One rule, and the whole game comes out of it: a shade is safe in shadow and dies in light. You are the light.

The room is lit by real shadow casting, recomputed from where you are standing every frame. So every pillar throws a hard wedge of darkness away from you - and that wedge is a corridor the things hunting you can walk straight up, untouched. Move, and the safe ground moves with them. Standing still is what kills you, because your own shadows stop sweeping.

Your wick burns down as you play, and the wax that refuels it is scattered out in the dark. That is the trade: the fuel is always in the place you cannot see. Running dry does not kill you, it just leaves you nearly blind while the room keeps filling up.

Free, plays in the browser, nothing to download: https://csaf.itch.io/wicklight

AI disclosure, the same as on the listing: AI Assisted - code, graphics and text are AI-generated.