Three Steps Behind Play

Your shadow is your past.
Don't let it catch you.

A turn-based maze for your phone and your browser. Every step you take, your shadow takes a few steps later. Small boards, one hidden way through.

Play in your browser

How to play

A board in chapter II: the light, two fading steps, and its shadow three steps behind

One step at a time. The light moves one square per turn and can never stand still.

The shadow follows. It walks your own path, a few steps behind. Touch it or swap places with it and the attempt ends.

Think before you walk. Keys, levers, portals and bridges change the maze. Three stars only for the shortest way.

Read the whole guide

Journey

Every chapter brings one new rule, eighteen places, and a guardian who keeps its emblem.

The Journey: chapter I with its emblem, eighteen places, the guardian and the Abyss below
Prologue

Shadow

Don't let your past catch up with you.

Chapter I

Keys

Levers are lazy: without a key they won't budge.

Chapter II

Portals

Step in here, step out there.

Chapter III

Fragile bridges

Every bridge holds you only once.

Chapter IV

Shadow plates

For once, your past can help you.

The Abyss

Three ways down in every chapter

Down here your past is closer. And it never forgets.

Chapter V · coming next

Lost lights

Some lights went astray.

Further down

Still dark

More chapters may wait between. The deep will tell.

The last chapter

The hearth

At the very bottom, a fire waits for two.

Emblems, crowns and the ways down

Every day

Three mazes of the day under moving water

Tides

The water moves the walls. Up to five new mazes a day, from a gentle walk to the Abyss.

Three lit lanterns along one path

Lantern Path

Three lanterns are lit each day. Everyone walks to the same light.

How the daily modes work

Creative mode

Make a maze, prove it can be walked, and give it to the other lights. They walk it, vote for the ones they liked, and the best rise to the top.

The Builder: a maze with keys, levers, gates and portals, checked by the game
Build and prove itDraw walls, keys, levers, portals and bridges, and set how close your shadow walks. The game proves there is a way through before anyone else can try it.
Other lights: players' mazes with their votes, the best on top
Share it with other lightsYour maze joins Other lights. The best boards rise to the top, and you keep the ones you love.
After a walk: vote up or down, and say how hard it was
Vote for the bestAfter every walk, one vote: up or down, and how hard it was if you like.
Other lights and the Builder, in full

Your light, everywhere

My profile: signed in, the light follows you to every device

One account keeps your light. In the beta you come in with it; after the beta you will be able to start without one, and sign in when you like.

No password. Sign in with Google or your e-mail: we send a six-digit code each time.

Two hints a day. Signed in, you get a second free hint every day.

One light, every device. Your stars, emblems, tides and boards follow you: browser, Android, iPhone.

Nothing is lost. Signing in keeps the better of both. Clear a browser or change your phone, and you come back where you were.

What happens without an account

Walk it first

The beta is open to invited players. Open the game, type your invite code, then sign in with Google or your e-mail. Three short questions will find you along the way, a minute each. They shape the next chapters.

The sign-in code comes from hello@threestepsbehind.com. Not there in a minute? Look in spam or Promotions, and add the address to your contacts.

Open the gameHow the beta works

Devlog

One light on every device, and the road ahead

  • Sign in with Google, Apple or your e-mail, and your progress follows you everywhere. Playing without an account still works.
  • No maze comes back: every tide and lantern carries its own seed, and the studio adds five new lights every week.
  • Other lights: filters, votes both ways, and the best of last week.
  • The road ahead: chapter V, Lost lights, comes next. The last chapter is already waiting.

Four chapters, the Abyss, and your own boards

  • Every board is now made by one builder that looks for real decisions: levers that turn many gates at once, bridges that close the way behind you.
  • Four chapters of eighteen places, a guardian and three ways down into the Abyss.
  • Hints that light the next few steps, never the whole way.
  • The Builder and Other lights: make a board, share it, play what others made.