SIDELONG

An action RPG with no attack button. You cut a monster by running into it off centre or from behind. Meet it head on and you both take the blow.

Play the free demo in your browser above. The full game is the Windows download.

The rules

• Every monster wears a ring on the ground.
• Gold is a shield. It hits back and throws you clear.
• Red with teeth is spikes. Running into that side hurts you.
• The dark part is open. Run into it off centre and you cut.
• The small white pip is where the monster faces. Meet it dead centre there and you clash, and both of you are hurt.
• Some rings turn on their own, and every guardian changes its guard when it is hurt.

What is in it

• Eighteen rooms: Hollin Town, the fields, the Old Copper Mine, the Drowned Shrine and the Watch Tower.
• Eight guardians, each with its own guard.
• Five blades and five suits of mail from the smith and the armourer.
• Monsters far below your level teach you little, so you grow by going forward.
• The road home is always drawn on the map in gold.
• Six music loops, one per region and one for the guardian fights, and sound for every cut, clash and shield.
• Saves in the browser for the demo and on your PC for the full game.

Free demo and full game

The free demo plays in the browser on this page: the town, the fields and the mine with its two guardians. Your progress in the demo is kept in your browser.

The full game is a Windows download. Unzip it and run SIDELONG.exe, no install. It adds the eastern road, the Drowned Shrine, the northern road, the Watch Tower, six more guardians and the ending.

Controls: arrow keys or WASD to move, H to use a herb, M for the map, Esc to pause, N for sound. A gamepad works in both: stick or d-pad to move, X for a herb, Start to pause, A to choose in menus. The browser demo also takes touch on a phone held sideways.

Made with AI

Code and text written with AI assistance. The art is our own sprite and tile packs, made with AI tools and our own procedural code. Sound effects are our own procedural synthesis; the music is our own written score played through the MuseScore_General SoundFont, which is MIT licensed (notices in CREDITS.txt). No AI audio.

More from the same studio

• HOLLOWAY ($7.99): a top-down adventure across a hand-built highland and three dungeons, with a free browser demo.
• BOLTHOLE ($6.99): a twin-stick keep of four sealed wings, with a free browser demo.

Built from our own packs, if you make games too: Wildmark 01, The Party (the hero) · Greenskin Muster (goblins and orcs) · Deepwarren 01, The Living Dark (the mine) · Mourncrest Reforged 01, The Restless Dead (the shrine and tower dead) · Verdant 09, Town and Verdant 05, Depths (tiles).

Core Systems Asset Factory