Heartlight (video game)

Heartlight

Industry	Video games
Founded	1990
Founder	Janusz Pelc
Products	Puzzle video game

Heartlight is a puzzle video game created by Janusz Pelc for the Atari 8-bit computers platform in 1990. In 1994, Epic MegaGames released a version for MS-DOS called Heartlight PC as part of the Epic Puzzle Pack, which also featured two other games by Pelc. The shareware edition contains 20 levels, whereas the complete Heartlight Deluxe includes a total of 70 stages. In 2006, Maciej Miąsik, who co-developed the MS-DOS adaptation, made the game available as freeware under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.5 license and published its source code. A browser-based version with enhanced visuals was introduced in 2020.

Gameplay

The gameplay takes place on a 12×20 tile grid and resembles mechanics found in Boulder Dash and Supaplex. Players control an elf named Percival, whose goal is to collect every heart and then exit the level. Various elements such as bombs, rocks, and hearts exhibit distinct behaviors—bombs detonate upon activation, rocks can crush Percival or trigger bomb explosions, and hearts serve both as collectibles and potential obstacles. The game does not impose time constraints or limited lives but does not allow saving progress during play.

Reception

In June 1994, Computer Gaming World described Heartlight as "a delightful logic-based game" with engaging gameplay that compensates for its modest graphics and sound design. Subsequently, it was included in the Epic Puzzle Pack, which received a rating of 3 out of 5 stars from Sandy Petersen in issue #206 of Dragon.

Reviews

• PC Joker (October 1993)