In Nix Umbra, you appear in a pitch dark forest, with the simple text "Light is my Sword. Darkness shall Perish", and a floating sword in front of you. Any attempt to walk away from the sword too far, will end the run and start you over.

Once you collect the sword, your goal is to kill enemies and to survive as long as possible.

The most basic mechanic in the game is attacking with Mouse1. As you hold attack, you shine a light from your sword forward, doing damage to enemies. The catch, is this slowly drains your health.

Most enemies don't need much to kill them, and will react with a flash when they die.


Your health(your Light) is represented by the circle inside the sun in the bottom right, and how filled it is. Most enemies only need to touch you to hurt you, or to be near you for long enough. Damage dealt by enemies varies, but can be as much as 50% of your health in one attack.


Your health recovers at a slow rate by itself, but there are two other ways to heal.



Standing next to burning trees will slowly heal you. You can also set trees on fire directly, by walking into them. This does expend ~25% of your health, and will make you lose all your crystals (more later), so is not advisable.



Looking directly at the Moon orbiting in the sky will quickly heal you, while also causing you to become disorientated. After a moment of looking, your mouse controls will become inverted, and will take several seconds with no looking to return to normal.


Occasionally you can find Roses, they heal you in the same way the Moon does. Looking at them will also cause disorientation, and after enough, they will disappear.


Your main source of power are Crystals scattered across the level. As you collect them, the aura of light around you grows, and it fills a ring of the sun around your health. Once you fill the entire ring, it will start to glow. Holding Mouse1 down, will teleport you to a ring of fire, where you can select a Powerup

Being hit by basic enemies will cause you to lose all your crystals, and some enemies can take crystals from your, or steal them from the level.


There are two methods of locating crystals:


The stars in the sky actually represent the locations of the crystals, and crystals are located directly below them. Mushrooms also allow you to see further, and see more stars, making finding (but not collecting) crystals easier.



You are able to look through the sword and see crystals directly, provided they are not occluded by trees or rocks.

Provides a speed boost for a short period of time. Does not stack. Makes you shorter, so you cannot pick up crystals unless you can jump.

When you fill your Crystal ring, you can hold down attack to teleport to a ring of fire, and select one of three powerups.


This acts as a small flashlight, which can glance off crystals in the far distance or reveal enemies. It does not appear to damage enemies.


Significantly increases your movement speed. Extremely advised, as this lets you collect crystals faster, before they are stolen, and lets you escape or dodge enemies easier.


Lets you jump. Allows you to collect crystals while using mushrooms.


Creates a friendly Fairy that won't steal crystals, but will occasionally fly around you, creating light to heal you.


Only available if you have another powerup (???). Slows you back down to normal speed.


Only available if you have another powerup (???). Lets you dash forward with shift. Extremely fast, possibly faster movement than Boots, but more controllable.


Only available if you have two other powerups (???) Sets the ground on fire behind where you walk. Does not give off light or appear to do damage. Can set Spiders on fire. Terrifying, but not sure if it does damage.


Rare. Never seen.


Rare. Never seen.

The most common enemy. They appear and fly slowly towards you, with a dull groaning sound. They deal 50% of your health as damage, and you lose all your crystals.


Will repeatedly spawn from a large burning tree that can appear. They act like Skulls.


Appear further away from the centre of the level. They are faster, and their sound is higher pitched and more chaotic. They deal small amounts of damage quickly once they climb on top of you.



One or two Fairies continuously fly around the level, and can be seen chasing the Moon. Faries cannot be killed. If you don't ward them off by attacking them when near you, they will steal nearby uncollected crystals.


A flock of birds also follows the Moon. The birds do low damage, but each hit can steal some crystals. They cannot be killed, but can be warded off by attacking.


The Giant Skull is unkillable, but slower than the player, so can only be outrun. Can appear near lightning flashes that will damage the player and steal crystals, and when close to it, it will repeatedly attack the player while they are close.


A giant hand. Can appear in the sky, and will slam down towards you, taking all your crystals and dealing damage. Typically will only damage you once then disappear, making it difficult to see it coming.


The Skeleton Ring is normally invisible, but moves around the level in a circle. The Moon orbits it. If you spend too much time near it, it can make itself visible, and the ring will begin lifting you off the ground, and if you are drawn up to the ring, you will instantly die. A "singing" / ringing voice will signal it is arriving, and it requires attacking for several seconds to make it disappear.


An invisible enemy can rarely appear and attack you. It is signalled by loud constant whispering when you cannot see any other enemy. Requires a lot of damage to kill and is difficult to locate.

Occasionally you can find a ruined tower, containing an Orb. If you look into the Orb for long enough, you will be teleported to a new location. You will be inside a floating orb, with all the remaining stars surrounded it, and able to fly freely around.

As you fly, gravity will pull you back into the centre, and Skulls will continuously spawn. If you collect stars inside this area, they will fill your ring like crystals would, provided you exit the area by returning into the centre orb. If you are damaged enough if this area, you will be teleported out, and will lose all your crystals.


Pools of water can appear further away from the centre. They give off a significant amount of light, but don't appear to heal you. Walking into one will cause you to sink to the bottom, returning to the level but with your screen flipped upside down. Entering a pool again can revert your screen.

No other known effects.



To use the Cross, walk behind you when you start. You will find an apple. Eat the apple, and the Sword is replaced with a Cross. The Cross functions similarly to the Sword, except you cannot look through it to find crystals. It appears to make no other difference.

(Possibly a larger health/light pool?)