The Anchorite

About The Anchorite

The Anchorite is a point-and-click adventure with horror at its edges, made in two weeks by beyondbooleans for the Adventure X Jam 2024. It went on to win the Adventure Game Studio community's Short Game of the Year award for 2024. It can be played in the browser or downloaded for Windows.

A young boy, Amos, wakes in a strange set of rooms at the top of a tower and is told he is now the Anchorite. He must keep three commandments: complete the daily tasks, never look upon the sullied, never leave the tower. He is told this is the road to enlightenment and for the good of the city below. The game shows those rooms in warm, detailed pixel art: a study with a bookshelf and a writing desk, a bedroom with a fire, a walled garden under glass.

You spend your days as the Anchorite, doing the tasks you are set, reading and tending the garden, a routine that seems safe and serene. Then something appears at the window. From there the mystery opens up, and the game asks what the commandments are really for.

It suits players who like classic point-and-click adventures and slow-building, unsettling stories more than scares.

How to play The Anchorite

1. Press play and click to walk Amos around the tower's rooms.
2. Click on objects to look at them and use them, and talk to the voices that guide you.
3. Complete each day's tasks to move time forward.
4. Follow what changes from day to day to uncover the mystery and reach an ending.

Screenshots

Tips

• Look at everything in each room every day; small things change.
• Read the books and notes on the shelves.
• If the browser version misbehaves, the maker recommends the latest download.

Questions