NixOS	nix run github:rxvy-dev/wicklight	flake provided

SDL2 development headers are not needed. Run ./build.sh install to add Wicklight to your app launcher.

Requirements: x86_64 Linux (X11 or Wayland), OpenGL 3.3 (any Mesa from the last decade, NVIDIA or AMD).

The game

• Throw / Recall / Warp: your flame is your weapon and your movement. Hit a shielded knight in the back by recalling the flame, or step into it to warp across gaps.
• Five bosses plus mini-bosses: the Drowned Bellwether, GL1TCH the hacker, the Veil Matron, King Rattletrap and the Hush.
• Eight powers: Throw, Dash, Warp, Bloom, Sunflare, Overclock, Firewall and Ember Grapple.
• Five regions: the Sunken Wharf, the Clockwood, the Ashen Vaults, the Junkyard of Lost Machines, and the Lighthouse Spire.
• Lumen City: the FBI thinks Wick is the hacker. Sneak through searchlights and survive a 30-second last stand on a helipad.
• The Endless Dark: infinite generated levels. Every depth is built from its number, so there is no last depth.
• Wick's Island: a block world you can mine, build and craft in, with a day/night cycle and gloomlings that creep out at night.
• The Gauntlet: endless arena waves with wild modifiers.
• The Candle Cup: kart-style racing on foot against four rival candles.
• Pets, robot friends, fishing, hats, flame dyes, daily bounties, Boss Rush and 40 trophies.

Controls

Action	Keyboard / mouse	Gamepad
Move	WASD	Left stick
Camera	Mouse	Right stick
Jump	Space	A
Dash	Left Shift	B
Throw / Recall (hold to charge Sunflare)	Left mouse	RT
Warp	Right mouse	LT
Bloom	Q	RB
Ember Grapple (hold)	F	Y
Firewall	R	Left stick click
Overclock	C	Right stick click
Interact / talk	E	X
Journal	Tab	Back
Pause	Esc	Start
Fullscreen / screenshot	F11 / F12

All keys can be rebound in Settings > Controls.

Saves

Saves go to ~/.local/share/wicklight/save.dat and settings to ~/.config/wicklight/settings.cfg. Nothing needs root.

Known limits

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 with software OpenGL. Real GPUs, Wayland, gamepads and other distros are expected to work but haven't been tested, so bug reports are welcome on GitHub.

Made by rxvy. MIT licensed.

./build.sh run