What is A Dark Room?
A Dark Room is a minimalist text adventure by Michael Townsend of Doublespeak Games. It begins with a single button in a freezing room: light the fire. From there you build a village, assign workers, trade, and eventually walk out into a dust-covered world to find a way off the rock. The browser version is the original open-source release, and it runs entirely in this page.
How to play A Dark Room
There is no movement and no keyboard. You read short lines of text and click buttons to act. Time passes while you build, gather, and travel, and the fire will cool if you leave it alone. Early on, keep the fire at flickering or higher, gather wood, and build traps so the village can feed itself. Later, pack cured meat and water before every expedition; the Dusty Path does not forgive an empty bag.
From the room to the Dusty Path
The game moves through three rough phases. In the room you secure fire and wood. In the village you build a food and material chain: hunters bring fur and meat, tanners turn fur into leather, charcutiers turn meat into cured meat, and miners supply iron, coal, and sulphur. On the world map you clear mines, loot ruins, collect alien alloy, and finally repair a crashed starship. The ship is the goal, but the alternate ending is hidden behind the hardest fight in the game.
What makes it different
A Dark Room has no graphics to speak of, no soundtrack loop to manage, and no twitch controls. Its tension comes from resource chains and from the moment you realize you have walked too far from the village with too little food. The web version is open source under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. The paid Steam and mobile versions are separate ports with extra content; this page hosts the original browser release.
Controls
- Click the buttons to act; the game has no keyboard controls
- Most actions advance time, so read the result before clicking again
- Progress saves automatically in your browser
Tips for a better run
- 01Keep the fire at flickering or higher. A dead fire cools the room, and the builder stops helping until it is warm again.
- 02Build traps before huts. Fur and meat are the first real bottleneck, and traps produce both while you are away.
- 03Buy the compass from the nomad when he appears: 300 fur, 15 scales, and 5 teeth. The trading post charges 400, 20, and 10 for the same item.
- 04Clear the iron mine at radius 5 before pushing toward the coal and sulphur mines. Each cleared mine unlocks workers who produce that ore.
- 05Pack cured meat and water for every trip. Outposts refill your water once and leave 5 to 10 cured meat.
- 06Save alien alloy for the ship. Five hull and five thrusters is a comfortable minimum for the 60-second ascent.
Frequently asked questions
Is A Dark Room free to play?+
Yes. The original browser version is free, runs in this page, and does not require an account or download.
Is this the same as the Steam or mobile version?+
This is the original open-source browser release by Michael Townsend (Doublespeak Games). The Steam and mobile versions are separate commercial ports with additional content.
Does A Dark Room save my progress?+
Yes. The game saves automatically in your browser's local storage, so you can close the page and continue later on the same device.
What should I do first in A Dark Room?+
Light the fire, keep it burning, and gather wood. When the builder collapses, the forest unlocks; gather wood, build traps, and keep the room warm so she recovers and starts helping.
How long does A Dark Room take to finish?+
A first run usually takes a few hours. Once you know the build order and the map, a focused run is much faster.
Does A Dark Room have combat?+
Yes, but only on the Dusty Path. Encounters are resolved with weapon buttons and automatic attacks; there are no movement or aiming controls.
How do I win in A Dark Room?+
Repair the crashed starship with alien alloy, reinforce the hull, upgrade the engines, and survive the 60-second ascent. Carrying a fleet beacon gives you the alternate ending.
Can I play A Dark Room on mobile?+
It works on phones and tablets, but the game was designed for a desktop-sized window. A larger screen makes the resource panels much easier to read.
