The Town of Light Reviews
The Town of Life gets credit for being willing to tackle a tough subject matter head on, and in such an honest way. It never concedes to being entertaining, so the player won't feel uncomfortable. It's a shame, then, that it's so difficult to follow the story and the few puzzles are so abstract. The real killing blows are the atrocious technical hiccups, though, and all of this mars a truly one-of-a-kind experience into a twisted shell of what it could have been.
The Town of Light is the type of game that is going to make you think.
The Town of Light is depressing, and not just for the intended reasons. It's painful to see a project with such noble intentions squandered by such a profound misunderstanding of how to effectively utilise them. It is very possible to create an artistic work that deliberately avoids being fun while still keeping its audience engaged. This game gets as far as the first step and then just gives up…
Even though the game touches upon very insightful ideas with a very critical eye, it's not engaging enough to actually make you have fun. The gorgeous landscape and the abandoned hospital are great settings, but this game's ambitions are too serious, and it often doesn't come across as such.
The Town of Light's setting in a real-world mental asylum was a clever idea but sadly, its poor graphics, mind-numbing pacing and general clunkiness mean that it doesn't take full advantage of its potential.
The Town of Light is a fascinating if unsettling story that is seen through the eyes of a sixteen year old girl. The visual style is unique if not fantastic, with a thick atmosphere that is held back by limited gameplay. This is an adventure game that can fall into the walking simulator category for the most part, which allows you to explore - but at a pace that is going to be too slow for some gamers. There is some payoff here however, for the patient who are willing to survive not just the tale, but some technical challenges along the way as well.
Part of me wonders if this might have worked better as more of a short film or something similar, because the story really is worth looking at. Instead we get a disjointed game that ends up stumbling to deliver what it set out to do, and it is honestly quite a shame.
Get engrossed in this decent psychological thriller.
The Town of Light, by LKA.it and Wired Productions is a first person story driven game that tells the chilling tale of Renée as she returns to her former home, the Volterra Psychiatric Asylum located in Tuscany, Italy, where she had spent much of her youth.
Listening to Renee’s story has all the intrigue and depth of a slab of concrete where an in-ground pool used to be. The engine seems to be tearing itself apart at the seams. It’s shoddy enough to throw me into a completely different version of an event, all without ever explaining what the differences mean.
Whilst The Town of Light remains an atmospheric experience from start to end thanks to its fantastic yet harrowing location, the narrative elements don’t quite match up in quality. Renée’s tale has a lot of potential to offer an emotional trip through the treatment of mental patients back in the 1940s, but instead feels slightly fragmented and convoluted. Don’t get me wrong, it has its moments where it shines and you’ll genuinely feel absorbed by what’s going on, but then it’ll quickly move to another scene that’ll leave you a little baffled. I wouldn’t say The Town of Light is a bad game by any means, but I was left a little underwhelmed by it. There’s so much potential here thanks to the genuinely disturbing subject matter, but instead The Town of Light feels like just another average ‘walking simulator’ to add to the ever growing selection.
Although it is not for everyone, The Town of Light is unique. It is a serious game that is deliberate in its storytelling and design choices, and it is purposely looking to provoke an emotional response in the player, as it tells Renée’s story of being confined to an asylum. It has some technical issues and text size issues that can pull you out of the story, but the ending will leave a strong impression on anyone with an ounce of empathy.
Using various narrative and visual devices, The Town of Light serves as an interactive historical textbook. With roughly 2-3 hours of gameplay, it covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time, yet its execution seems to cloud its intention.
I had one of the worst times of my gaming life whilst playing through The Town Of Light, I felt constantly on edge and uncomfortable throughout the entire experience. With this in mind, I absolutely LOVED my time with the game, I just wish it was a bit longer and quicker at times.
I encourage you to play The Town of Light, just don't say I promised you an easy ride.
Even though The Town of Light fails at any sense of creating a compelling gameplay experience, it does do a fantastic job of illustrating the difficulties individuals face with metal health problems, even if it does focus on the past and how such cases were handle.
The Town Of Light is an atmospheric horror game set in the 1930s-40’s and explores the horrors of mental illness and pre-professional health care. The game has no zombies or action, but instead follows along something like Dear Esther or one of the “walking” simulators. The game takes place in Italy and features native voice acting, as well as english to deliver the heavy narrative which follows Renee’ as she struggles to find what is real what isn’t. Moving through several locations and exploring the now abandoned mental institution showcases different aspects of how someone can remember something in opposition to actual events.
Worth getting yes, to everyone's taste maybe not. But for those wanting an insight to the world of mental illness and perhaps some understanding of it, then look no further.