Games5 min readOctober 3, 2026

The Oath Below: Reopen the Path. Restore the Light.

The Oath Below is a Metroidvania action-platformer set in a sunken citadel. Four chapters. Three Divine Sun Seals. A compass that guides you from within. Platforming, combat, world-shifting, and ancient mechanisms — the fourth product in the Games category and the first that asks you to explore rather than survive.

The first three games in this portfolio are about pressure. VOIDLINE fills the screen with bullets. PERIGEE demands chain-perfect precision. Marrow Sound gives you three minutes and no good options.

The Oath Below is different. It gives you time. It gives you a world. It asks you to find the path.

What The Oath Below is

The Oath Below is a browser-based Metroidvania action-platformer. The setting is a sunken citadel — a drowned city where the light has gone out. The gates are sealed. The path forward is buried under water, stone, and broken mechanisms.

Your job: reopen the path and restore the light.

The four chapters

The citadel unfolds across four chapters, each with its own terrain, hazards, and mechanical signature.

Chapter I: The Fallen Court — the entry point. Ruined passages, deep water, the first encounters. The spawning area branches into the citadel’s main routes.

Chapter II: The Drowned Aqueduct — water control and aqueduct mechanics. The second Divine Sun Seal is here.

Chapter III: The Ashen Forge — large valves, intense thermal obstacles, and the third seal. The forge demands precision platforming through heat.

Chapter IV: The Last Oath — the final chapter. Complete the remaining seals, bring the light down through the citadel, and open the city gates.

The mechanics

Platforming and traversal — move with A/D or arrow keys, press Space or Up to jump, double-jump with a second press. High ledge traversal extends vertical reach.

Combat and deflection — aim with the mouse, hold J to fire at nearby enemies. Press Shift/M to dash, which also deflects incoming projectiles. Combat is directional, not twitch — positioning and timing matter more than speed.

World-shifting — press Q to shift between worlds. Blue or gold bridges that appear translucent become solid. Concealed guards are exposed. The citadel has two layers, and progress requires reading both.

Environmental mechanisms — press E at aqueduct wheels and forge valves to operate them. The citadel is mechanical — water flows, heat vents, gates open when the right mechanism engages.

Shrines — restore full vitality and establish active checkpoints throughout the citadel. Shrines are the save system.

The three seals

Three Divine Sun Seals are required to open the citadel gates. The compass tracks them. Each seal is gated behind the chapter’s core challenge — not just enemies, but understanding how the environment works and which world-layer reveals the path forward.

Lost Oaths

Hidden throughout the citadel are three Lost Oaths — upgrades to the player’s Bronze Oath. Finding them requires exploring beyond the critical path, reading the environment for structural cues, and using world-shifting to access concealed areas.

Why this game in this portfolio

VOIDLINE asks: can you survive aggression? PERIGEE asks: can you maintain precision? Marrow Sound asks: can you triage under constraint? The Oath Below asks: can you find the path when it is buried?

Exploration is a different kind of skill. It rewards patience, observation, and willingness to revisit what you thought you understood. The citadel does not rush you. It waits.

Every governance framework, every complex system, every institutional transformation has buried paths — routes that only become visible when you shift perspective, operate a mechanism you did not initially understand, or return to a room you thought was empty.