Seventh Moon

An original first-person ghost story set in Taiwan's Ghost Month. Search your late grandmother's rain-soaked townhouse, ask the altar with moon blocks and keep a promise.

Seventh Moon (七月) is an original first-person psychological horror story. It is a rainy night in the seventh lunar month, Ghost Month, in a small Taiwanese town in the early 1990s. The night after your grandmother's funeral you come home to her two-story townhouse. Your family is at the temple for an overnight sutra service, and you are alone with the red-lit family altar, her tailoring shop and a cassette she mailed you last year that you never played. Explore by flashlight. Find incense and matches, light incense at the altar, and ask the ancestors yes-or-no questions by throwing moon blocks (擲筊): one flat and one round side up means yes, both flat means ask again, both round means no. Every answer changes the house. The upstairs corridor loops back on itself, and each time around the house is a little more wrong: lights fail, photographs change, water drips from the ceiling and someone is glimpsed at the edge of the beam. Read Dad's note, Grandma's offering list and old letters, wind a tangled tape back with a pencil, restring a broken prayer-bead bracelet and burn silver paper in a bucket on the balcony to learn why the house will not let you go. There is no combat. Dread comes from sound, light and space, with only three sudden moments. Three endings depend on what you found and how you answered. Buddhist and folk-religious practice is shown with care, and the story, characters and house are original. Every line is in Traditional Chinese with English. Content note: psychological horror about grief, with death (backstory only) and a ghost. A few sudden scares (Gentle mode turns them off) and flickering light. No gore.

By Goblin Originals

How to play

WASD and mouse / joystick and drag / E interact, F flashlight

Press Begin. Read Dad's note on the shop counter, then look around with the flashlight. Point at something and a text prompt appears: press E, click, or tap the 互動 (interact) button to pick it up, read it, open a door or use it. Some actions, like winding the tape, need E held down.

Find the incense in the altar drawer and the matches in the kitchen, then use the altar and choose Light incense. The incense burns for about four minutes and the house is calmer while it burns, so relight it when it goes out. The drawer holds plenty of sticks.

To ask a question, use the altar, choose Ask with the moon blocks and pick a question, then throw with Space, E, a click or the 擲筊 button. One flat and one round side up (聖筊) means yes, both flat (笑筊) means ask again, and both round (陰筊) means no. The answer is always written out in Chinese and English with a shape symbol, never shown by color alone.

Each answer, and each time you pass through the door at the end of the upstairs corridor, changes the house. The objective line at the top says what to look for next. Play Grandma's cassette, read what you find and make your offerings to reach one of three endings.

Keyboard: WASD or the arrow keys to walk, Shift to walk briskly, the mouse to look (click the scene to capture the mouse, or drag), E to interact, F for the flashlight, Q to skip a cassette line, I or Tab for your items, and Esc or P to pause. Touch: the left stick walks, dragging on the right looks around, and the on-screen buttons interact, toggle the light and throw the blocks.

Tips

Grandma's offering list and her cassette explain how to prepare before the final question. Read them, and mind which fruit you choose.

Important requests need three yes answers in a row. If the blocks keep saying no or laughing, the reason line under the result tells you what is still missing.

Notes and keepsakes found in a run add to your score, and so does restringing the broken bracelet at the sewing machine.

Gentle mode, on the title screen and in the pause menu, removes the sudden scares and strobing light without changing the story, puzzles, endings or score.

If the house is too dark on your screen, raise Brightness in Settings (on the title screen or in the pause menu).

Is Seventh Moon scary?

It is a slow, atmospheric psychological horror story about grief, with a ghost and three sudden moments. There is no combat and no gore. Gentle mode removes the sudden scares and strobing light. Content note: death appears in the backstory only, and there is flickering light.

How long is it, and how many endings are there?

A first playthrough takes about 30 to 45 minutes. There are three endings, decided by what you find and how you answer at the altar. The title screen counts the endings you have found.

Does Seventh Moon save my progress?

Yes, on Goblin Arcade. Your run is saved each time the corridor loops, along with your settings, the endings you have found and your best score, so you can choose Continue later. Played outside the arcade, progress lasts until the page closes.

Can I play if I am colorblind?

Yes. Every moon-block result is written out in Traditional Chinese and English with a shape symbol, and things you can use show a text prompt and a reticle that changes shape. No information is carried by color alone.

Is it based on another game?

No. The story, characters, house and puzzles are original. It draws on the mood of Taiwanese Ghost Month and shows family altar customs, incense and moon blocks respectfully, without mocking belief.

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