Wren and the Tidebell is a new top-down adventure game in pixel art that you play right in your browser. You guide Wren, the bell ringer's apprentice, across a small island where the sea has stopped moving. She has a sword and one rare gift: she can ring the little bell shrines that still answer the great Tidebell, and every ring turns the tide for the whole island.
Key Takeaways
- Wren and the Tidebell is a classic top-down action adventure: explore an island screen by screen, fight creatures with a sword, open chests and clear dungeons.
- The big idea is the tide. Ring a bell shrine and the sea drops or rises everywhere at once. Low tide dries the sandbars and opens sea caves; high tide floods them but lifts floating planks into bridges.
- There are four dungeons, three tools (a hook line, a storm lantern and a shell horn) and four guardians, each with a weak moment you have to find.
- Every dungeon has a puzzle: chime stones that play a melody in the right order, and stone blocks you push onto plates, one of them only after the tide goes out.
- The island saves at every room, plays on desktop and phones in English, Spanish and German, and your score goes on a shared leaderboard.
A top-down adventure on an island where the sea stands still
For a hundred years the great Tidebell in the bell tower of Saltmere rang the sea in and out. Then the Undertow rose from the Drowned Bay, cracked the bell and carried its three chimes into the deep. Since that day the water has stood high, the tideflats have stayed flooded and the fishing villages have been waiting for the sea to breathe again.
Saltmere is a small island, 25 screens from the thorny woods and the lighthouse in the north to the harbour and the old chapel on the flats in the south. You walk it one screen at a time, the way the great adventure games of the 8-bit and 16-bit years worked: a fixed view of a room, a path out on each side and something in every screen worth a second look. A bush hides a heart shell, a row of wooden posts crosses a river you can't swim yet, a cave mouth sits just above the waterline.
The people of the island keep you on track. Bram the bell ringer waits beside the cracked Tidebell. Ness runs her stall at the harbour. Hessa keeps the lighthouse. What they say changes after every chime you bring back, so talking to them again is the best hint the game gives you. Signs along the paths do the rest.
How the tide works in Wren and the Tidebell
The tide is what makes this adventure its own. Little stone bell shrines stand around Saltmere, and every one of them is an echo of the great bell. Stand in front of a shrine and strike it, and you hear the ring roll across the island. A moment later the sea moves.
- Low tide dries the tideflats into wet sand. Sandbars join the shore, the mouths of sea caves open and scuttlecrabs come out to skitter sideways across the flats.
- High tide floods the flats again. Lash eels lurk in the water by the paths, and the floating planks along the causeway and the harbour rise level with the piers, so you can walk across them.
Most paths on the island are open at only one of the two tides, and many routes need both. You might ring a shrine to walk out over the sandbars, then ring another on the far side so the planks lift and carry you back. The water does not wait for you either: if the tide rises while you stand on the flats, it sweeps you to the nearest dry ground and you lose half a heart. Look where you stand before you ring.
Dungeons have shrines of their own, so the tide keeps changing the rules underground too. Channels fill and drain, and creatures that hide at one tide come out at the other.
Four dungeons, three tools and the guardians who hold the chimes
The story runs through four dungeons, and each one opens a new part of the island.
- Kelpwick Chapel sits half sunk on the tideflats. Inside you find the hook line, which pulls Wren across water and gaps to old mooring posts and drags small creatures to her.
- Gloam Grotto is a sea cave behind the east cliffs that only opens at low tide. It holds the storm lantern, whose flame burns bramble, lights braziers and lights up the dark rooms of the cave.
- Windward Spire stands on a rock in the north east. Its prize is the shell horn, a blast of sound that blows sand dunes away and stuns every creature around you.
- The Undertow's Hall waits under the bay. You can only reach it after the three chimes are back and the Tidebell rings again.
Small keys open locked doors inside each dungeon, a great key opens the guardian's room, and a floor plan shows you which rooms you have missed. Every tool also opens new places back on the surface: the posts across the east ravine, the bramble at the foot of the spire, the dunes in front of the old gate.
The guardians are the fights you will remember. The Bellshell is a giant hermit crab hiding under a cracked church bell, and the Gloam Moray lunges out of the pools of the grotto. The Gale Heron circles the top of the spire and dives at Wren from above, and the Undertow itself swims through the flooded hall. None of them can be beaten by swinging the sword and hoping. Each one has a weak moment, and the tool you found in that dungeon is usually the key to it.
Puzzles in every dungeon: chime stones and stone blocks
Besides the keys and the guardians, every dungeon has a puzzle of its own.
