What is hearthfall?

HEARTHFALL is a browser game where you run a small community trying to survive as long as possible against raids, hunger, and the changing seasons. It draws its style from colony survival games, mixing settlement building with the pressure of defending your people from attacks, and it uses a run-based structure where your community will eventually fall, after which what you achieved is turned into permanent bonuses for your next attempt. A character called the Elder guides new players through the basics, explains one-time tips as they become relevant, and constantly points out whatever problem is most urgent for your commune, with their expression changing to reflect how much trouble is brewing. The sidebar keeps you informed about what is coming that night, how much food you have left, when new settlers might arrive, and why morale is at its current level. You assign settlers to roles such as building, farming, or guarding, construct homes and defenses, manage food through farming, fishing, and cooking, and trade with a visiting caravan for coin and supplies. Different starting peoples give small advantages, such as faster crop growth or tougher walls, and settlers each carry personal traits that affect how they behave in the game. Raids arrive periodically and grow more dangerous over time, including specialized attackers that smash walls, steal from your stockpile, or set wooden buildings on fire, culminating in occasional larger hordes led by a named warlord. A run can end in defeat, after which your save is deleted and progress carries forward only through permanent legacy perks bought with points earned from your performance, or in victory by building a special structure called the Beacon and defending it for several days. The game runs entirely in the browser using plain JavaScript modules with no external frameworks, drawing everything to a single canvas, and can be played with either a keyboard or a game controller.