The Red Lantern Reviews
The Red Lantern isn't for thrill seekers, but it is a phenomenal handheld experience that is easy to get lost in
Timberline Studio's debut game holds a lot of promise, with writing and animations that are both full to the brim with personality and wit. However, The Red Lantern's core game loop suffers from repetitive, punishingly random events that make the player feel passive and helpless to the whims of fate.
The Red Lantern is a suvival-roguelite where you will have to face the harsh landscapes of Alaska with your dog sled team. You can pet the dogs, but most of the action feels very much down to the luck of the dice rather than any active participation from you.
It's always reposeful when a video game can connect me with the experiences of my youth, and The Red Lantern does just that. It can be breathtaking at times, and it can also be pretty banausic, but the Musher's journey to her new home has enough beauty, adventure, and adorable dogs I just don't want to stop petting to make each trip worthwhile.
The Red Lantern is a fantastic narrative-focused roguelite survival game with some of the most adorable animated dogs I've seen in a video game. Its unique blend of multiple genres feels unique and where survival elements in most games grow tiresome quickly, they sit perfectly within this Alaskan journey of new beginnings. This is one of the most enjoyable indie titles of 2020.
Overall The Red Lantern is full of heart and charm, but with some disappointing execution that had much potential. The journey felt short, and I noticed a few bugs, at one point getting so bad I had to restart. I feel like it is too short to be $24.99. But if you love dogs, making choices, and the great Alaskan wilderness, this game would be worth picking up if on sale.
It has the occasional nice moment, but I got sick of it a while before beating it. Furthermore, it can be beaten in under three hours, so that's really saying something.
The Red Lantern is a great experience. I love my dog sled team and playing the runs again and again only reinforced that. But I'm not sure the roguelite style stays fresh all the way through, and it can get a bit tiring and repetitive. In the end, The Red Lantern is not going to win a lot of awards for what it does and is, but it's a unique take on the walking simulator genre that honestly has gotten stale and oversaturated.
Those with a desire for escapism and a healthy amount of patience will find a solid few hours of rewarding narrative here – if you’re after something with a bit more wanderlust and a bit less “dying alone and unloved”, you might want to look elsewhere.
A couple of niggles can't hold back this beautiful and brutal avante-garde experience.
I genuinely loved playing through The Red Lantern, and bonding with my sled team. The art style for it is charming and beautiful at times, with a lovely soundtrack that effectively adds to the atmosphere of being lost in the frozen wilderness. My first completed run-through of the game took me about 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach. I didn’t fill out my journal or see every event, but if you’d like to, you can do just that after finishing the game. There are still plenty of adventures and scenarios to discover with your pups, and even more dangerous challenges to face.
Can you survive the harsh environments of Alaska? Face deadly predators and navigate over snowy terrain on the adventure of a lifetime. The Red Lantern is a new story-driven roguelite from Timberline Studios that will challenge players over the course of their journey towards home.
The Red Lantern has the certain indie game charm one may expect. Timberline Studio Inc. makes a decent first effort with a simple premise, good 'choose your own adventure' structure, and a cast of diverse dogs for your crew of five with a beautiful day and night cycle to top it off. Unfortunately, the title suffers from some dialogue and choice repetition and a few bugs or animations that could use some improvement.
I know it's a tough gig being a game developer when hours played is a key metric and the pundits bleat on about content rather than things that are actually important, like thematic intensity or narrative depth. Taking something that could have been something special and diluting it to give those pundits something to throw onto their backlog isn't going to help video games develop as an art form, though. The Red Lantern upset me more than most; most games aren't made by people with the vaguest understanding of art. The Red Lantern, however, clearly is the concept of artists and the vision is compelling. Next time they should try delivering a game that supports the vision, rather than what they think will boost the Metacritic score.
The main character, played by Ashly Burch, is incredibly relatable and is yet another great role for the esteemed voice actress. I got my first successful run after about three hours of playtime, which depending on what kind of player you are could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing, though personally it felt a tad too short to me. Overall The Red Lantern is worth your time if you have an interest in the outdoors, a lust for adventure in the unknown, or just want to pet some fluffy sled dogs.
Typically when you hear about roguelikes your mind conjures up images of action-oriented and intense play, whether slashing, jumping, or shooting...
The Red Lantern is a beautiful game, but it’s also a deeply affecting one. It has the power to warm your heart and crush it in equal measure, all while filling you with a sense of wonder as you explore its rich and stunningly realised world. This one has crept into my Top 10 games this year and for good reason. It’s incredibly special indeed.
Timberline Studios set out to make a narrative driven game and do so spectacularly. The story is told beautifully and the rewarding gameplay provides this fun roguelite with plenty of charm. The Red Lantern is a wonderfully immersive experience and one that will not be soon forgotten.
The Red Lantern may not be for everyone, but its hands-off narrative driven survival escapade through the Alaskan wilderness certainly kept me entertained. Sure, the reliance on luck could prove frustrating at times and the graphical hiccups could be a little weird, but the tension that comes with your preparation and decision-making ensures that each attempt to survive brings with it plenty of thrills. Plus, I love snow and lovely doggies… The Red Lantern delivers PLENTY as far as those aspects of the game are concerned.
The Red Lantern is an interesting rogue-like that combines survival elements with resource management to tell a story of adversity and overcoming life’s challenges.