In Kelpwick Chapel and in the Undertow's Hall you meet chime stones: small, middle and large stones that ring high, middle and deep when you strike them. A sign nearby gives you a melody in words, and the coloured ring around each stone tells you which voice it has. Play the notes in the right order and a gate opens. Hit a wrong note and the tune starts over. The last stone in the Undertow's Hall stands on a little island in the water, so you have to reach it with the hook line.
In Gloam Grotto and Windward Spire you push stone blocks. Lean on a block and Wren shoves it one tile at a time. Get it onto the plate in the floor and the gate stays open. The block in the cellar of the spire adds a twist: it will not slide over flooded tideflats, so you first have to find a shrine and bring the tide down. If you push a block into a corner, walk out of the room and it slides back to where it started.
Tips for your first hour on Saltmere
Wren and the Tidebell is built to be finished in about an hour on a first trip, and these tips save you most of the wandering.
- Start with Bram. He stands beside the Tidebell in the bell tower and tells you where to go first: ring the shrine in Saltmere square, then walk south over the dry flats to Kelpwick Chapel.
- Talk to villagers again. Their advice changes after every chime. If you are stuck, a quick visit to Ness or Hessa usually points the way.
- Ring with care. Check the ground under your feet before you change the tide, and remember which shrine is closest if you need to change it back.
- Collect heart shells. Wren starts with three hearts and gains one for every guardian and one for every four heart shells. Shells hide behind bramble, under dunes and across gaps you can only cross with the right tool.
- Spend your sea glass. Pots, chests and creatures drop sea glass. Ness sells a kelp tonic that gets you back on your feet once, and a single heart shell.
- Press M for the map. It shows the island and, once you find a floor plan, the rooms of the dungeon you are in.
On a keyboard you move with the arrow keys or WASD, strike and talk with Z or Space, use your tool with X and swap tools with C. On a phone or tablet a stick moves Wren and three buttons on the right handle the sword, the tool and the swap.
Score, saves and the leaderboard
Your score counts what you achieve, not what you farm. Each tool is worth 500 points, each chime 1,500, each guardian 1,000, each heart shell 100 and each chest 50. Beating the Undertow adds a finale bonus of up to 2,000 points, which shrinks by 100 for every fall, and a speed bonus if you finish within 90 minutes of play. Sea glass never counts, so there is nothing to gain from fighting the same crab over and over.
The island saves every time you enter a room and whenever you find something. Close the tab and come back tomorrow, and Continue on the title screen puts you right where you left off. If you are logged in, your save follows you to other devices too. When you fall, you can continue from the start of the room with full hearts, or save and quit and post your score.
Also new: Pixel Kart 2
Wren and the Tidebell arrives together with Pixel Kart 2, the sequel to our first kart racer. This time the tracks climb over hills, lean through banked turns, launch you off ramps and cross over themselves on bridges. Drift until the sparks turn purple for the biggest turbo, fire bananas and homing shells, and race four tracks in the Grand Prix. If you liked the original Pixel Kart, the sequel is a big step up.
Frequently asked questions
How do I play Wren and the Tidebell?
Open the game page and press Play. Move Wren with the arrow keys or WASD, strike with Z or Space and use your tool with X. Your goal is to win back the three chimes from three dungeons, ring the Tidebell and face the Undertow under the bay.
How does the tide work?
Ring any bell shrine and the tide turns on the whole island. At low tide the tideflats and sandbars are dry; at high tide they are water, but the floating planks rise and become bridges. Many paths are open at only one tide, so you will ring shrines often.
Can I play Wren and the Tidebell on my phone?
Yes. On a phone or tablet you get a stick to move Wren and buttons for the sword, the tool and the swap. The game works upright and sideways, and your progress saves at every room.
How long does it take to finish?
A first trip through Saltmere is built to take about an hour. Players who know the island can finish much faster, and the speed bonus rewards a quick finish within 90 minutes of play.
Is my progress saved?
Yes. The island saves every time you enter a room and whenever you find something. If you are logged in, the save also follows you to other devices.
What languages is the game available in?
English, Spanish and German, like the rest of PixelDen.
Play Wren and the Tidebell now
Wren and the Tidebell is a full top-down adventure game you can start in seconds: an island that floods and drains at the ring of a bell, four dungeons with puzzles and guardians, and three tools that keep opening new paths. Ring the first shrine and watch the sea pull back. Play Wren and the Tidebell in your browser, and when you want more dungeons, try the first person crawl of Dungeon Cast, the party dungeon of Detention Deep or the night time stealth of Shadow Heist, or browse the full game catalog.