Brightmoor, a new Commodore 64 role-playing game from J5, is available from $4 through itch.io. Released on 19th October 2026, it builds on the creator’s GloomKeep II engine and sends a lone adventurer into a kingdom where daylight has disappeared.
The release arrives as a downloadable D64 disk image, with PAL and NTSC support listed by its creator. The file, brightmoor_v1.0.d64, is listed at 170kB on the purchase page.
A short trailer accompanies the launch, presenting nearly two minutes of the game with its SID soundtrack and no narration. The creator has also supplied screenshots showing the adventure on the purchase page.
J5 describes the project as an Ultima-style adventure written in 6502 assembly. Its countryside mixes fixed towns and regions with wilderness, roads and dungeon locations which change between new games.
A kingdom without daylight
The story follows the consequences of King Mordran’s bargain with an ancient presence beneath the moor. His attempt to escape death has left him transformed into the Hollow King, while the bell once responsible for driving away the night has fallen silent.
Six underground strongholds, known as Gloomholds, anchor the adventure. Each region remains under its ruler’s dusk until its lord falls, linking the return of daylight to progress through the world. Darkened regions also have reduced visibility and tougher creatures.
The landscape spans 64 by 64 tiles across woodland, hills, wetlands and scorched terrain. Six towns provide permanent landmarks within the changing wilderness, named Thornhollow, Stonegard, Merelight, Saltmarsh, Cinderford and Dawnhaven.
Three character classes, Warrior, Wizard and Ranger, offer different approaches to the same adventure. Shops, inventory management and conversations expand the framework beyond dungeon exploration, while eight optional errands sit alongside the main quest.
A day-and-night cycle runs through a calendar of twelve twenty-day months. Visibility changes after dark, and individual regions have their own enemies, with nearly forty creature types listed across the game.
The developer also describes line-of-sight rules involving woods, peaks and walls. Those features connect the visual presentation to the surrounding terrain, rather than treating the whole map as equally visible.
Brightmoor includes disk saving, an optional permanent-death setting and a persistent table recording the fastest successful adventurers. Its soundtrack arranges classical compositions for the C64’s SID sound chip, including works by Grieg, Satie and Mussorgsky.
J5 credits Krill’s loader, GoatTracker 2 and Exomizer among the tools behind the release. The published credits also identify Kenney, Hexany and Kcaze among the sources used for its monster artwork.
On the release page, J5 has promised a free Halloween edition for existing purchasers in the coming days.
The disk image and release information are available from Brightmoor’s itch.io page. The creator lists both emulator use and real Commodore hardware, with writable disk storage required for saving progress.
