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 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…
The Town of Light's unique setting and a handful of standout scenes aren't enough to save the game from boring puzzles, nonsensical plot, and a general lack of direction.
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.
Depicting the horrors of an asylum with animated pictures was a tender touch to sensitive imagery. Even the 3D animations conveyed moments with care. But the story is confusing and painfully disappointing and the translation errors make matters worse. So I can commend LKA's efforts, but I can't recommend The Town of Light.
The Town of Light examines mental illnesses and the hospitals meant to treat them in the early 1900s, but ultimately fails to stick the landing.
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.
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.
An uncompromisingly bleak look back at a time when mental illness was completely, horribly misunderstood, The Town of Light is an interesting psychological horror, of sorts. However, technical shortcomings and repetitious, often dull gameplay makes for an experience that's severely lacking.
Sticking with The Town of Light's slow, meandering storytelling and linear exploration in the early chapters does pay off eventually, but if the dark and often distressing tale of Renee and the happenings in World War II era insane asylums doesn't interest you, there is very little to see that wouldn't be even more of a turn off.
The Town of Light has an interesting premise, but, however worthy an enterprise it is, the story is just too confused a journey to leave a real impact.
Tackling such a difficult subject matter is laudable, but as a video game documentary this only really succeeds in terms of its good intentions.
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.
While the research and attention to detail that went into Town of Light is good, and they're addressing a very important issue, the developers have failed to adapt it into a game format.
While The Town of Light is rough around the edges, both in technical and narrative terms, it does at least provide a different kind of horror compared to the current market. It's one based on a grim, bleak history of the treatment of mental health issues, and that makes for an unpleasant, yet fascinating experience if you can stomach both the subject matter and the low quality of the game's performance.
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.
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.
Overall, there is a lot of merit for a game that deals with a tricky heartfelt subject matter. That puts it into a very rare category of games. As a gaming experience it is frustrating, has no variation in pace and I’m not sure how successful its outcome is.
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 encourage you to play The Town of Light, just don't say I promised you an easy ride.