यमलोक
How to Play
Yamaloka · Escape before judgement
You're on a phone or tablet: the instructions below show the touch controls. Turn your phone sideways for the best view.
The story
- You have died.
- The Yamadutas, Yama's messengers, have brought your soul to Yamaloka.
- Yama is the god of death and justice. In his court, Chitragupta reads out each soul's record of deeds, and Yama decides its fate.
- The Court of Yama is a hall of judgement, not a prison.
- Your name has not been called yet. You escape.
- Five realms lie between the court and life. You run through them against the stream of the dead, past traps that stop souls from leaving.
The legend you are reliving
You are not the first soul to slip out of Yama's grasp. One boy did it before you.
- A choice. The sage Mrikandu and his wife Marudvati prayed to Shiva for a son. Shiva offered them a dull son who would live long, or a wise son who would live only sixteen years. They chose the wise one: Markandeya.
- The sixteenth year. Markandeya grew up devoted to Shiva. On the day his sixteen years ran out, Yama came for him himself.
- The linga. Markandeya ran to a Shivalinga and held on to it with both arms. Yama threw his noose. It fell around the boy and the linga together.
- Kalantaka. Shiva burst out of the linga in fury as Kalantaka, the Ender of Death, and struck Yama down. Markandeya was blessed to stay sixteen forever, beyond Yama's reach.
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात् ॥
"We worship the three-eyed One, fragrant, who makes all things grow. As a ripe cucumber falls from its vine, may he free us from death, and not from immortality."
The Mahamrityunjaya mantra (Rigveda 7.59.12), the prayer to Shiva as the conqueror of death, which tradition links to Markandeya.
You are Markandeya's proxy
You run the road he ran. Like him, you are a soul whose time has come. Like him, you refuse to wait for the verdict.
The realms between you and life are Yama's to guard, and every one of them tries to stop you. But at the end of the last realm, Andhatamisra, a Shivalinga shines through the darkness. Reach it, and you are free. Death has no hold on one who holds on to Shiva. That is how Markandeya escaped, and it is how you will.
Your goal
Run each realm from start to end and pass through its gate before your life-flames run out. Each realm gives you one more flame than the last.
IYamamarga, the Ashen RoadThe road of the dead, raised over burning ash fields. Ends at the First Gate.
3 flamesOpen now
IIKumbhipaka and the VaitaraniCauldrons of boiling oil, and the river every soul must cross.
4 flamesComing
IIIDakshina DwaraThe southern Fire Gates, held by the Yamadutas.
5 flamesComing
IVRauravaA hell of fire and molten rock.
6 flamesComing
VAndhatamisraBlinding darkness and illusion. At its end shines the Shivalinga: reach it and you escape death, as Markandeya did.
7 flamesComing
How a run works
- You run forward on your own. You only steer left and right, and choose when to jump, slide, sprint or slow down.
- The first part of Realm I teaches each move. A line of text at the bottom of the screen tells you what to do as each obstacle comes up.
- Then come the death traps (see below), in a new order every run.
- Checkpoint stones lie along the road. When you die, you return to the last stone you passed and the traps reset.
- Pass through the gate to finish the realm. You see your time, your deaths and how many flames are still lit.
Controls
Phone or tablet
Left side of the screenYour thumb is a joystick
Right side of the screenSwipe to act
Left thumb: drag left / rightMove left / right
Left thumb: drag far outSprint (uses prana)
Left thumb: drag downBrake. A little to slow, all the way to stop. Let go to run again.
Right side: swipe upJump
Right side: swipe downSlide (under gates, bells and diving vultures)
Right side: swipe left / rightQuick hop sideways (uses prana)
Pause button, top rightPause
Keyboard
←→ or ADMove left / right
↑ or SpaceJump. Always a full jump: press it just before the edge.
↓ or CSlide low for about ¾ of a second, under gates, bells and diving vultures.
Shift (hold)Sprint. Uses prana. Needed for the wide gaps.
SBrake. Tap to slow a little, hold to stop. Let go to run again.
←/→ + QQuick hop sideways. Uses prana.
Esc / PPause
MSound on / off
EnterStart, or start again after a run
The screen
- Top left, the plaque: the realm's name with your life-flames beside it, and the road from start to gate. The flame on the road is you. The diamonds are checkpoint stones and turn gold as you pass them.
