Long ago the land of Yllué was brought to ruin, its people reduced to shades of who they once were, their deities displaced, and its hope extinguished as the very person who was to champion their prosperity was the arbiter of this annihilation.
A tradition as old as time immemorial, the lamplighters are infinitely risen one after the other as the torch is passed down. They are keepers of the eternal flame, or at least they're supposed to be. One such lamplighter decided to use this power to condemn the civilization, driven by a deep seated resentment of the people and their tactless deities, and thus Yllué was left destroyed. But the scornful lamplighter knew that there was one thing that they could not so easily erase: tradition. Yes, though the land may be cast into darkness, the gods rejected and cast out, and the people now a plague of shades, the lamplighter's torch still burns, and a new lamplighter still rises when their predecessor falls.
But the bringer of ruination will not give up with their job half-completed and easily undone: they have a plan and will see it through. They wait in the shadows for each new bright-eyed lamplighter and step into the role of their Mentor, a reflection of all the lamplighters who came before, or at least that is what they tell their new wards. The Mentor guides each new lamplighter under the guise of restoring the civilization back to light, back to life, but really they are unwitting accomplices enacting the Mentor's will. One by one a lamplighter rises, sets the forest alight, and then is deceived into setting off a chain reaction that destroys the civilization a little bit more, and weakens yet another bastion of the lamplighter tradition, until one day, there will be nothing left at all.
The players' character, the Lamplighter, will arise from the eternal flame and meet the Mentor and learn about the Lamplighter tradition they have inherited. They will be told about a disaster that has befallen the land and that it has fallen to them to restore the land to light. They will be introduced to the plucky fire fox, Flit, the representation of the eternal flame that will accompany them and help them on their quest to collect the relics left behind by the lamplighters of eld. These relics are then able to be used to open the seals on the temple door. Throughout the exploration, Flit and the Mentor explain to the new Lamplighter what happened to Yllué: that it had been destroyed by an unstoppable catastrophe, a force of nature beyond control. They'll explain that the people have been turned into shades of their former selves, reduced to singular emotions, devoid of consciousness, and that they are attracted to the flames of the lamplighter and thus they need to light lamps in order to keep them at bay. The lamplighter can choose to pry into their answers and might be able to pick up some hints about the world, as well as the Mentor's and Flit's actions during this "catastrophe", which hint to them not telling the whole truth.
Upon entering the temple, the Lamplighter will be instructed by the Mentor to send Flit to the altar and restore the light they collected to the land. If they send Flit, the little fire sprite will fill the altar's bowl with flames, which will roar and grow wildly; Then, Flit will feed from it and increase in size until there is a loud explosion that tears through the land. All the lights go out and the Lamplighter will only see a massive Flit roaring inferno in front of them. The Mentor will tell Flit to return to the Lamplighter, that its job is done, another piece of the civilization has been "restored". Flit returns but the light is now so bright in the Lamplighter's lantern, it threatens to overtake all. The Mentor laughs, thanks the Lamplighter for their hard work, and it is revealed that it is the Mentor who is responsible for the land's destruction and is trying to also destroy the lamplighter tradition once and for all. The lamplighter learns they are not the first to fall to the Mentor's tricks and is left wondering just how many have come before them. The Mentor disregards any pleads from their ward and then the Lamplighter is reborn, and Loop 2 begins.
If the Lamplighter has started to catch onto that the Mentor and Flit are maybe not the benevolent guides they were lead to believe at the start, and has started growing bold, they could try disobeying the Mentor and approaching the altar themselves without releasing Flit. The Mentor would try to stop them, but since they have no corporeal form to intervene they can only stand idly by as they watch their plan become undone. The civilization will be brought one step closer back into the light, but this comes at a cost, as they must sacrifice themselves to do so, and Loop 2 begins.
Back at the start, and seemingly as if nothing happened at all, the Mentor introduces themselves, believing the new lamplighter to be a "fresh creation", having no knowledge of the past. However, this is not the case, as the current lamplighter remembers what happened in their last life with a clarity born of tragedy. New dialogue options will be available to respond critically to the Mentor as the Lamplighter now has the opportunity to take on the role of all the Lamplighters who fell by the Mentor's hand.
This time, the Lamplighter rises with an old blank journal in their possession, which Flit later elaborates belonged to the civilization's people: the shades. The lamplighter follows a very similar path as Loop 1, but can now venture off into the settlements of the lost nation and meet the shades head on, using Flit to dispel their corporeal forms and reveal their crystals of light. These crystals can be used to reveal hidden texts on the pages of the journal detailing their individual histories. This activity will shed even more light on what happened to the lost civilization, who these people were, and give hints to the kinds of gods they worshipped. This adds a new perspective for the Lamplighter, one which was lacking in their first loop, which could contribute to alternative choices made by the Lamplighter as they investigate what to do to end the cycle.
The Lamplighter learns that the people were a humble unassuming folk, just living their lives, that they looked to their Lamplighter in times of need, but also that the Gods played a major role in their lives and that the Mentor was possibly acting out against them in trying to destroy the civilization. The effect this has depends on the choices the Lamplighter makes at the end, as the choice does not differ, save for the fact that now they truly know the Mentor's motives in their guidance, and that they could resist them if they hadn't before. The game resets again depending on the Lamplighters choice, there currently is no way to break the cycle on the second playthrough, but this gives them the opportunity to try a different solution to the previous choice, or to double down if they are still certain.
This loop has three different versions, depending on the Lamplighter's decisions at the end of previous loops, and continues looping through them until the Lamplighter meets the criteria to end the game.
If the lamplighter has consistently abided by the mentor's wishes...
Upon awakening again the Lamplighter is met by an overconfident Mentor, careless and overt in their superiority complex. Feeling confident in having won you over they confide in you all of their extreme positions, meanwhile the land around you is slowly becoming more and more uninviting as it is losing its hope. Trees and buildings slowly fall to ash around you as you navigate this loop in this way, as if a soft snowfall of the very existence of the civilization falling away.