Trimming the lamp wicks…
No ads in the Tholos — one beam, thirty doors, no clock
Play Helios: The Solar Labyrinth — a free Greek-myth light puzzle
Play Helios: The Solar Labyrinth free. A Greek-myth light puzzle of bronze mirrors and prisms: relight thirty sealed chambers and free the priestess Kleio.
Helios: The Solar Labyrinth is a free browser light-beam puzzle built on Greek myth. Nyx unstrung the seven mirrors from the sun's chariot, the island of Delos went dark, and the mirror-priestess Kleio sealed herself inside the Tholos with the last of the light. You are the lampwright: one ember in a clay cup, thirty locked chambers between you and the morning, and nothing to work with except bronze, glass and angles.
Every chamber is a small grid of temple floor. A sun shard throws one beam of light. Bronze mirrors turn a quarter at a time under your finger, and the beam redraws the instant one moves. Light every sun seal at the same moment and the door opens. That is the whole game — and it is deeper than it sounds, because from the orchard onward the temple starts fighting back: splitting crystals cut one beam into two, colour crystals repaint whatever passes through them, veils swallow every colour but their own, and the stone-framed mirrors of the old architects refuse to move at all.
How to play
- Turn a mirror. Tap or click any bronze mirror to rotate it a quarter turn. The beam redraws instantly — there is no confirm button and no penalty for experimenting.
- Light every seal. A chamber opens when every sun seal is lit at the same time. One beam is rarely enough by the second act.
- Split the dawn. Splitting crystals send one ray straight through and one off at a right angle, so a single emitter can feed several seals at once.
- Mind the colour. A seal only accepts the colour it was cut for. Route beams through crystals to repaint them; a veil only lets its own colour pass.
- Match par. Par is the exact minimum number of turns — not an estimate. Match it for three stars; finish within four turns of it for two.
The pieces, exactly
| Piece | What it does | Can you turn it? |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze mirror | Reflects the beam 90° | Yes — every tap is a quarter turn |
| Temple mirror (stone frame) | Reflects the beam 90° | No — part of the architecture |
| Splitting crystal | One ray straight through, one at a right angle | Yes — swaps which way the split goes |
| Colour crystal | Repaints any beam that passes through | No — it is what it is |
| Veil | Passes its own colour, swallows the rest | No |
| Stone wall | Swallows everything | No |
| Sun seal | The lock — lights when a matching beam arrives | It is the goal, not a tool |
The four acts of the ascent
| Act | Chambers | Where you are | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| I · The Drowned Light | 1–8 | The outer stoa of Delos | Learn the mirrors; the first seals open |
| II · The Brazen Orchard | 9–16 | The bronze grove below the temple | Fixed temple mirrors, first splitting crystals, two emitters |
| III · The Prism Halls | 17–24 | Where Nyx cut the mirrors | Colour crystals and veils make colour a resource |
| IV · The Tholos of Mirrors | 25–30 | The sealed round house | Three emitters, dense grids, Kleio behind the last door |
Why every chamber can be finished
Par is not a designer's guess. Every chamber was checked by an exact solver that walks the full space of mirror positions, so the recorded par is the true shortest solution, and the chamber you get always has at least one winning position. The endless Long Noon mode builds each fresh chamber from a fixed seed and runs the same solver before you ever see it, so an endless round can never hand you an impossible room. There is no timer, no lives and no way to lose — the only question is how few turns you need.
Strategy that actually works
- Follow the beam, not the seals. Turn one mirror and watch where the light actually ends. Chambers are lost by planning three moves ahead on a board that changed after move one.
- Work backwards from the seals. A seal tells you the direction and colour it needs. Find the mirror nearest that approach line and the puzzle halves.
- Splitters are multipliers, not obstacles. When one beam becomes two, place the split early and give each branch the shortest route to a seal.
- Veils are free information. They tell you which colour a corridor expects. If your beam is the wrong colour, look for the crystal, not another mirror.
- Undo is not cheating. Par counts the board, not your curiosity. Undo, reset and replay are all free.
Technical notes
Everything is generated: no image is loaded by the game, no audio file is played, and no third-party script runs. The temple, the mirrors, the veils and the light are drawn on a Canvas 2D surface from the same chamber data the solver reads, and every chime, click and seal-tone is synthesised with the Web Audio API. It runs on desktop, tablet and phone in portrait or landscape with touch, mouse or keyboard (R reset, U undo, H hint). Progress, stars and your deepest endless chamber are stored locally under helios.solar.v1. Nothing is uploaded, because there is no server.
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Helios: The Solar Labyrinth — frequently asked questions
What is Helios: The Solar Labyrinth?
It is a free browser light-beam puzzle built on Greek myth. Nyx unstrung the seven mirrors of the sun chariot, the island of Delos went dark, and the mirror-priestess Kleio sealed herself inside the Tholos to keep the dark from eating the island's memory. You are the last lampwright, carrying one ember in a clay cup, and you relight thirty sealed chambers by turning bronze mirrors until the light reaches every sun seal.
How do you play it?
Tap or click any bronze mirror or splitting crystal to turn it a quarter turn. The beam redraws instantly, reflecting off every mirror it touches. Light every sun seal in the chamber and the door opens. Press R to reset the chamber, U to undo, and H for a hint from Kleio. There is no timer and no way to lose: the only score is how few turns you needed against the chamber's par.
What are prisms, crystals and veils?
A splitting crystal divides one beam into two: one ray passes straight through, the other leaves at a right angle, so a single emitter can light several seals at once. A colour crystal repaints any beam that passes through it, and a sun seal only accepts the colour it was cut for. A veil is a hanging cloth dyed to one colour: light of that colour passes, and light of any other colour is swallowed. Stone walls swallow everything.
Why does my beam stop before the seal?
Three things stop light: a stone wall, a veil of the wrong colour, and the edge of the chamber. If the beam reaches a seal and nothing happens, the seal is the wrong colour for that beam, so route it through a crystal of the seal's colour first. Fixed temple mirrors with a stone frame cannot be turned, so they have to be worked around rather than moved.
How are the stars awarded?
One star for opening the chamber. Two stars if you finish within four turns of par. Three stars if you match par exactly, which is the true minimum: the game solved every chamber exhaustively, so par is not an estimate but the shortest possible solution. Extra turns cost nothing except stars, and you can reset and try again at any time.
Is there an endless mode?
Yes. The Long Noon builds a fresh chamber every round, larger and denser as you go, from a fixed seed. Every generated chamber is checked by the same solver before you see it, so an endless round can never hand you an impossible room. Your best run and the deepest chamber you reached are kept in your browser.
Does it work on phones and does it save progress?
It runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet or phone, in portrait or landscape, with touch, mouse or keyboard. Chambers, stars and your endless best are stored locally under helios.solar.v1. Nothing is uploaded, because the game has no server and loads no third-party script.