Harkfell 0.2
Harkfell 0.2 is out, and it's a big one: a whole new region to explore! Glasswood is a birch wood west of the Hollow where everything is frozen and glazed in ice, and it's where the third note has been hiding.
Glasswood
At the Hollow's west edge there's now an old amber stone door. It hums at you from the very beginning, but it stays shut until you're carrying the amber note from Reedfen. Once it opens, scree falls away into the mist, and far below you, a whole wood glitters.
Glasswood is 22 rooms, which brings the world to 58. You'll climb birch branches up into the crowns of the wood, where every twig is coated in glass and clinks in the wind, and cross a tarn frozen clear as glass. Stand still out on the ice for a while and it sings! There's a waterfall that froze in the middle of falling, too.
It has creatures of its own. A snow owl on a high branch turns its head to follow you as you pass, and if you stand still in the snow for a moment, the voles come up to have a look at you.
You can drop down through the birch branches, too: hold down and press jump. On a touch screen, hold the stick straight down and tap to jump.
The caves and the moths
Under the wood there are caves of blue ice, and they are dark. You'll get your first taste of that dark on the way in, before you have any way to light it.
The moths spend the winter in the oldest birch in the wood, and they're drawn to the note you find there. Carry it into the caves and the moths in each one come to you and gather around you, lighting a small circle wherever you go. The caves are your way home, so you'll be spending some time in their company. It's one of my favorite parts of the game so far.
Ice
Glasswood is beautiful, but it isn't entirely safe.
Icicles hang over some of the paths, and now and then one of them rings, shivers and falls. If you listen, you'll hear which one is about to go, so you can wait for it and then walk through. Get hit and you'll be back where you came into the room, a few steps behind.
Some of the ice is thin, too. You can cross it, but keep moving: stand on it for about a second and it cracks under you. The good news is that the ice isn't slippery, so every jump feels the same as it does anywhere else.
Doors that call to you
This one changes the whole world, not just Glasswood. When you're carrying a note and there's a shut stone somewhere that it opens, that stone now calls to you with it. The call is quieter than a note you haven't found yet, you can hear it from up to three rooms away, and your ears point toward it when nothing louder is nearby. Coming home, you can follow the sound of the door you're about to open.
A secret
Somewhere in Glasswood there's a place you won't find on the way to anywhere. If you do find it, you'll hear a note that no stone in the world has. There's nothing to take there yet, but I'd remember where it is!
Sounds that ring out
In 0.1, a lot of sounds were cut off while they were still ringing: the stones, the notes you pick up, the moths' chimes and one of the birds' chirps. They stopped dead in the middle of their ring, like a recording chopped short. Now they fade away naturally, the way a bell dies away in a quiet room. It's a small thing, but in a game about listening you can hear the difference.
Also in this release
- When you bring the third note home, the stones in the bowl have something new to show you.
- Your save from 0.1 carries over, so you can pick up right where you left off.
You can play it right now at harkfell.com/play.
Let me know what you hear!