- Bottom right, Yamaloka's alert: one word, unaware, alerted, stirring or roused, and three small bells that light red as you ring them.
- Bottom left, Prana: your breath for sprinting and hopping.
- Top right: your time, and the pause button.
Life-flames
You get 3 flames in Realm I, and one more in each realm after it: 4 in Realm II, 5 in Realm III, and so on.
A flame goes out when you: are impaled by tridents, crushed by a guardian's mace or a stone wheel, carried off by a vulture, or fall off the road. A sword-leaf blade throws you off the narrow causeway, so it usually costs a flame too.
You keep your flame (but lose speed) when you: touch a lost soul, stumble into a fire, or run into a resting mace.
When the last flame goes out, Yama claims you and the realm starts again from its beginning, with full flames and a new trap order.
Yamaloka's alert: the bells
Wooden gateways hung with temple bells cross the road: one on the early road, and one at the start of every trap section. Slide under them (↓swipe down) and they only sway. Run through standing up and they ring. A conch answers, and Yamaloka knows you are escaping.
Each bell rung raises the alert one step, up to roused. The screen edges turn red, and:
- the guardians swing faster,
- the stone wheels come more often, and more of them at once,
- lost souls walk faster and drift toward you,
- vultures dive again sooner.
The alert stays raised. If you die, it goes back to what it was at your last checkpoint stone.
Prana
Prana is your breath. Sprinting drains it, and each quick hop costs a chunk. It refills by itself a moment after you stop. If it runs out, the bar turns red and you can't sprint until it recovers. So save it for the wide gaps and for getting past a trap quickly.
Realm I: the death traps
Every trap warns you before it strikes. Learn the warning sign, then use the escape.
Rows of trishuls burst up from slots in the road, each row on its own beat.
- Warning
- Dust puffs over the slots just before they rise.
- Escape
- Run past while they're down, jump a row (↑swipe up), go round a half row, or brake (hold Sdrag your left thumb down) and wait for them to sink.
Pale, glowing souls of the dead walk toward the Court of Yama, against you.
- Warning
- You can see them coming from far down the road.
- Escape
- Steer around them. A touch doesn't cost a flame, but it chills you and slows you down.
They circle high over the road ahead, then one dives across it at head height.
- Warning
- First cry: one breaks away and hangs on the wind beside the road. Second cry, with a rush of wings: it dives.
- Escape
- Slide on the second cry (↓swipe down), or sprint or brake just before it dives, so it misses.
Giant Yamadutas on rock pillars beside the road bring their maces down across it, timed for when you'll arrive.
- Warning
- A creak and a puff of dust from the shoulder as the arm lifts.
- Escape
- Keep to the guardian's own side of the road, under the raised arm, where the mace can't reach. Or change pace so the blow lands in front of you.
On a narrow causeway, three stone arches each swing a branch of iron sword-leaves, each on its own beat. There is no room to go around.
- Warning
- You can watch each blade swing from a distance.
- Escape
- Brake (hold Sdrag your left thumb down) in the gap between arches, never under one. Let go just as the blade passes the middle and swings away, then run through.
A broken chariot beside the road sheds its stone wheels, which roll down lanes toward you. Some lanes always stay open.
- Warning
- Each wheel rocks and grinds on the chariot's edge before it drops, with a heavy rumble.
- Escape
- When a wheel rocks, get ready. Once it picks its lane, step into an open one.
The plain road
Gaps to jump (sprint for the wide one), a ledge to jump up, a fallen gate to slide under, a narrow ridge, fallen ruins to hop around, and a fork. The left fork is solid stone; the right one is broken stones with gaps.
Tips
- Look further ahead than feels natural. Every trap gives a warning: dust, a creak, a cry, a grinding wheel.
- Slide under every bell gateway. A quiet Yamaloka is a much easier Yamaloka.
- Start braking early: it takes about three metres to stop.
- Keep some prana in reserve for the wide gap and the traps.
- Dying teaches you the trap. You come back at the last stone with that trap ahead of you.
- On a phone: keep your left thumb resting on the screen the whole run, and swipe with your right thumb.