BRIGHTMOOR launches as a dark Ultima-style C64 RPG

BRIGHTMOOR is a new Commodore 64 role-playing game from developer J5, built in 6502 assembly on the engine used for GloomKeep II. It is now available through itch.io for $4 or more, with a disk image for PAL and NTSC machines and emulators. ¹²

The game begins with a bell that once protected the moor at dawn. King Mordran, afraid of death, makes a bargain with an ancient force beneath the land; when the bell falls silent, he becomes the Hollow King and the world is trapped in twilight. The player takes the role of a lone hero trying to restore daylight by descending into six Gloomholds and defeating the oath-lords inside them. ¹

A deliberately old-school adventure

J5 describes BRIGHTMOOR as an Ultima-style adventure rather than a modern remake dressed in retro pixels. Its world spans 64 by 64 tiles, with six fixed regions and towns, while the wilderness, roads and Gloomhold locations are reshuffled for each new game. That gives the familiar C64 framework a useful reason to replay the adventure instead of merely presenting a museum-piece setting. ¹

Players can choose a warrior, wizard or ranger. The classes change how the player deals with the moor: the warrior leans on armour and hit points, the wizard uses light and spells, and the ranger can move through woods freely while striking enemies that have not spotted her. The game also uses line of sight, so terrain and darkness affect both exploration and combat. ¹

The calendar runs through twelve months, with night reducing visibility to three steps and bringing out more dangerous creatures. J5 says the game includes nearly forty beasts, including wolves, spiders, frogmen, orcs, trolls, skeletons and wraiths. Towns such as Thornhollow, Stonegard, Merelight, Saltmarsh, Cinderford and Dawnhaven provide places to trade, gather information and pick up errands before the next descent. ¹

Six holds stand between the hero and daylight

Each Gloomhold descends one to three floors before its oath-lord. Wounded bosses can summon reinforcements, while victories may grant named artefacts including the Sunblade, Runestaff, Elven Bow, Starmantle, Warden Cloak and Rune Helm. The structure gives the game a clear rhythm: explore a changing region, learn where its hold has appeared, then push into a dungeon where the rules become less forgiving. ¹

The final sequence opens after five holds have fallen, sending the player towards a sixth confrontation in Dawnhaven. BRIGHTMOOR also includes a bestiary, atlas, quest book, save system and optional permadeath. Its SID soundtrack draws on classical pieces arranged for the C64, while the developer credits Kenney and Hexany's CC0 material and Kcaze's CC BY 4.0 creature art alongside the game's original work. ¹

Our opinion

BRIGHTMOOR's strongest idea is not simply that it looks like an Ultima-style C64 game. It is that the randomised wilderness and changing dungeon locations make the format's limitations part of the design. The fixed towns give players familiar anchors, while the shifting routes and holds mean a remembered solution should not completely flatten the next run.

The result sounds like a focused piece of modern homebrew: technically rooted in the Commodore 64, but designed around replayable exploration rather than nostalgia alone. J5's itch.io page says the game is released now, costs $4 or more and includes a 170 kB disk image, so the barrier to trying it is low for players already comfortable with VICE or real hardware. ¹