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How to play Hourloom

A visual guide · Learn to work with your Echo

Your goal

Let your past self help.

Guide the Wick to a keystone, then the exit. Each completed lap returns as an Echo that repeats what you did.

01Move, collect, exit

Your first lap

Move one tile at a time with arrows or WASD, a swipe, or the arrow pad. Pick up your lap’s golden keystone, then reach the exit to finish the lap.

The sandglass counts turns, not seconds. Looking and thinking cost nothing. A move or Wait spends sand; reaching the exit without your keystone does not complete the lap.

02Teach an Echo to hold a plate

A plate is a floor switch. Its gate opens only while someone else stands on the plate. You cannot hold it for yourself.

1. Stand on the plate

During an earlier lap, walk onto the round plate and use Wait to stay there for a few turns.

2. Finish that lap

Your waits become part of the recording only after you collect the keystone and reach the exit. On later laps, your Echo repeats them.

03Walk through while your Echo holds

3. Meet your past self

On a later lap, the pale Echo reaches the plate and replays your waits. Bring the current Wick to the gate at that time.

4. Cross the open gate

The Echo holds the plate while you enter the gate. Go on to your keystone and the exit. A gate needing two plates needs both held by other bodies.

These pictures show a chamber detail, not a guaranteed starting layout. Time your crossing while the Echo is still on the plate. An Echo disappears when its recorded lap ends.

04Know what you are looking at

Bright flame · You

The Wick is the one you steer.

Pale flame · Echo

A completed lap replaying its recorded moves and waits.

Round plate + linked gate

Another body must keep the plate occupied while you enter the gate.

Gold hexagon + double ring

The hexagon is your keystone. Take it before reaching the double-ring exit.

05Give your Echo room

  • Echoes are solid. You cannot walk through one.
  • If you stand in an Echo’s way, its attempted step is skipped and you lose extra sand. Its recording does not wait for you to move away.
  • Wait can let an Echo pass or keep you off a lit flux tile. Ending a turn on active flux costs extra sand.
  • Every wait still spends a turn. Plan enough time to finish your own lap.

06Seal the chamber, then descend

  • Finish all the chamber’s laps to seal it. Each later lap has more of your past selves to plan around.
  • Keystones, sparks, successful gate assists, and completed laps earn points. More sand remaining at the exit means a larger lap bonus.
  • After sealing, choose Descend for a deeper chamber or End Run to keep your score.
  • If the sandglass empties, the run ends. There is no fixed final chamber.

A lap spent setting up a useful Echo can make the next lap much easier. The aim is to write a helpful route, not just the shortest one.

Play Hourloom