How to play Glasswend

A visual guide · Learn your first loop

Your goal

Draw a thread. Bring back the light.

Steer the moth out into dark glass, then back to a lit cell. A closed thread can turn a whole pocket of darkness into light.

01You steer. The moth moves.

Begin on the lit edge

Use arrows or WASD, drag on the glass, or use the arrow buttons. Once moving, the moth keeps going. You choose its direction.

This game runs in real time. Press Escape to pause when using a keyboard. Opening this Visual Guide also freezes gameplay; closing it restores your previous pause state.

02Make your first loop

1. Leave the light

Head into the dark. A bright thread follows you, attached to a golden knot where you left the lit area.

2. Touch the light again

Turn and return to any lit cell to seal the thread. The moth does not need to return to the exact starting knot.

03Empty pockets fill with light

Look at where the shadow motes are before you close a thread. Every separated dark pocket without a mote fills with light. Pockets containing a mote stay dark.

Leave the mote outside your claim

The small pocket on the left has no mote, so it lights up. The pocket on the right still contains a mote, so it stays dark. These pictures are a simplified window detail.

If both sides contain motes, you claim only the thread itself. Once comfortable, try a larger cut that leaves the motes in the smaller pocket.

04Two hazards. Two different threats.

Watch the thread and its starting knot

The purple shadow mote moves through dark glass toward the exposed thread. The small soot crawler stays on the lit edge and can reach the golden knot.

Shadow mote touches your open thread or exposed moth: you lose a glimmer.
Soot crawler reaches the golden knot: the thread lets go and the moth returns to the knot. You lose that unfinished claim, but no glimmer.
Soot crawler touches you on lit glass: you can still lose a glimmer. Lit ground protects you from shadow motes, not from crawlers.
Bumping into your own thread is harmless. You can also reverse along it to retract it.

05Know the marks

Gold edge and lit glass

Connected ground where a thread can start or finish.

Bright thread + golden knot

Your unfinished cut and the point it is attached to.

Purple shadow mote

A moving hazard that also decides which pockets stay dark.

Sparkling motif pane

A bonus hidden in the dark. Claim it as part of a seal.

06Relight each pane

Reach the displayed percentage of lit glass to clear the stage. The first target is 60%.
Larger claims earn a bigger multiplier. Consecutive claims of at least 25 cells build a weave bonus.
Motif panes, trapping all motes in a small pocket, and stage completion can add bonuses.
There are 15 stages. Clear them all to finish the window. Running out of glimmers ends the run earlier.

Start with a short loop to learn steering. Then plan a cut, watch the hazards, and commit.

Play Glasswend