Every run is one night's performance that old Semar plays behind the white screen. Every death, the shadow slides back onto the kelir, and the lamp is lit again.
Eight hundred years ago Prabu Jayabaya, prophet-king of Kediri, wrote the Jangka: a prophecy of the ages of Java. The darkest of them he named Zaman Kalabendu, the Age of Calamity, when the wheel of time is swallowed and the kraton forgets its own name.
He wrote one more line that no scribe ever copied: when Kala eats the lamp, he would return as a shadow, and the keris of Ismaya would cut the night open.
Batara Kala, the giant who devours time, was bound for centuries by the ruwatan, the cleansing play the dalang performs each year. Then the last court dalang was murdered mid-performance and his blencong lamp snuffed out. The binding broke.
Kala's breath, the violet Pedhut Kala, rolled over the kraton. The palace guard swelled into green Buto. The dead stood up in their shrouds, Tuyul ran the markets, Kuntilanak laughed in the banyan trees, and the clock of the world stopped at the hour before dawn.
The kraton rots, the dead walk, and time itself has stopped at the hour before dawn.The Dalang
Semar, who is really the god Sanghyang Ismaya in the body of a fat old clown, cannot fight Kala himself: that is not his place in the story. What he can do is perform.
He cuts a new puppet from buffalo hide in Jayabaya's image, hands it Kyai Maya, the keris of Ismaya whose name means illusion, and lights the blencong. The shadow on the screen opens its eyes and steps off the kelir into the world.
As long as the blencong burns, Jayabaya cannot truly die. When he falls, his shadow returns to the screen, and Semar, grumbling, lights the lamp and starts the play from the first scene. Each performance he tries a new improvisation; each performance the gods lean a little closer to watch.
You died? In a wayang, only the audience can die, and only of boredom. Up you get.Semar
The rotting kraton. Guardian: Ditya Kala Cakil.
Playable in demoThe drowned southern sea. A tale of grief.
PlayableThe burning mountain. A tale of wrath.
PlayableThe crater of time, where Batara Kala waits.
PlayableA shadow king, a clown who is secretly a god, a shopkeeper who is everywhere, the gods leaning over the screen, and the dancer who has lost for eight hundred years.
THE SHADOW KINGA wayang ksatria given flesh: golden prada face, curled topknot and crown, indigo parang batik and a crimson sash. He speaks rarely, with a dry, calm humour, and treats Kala's servants with courtesy before he cuts them down.
Kyai Maya · three-cut Tusuk Luk, the serpentine thrown keris Luk Naga, rooting Rajah sigils, Banaspati fire, and the Lampah Wayang dash that flattens him into a leather shadow puppet.
Cakil. We have danced this dance before.Jayabaya
THE DALANGPuppeteer, narrator and grumbling father figure. He carved Jayabaya, relights the lamp after every death and waits behind the screen in the Kelir hub. He jokes, he farts, and he quietly knows everything.
Back behind the screen again, eh? Never mind. A good lakon has many rehearsals.Semar
THE MERCHANTThe tall, long-nosed punakawan who somehow has a warung inside every level. Trade him your Kepeng coins for a god's berkah, a jamu tonic or the essence of a pusaka.
Welcome to Warung Petruk! Everything's for sale, even my nose. Well… not my nose.Petruk
GOD OF WINDBoisterous and fond of the little shadow. His berkah hurl foes across the room; anyone slammed into a wall takes extra punishment.
Prahara · heavy knockback, whirlwind dashes, a tornado Rajah and a cyclone Aji.
Little shadow! Let my wind carry your keris!Batara Bayu
GOD OF THE SUNProud and burning, he lends Jayabaya the fire of the noon sky. His gifts set foes alight and let the burn stack until they crumble to ash.
Geni · burning strikes, sun-fire pools, a scorching skin and a falling sun disc for an Aji.
The sun has not forgotten Java. Burn them, Jayabaya.Batara Surya
QUEEN OF THE SEASerene and ancient, she remembers the king of Kediri. Her tide drags at Kala's servants, and whatever it slows, it wounds more deeply.
Ombak · slowing strikes, dashes that end in a wave, pearls of vigour and a drowning tidal Aji.
The Southern Sea remembers your name, king of Kediri. Take my tide.Kanjeng Ratu Kidul
KING OF THE GODSKala was born of his stray seed, a son no one wanted. Guru carries that shame, and he answers it with thunder that leaps from foe to foe.
Bledhek · chain lightning, bolts on every keris throw, lightning pillars and a storm of bolts for an Aji.
Kala is my blood, and my shame. Strike him down with my thunder.Batara Guru
LORD OF RAINKing of the gods' heaven and lord of the rain. He rides the white elephant Airawata and drops the sky on those who trouble it.
Udan Es · hail that freezes foes in place, and ice spikes bursting from the ground for an Aji.
From Kahyangan I send the rain and the hail. Let the sky fall on Kala's servants, little king!Batara Indra
NAGA KINGThe great naga who coils beneath the island and holds the earth together. He is slow to wake and slower to forgive.
Wisa & Bumi · lingering venom, stone spikes and quakes, and dragon scales that turn blows aside.
Beneath every kingdom, I hold the earth together. Take my venom, little king, and my stone.Batara Antaboga
More gods lean over the screen as the night goes on, each with a blessing of their own. Meet them in the lakon.
BOSS · ACT IThe twitchy, underbite raksasa of the Perang Kembang, the flower battle every ksatria must win. He has lost it in every performance for eight hundred years, so he made a deal with Kala to win just once. Twin keris, lunging combos and storms of petals.
Eight hundred years I have lost this dance. Not tonight!Cakil
More sidekicks and more bosses await.
Eight chambers of a rotting kraton, drawn fresh each lakon.
Three trailers, and six paintings from the lakon. Open one to browse them and download it as a 4K wallpaper.
Three-cut combos, a keris thrown in a serpent's wave, rajah sigils that root the crowd, and Banaspati, a flaming skull hurled from your palm.
Dash through anything. For a heartbeat your body flattens into a black leather puppet, trailing violet afterimages.
Wind, sun, sea and thunder: mix four gods' blessings and the Pusaka Sari into a different build every run.
Fall, and return to the Kelir. Feed the blencong with lamp oil for lasting power, then step through the screen again.
Take the lakon with you.
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