How the Canvas Restoration Simulation Works

Craquelure - precision art conservation microscope schematic showing paint layer craquelure and heated spatula resin application
Fig 1. The cursed Subject awakens on the canvas and can only traverse cleaned areas; leave dirty varnish buffers between yourself and the apparition.

On the surface, Craquelure appears to be a meticulous painting conservation simulator. Assigned to the gallery vault across six atmospheric nights, your job is to swab centuries of yellowed varnish and grime from historic oil portraits. As you drag your solvent swab across the canvas, layers of dirt dissolve to reveal luminous brushwork underneath. Each night requires you to clean a designated percentage quota of the painting before your shift ends.

However, these historic oil works are host to something malevolent. Embedded deep within the underpainting sleeps The Subject. When solvent disturbs the aged pigment, The Subject awakens and begins hunting. But here lies the game's core psychological mechanic: The Subject can only step on clean canvas. The uncleaned yellow varnish is impassable terrain for the entity. Every stroke of your solvent swab that strips away grime is literally paving a smooth highway directly toward your brush.

Swab & UV Lamp Controls

Perform your delicate restoration duties using mouse controls and conservator tool toggles:

  • Hold Left Click + Drag (Pointer): Applies solvent swab across the canvas, stripping yellowed varnish and recording cleaned area.
  • U: Toggles the ultraviolet Wood's lamp, highlighting underlying cracks, varnish thickness, and tracking The Subject's position.
  • Spacebar or Enter: Begins the night shift, confirms completed restoration quotas, or retries following sanity loss.
  • R: Restarts the current night from scratch, repainting fresh varnish and returning The Subject to its origin sleep state.
Gallery Vault Tool Reference
Conservator Tool Input Key Restoration Function
Solvent Swab Left Click + Drag Removes surface dirt; opens clean terrain for entity movement.
UV Wood's Lamp U Reveals hidden varnish cracks and tracks entity silhouette.
Restart Shift R Resets dirty canvas and restores conservator sanity.
Confirm / Advance Space / Enter Begins night inspection or transitions to next painting.

How to Survive Night 4 (The Sunken Boating Party Trap)

Night 4 features The Sunken Boating Party, a wide canvas where deep water damage obscures The Subject's starting lair. Overeager players typically start by sweeping broad circular strokes across the center of the frame to harvest quick progress toward the quota. Doing so connects the canvas borders into a wide open clearing. Within seconds, The Subject charges across the center, pinning your swab in the corner and draining your sanity to zero.

The winning strategy is the Island Technique. Never clean in long, continuous lines. Instead, clean tight, isolated patches in the far upper corners, deliberately leaving wide bands of untouched, dirty varnish between each patch. These grimy bands act as impassable prison walls that trap The Subject in its starting alcove. By swabbing small islands around the perimeter, you can satisfy the cleaning quota while keeping the creature locked behind dirty barriers.

Restoration Routes for Nights 3, 5, and 6

As nights advance into later portfolio works, The Subject moves with greater speed and agitation:

  • Night 3 (Children on the Dike): Turn on the UV lamp immediately with U to identify The Subject's silhouette before touching solvent to canvas. Once you locate the entity, clean exclusively on the opposite side of the frame.
  • Night 5 (Self-Portrait, Unsigned): The Subject's speed increases dramatically. Clean only in rapid stipple dots rather than long brush drags. Broken dots clear surface percentage without creating contiguous paths for the entity to run along.
  • Night 6 (The Unfinished Hall): The canvas requires the highest cleaning quota. Cut a single vertical border path along the extreme outer edge, keeping the massive center field entirely coated in grime until the very final percentage push.

Restoration Tactics & Survival FAQ

How do I prevent The Subject from reaching my swab?

Never clean a connected path between The Subject and your brush. Because the entity cannot walk on dirty varnish, leaving unbroken strips of uncleaned canvas completely confines its movement to isolated sectors.

What does the UV lamp actually reveal during gameplay?

Pressing U switches the lighting spectrum, displaying varnish thickness gradients, subtle stress cracks, and the glowing outline of The Subject even when it hides beneath uncleared surface grime.

Why does sanity drain even when The Subject is not touching the brush?

Sanity drains rapidly whenever The Subject comes within close proximity to your active swab point. Keep your cursor far from the entity's hunting radius, and immediately lift your mouse to cease cleaning if it approaches.

Built with pure vanilla HTML5 canvas and standard Web Audio (no external engines or heavy libraries).