Lantern River is a game with nothing to win. You stand by a river at night, click, and a paper lantern drifts away toward the horizon. There is no score, no timer, no goal and no interface.
Open it full screen → Click or tap anywhere on the river to release a lantern.
What is on the screen#
The river is drawn in perspective. Lanterns start large near you and shrink toward the horizon. Most are square or round paper lanterns. Rarer ones are lotus flowers and little candle boats. Each has its own coloured glow, reflected in the water.
The sky has twinkling stars, slowly drifting constellations and a moon that goes through its phases. Lanterns follow the current, drift a little and bump into each other. Some flicker out or slowly sink. Nothing you do can be lost.
It belongs to the genre of comfort games, where atmosphere matters more than mechanics.
How it is built#
TypeScript and PixiJS 8, built with Vite. Colours and timings sit in one configuration file. Ambient sound through the Web Audio API is planned but not built yet.