No one lives under the lighthouse review

Recommended

by BloodScorchedSun

This game does a lot with so little. I'm not a big fan of PSX graphics, I don't think anyone is, but the way they work to the advantage of atmosphere here is very good. There is some good sound design here that really sets the tone but dear god the noise they used for the monster running, what the hell were you thinking? Loud as a damn train. The overall loop of going about your duties as the lighthouse keeper while things get progressively creepier is great. My one problem is there are several times where it's not clear at all what to do. Most of the time it's simple, grab your key, lantern and oil can and go crank the weight and light the torch. There are a few times where you have to keep going outside until the light goes out. Maybe you are just supposed to wait and mine bugged out several times. There are a few other parts where you just wander until you find something to interact with. Exploration is a big part of the game but some direction wouldn't hurt. The visual design is good for what it is, especially the underground stuff. Straight out of a Lovecraft nightmare. I also love how they just through different mechanics at you with no warning. [SPOILER]The segment where you play as the monster crawling on the wall is terrible. You can't look around and can get stuck in the railing and need to restart.[/SPOILER]There is a decent amount of replay with the trophies and the endings. It's setup well but the fact that a few of the trophies need continuous progress makes the chapter select feature useless. One trophy needs to be done on a fresh game. It's not too tedious but when you can't skip some lengthy segments it really makes me question why the chapter select is there if it doesn't mesh. There is also a bowl of soup you can pick up that I found no use for and nothing about it online so that will forever be a mystery. Overall it's a great indie game that really does a good job with it's visuals and sound design.