Candleman: The Complete Journey Reviews
A solid platformer clothed in a heartwarming story and topped with some brilliantly designed levels and challenges. The looks are the cherry on top of the cake - and there's always room for more candles.
Candleman: The Complete Journey is a beautiful game in both its visuals and its story it tells. The music may be subtle in most places but the amazing quality of the ambient sound effects more than makes up for it as it creates an atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife! The level design combined with the lighting, the contrast between light and dark, and all the various hazards, create a truly original and enchanting experience you won’t find anywhere else. Literally, no other game holds a candle to Candleman in the puzzle-platformer genre.
A nearly perfect game for all to enjoy. New gamers will be enamored with the Little Candle that could, while longtime gamers may just remember why we love what we do all over again. An inspiring tale of self discovery that is revealed lovingly through gameplay and experimentation, and a small gem of a game you definitely don't want to miss.
When Candleman first released as an Xbox One exclusive in January of 2017, it ended suddenly and without warning on a seriously depressing note entirely at odds with the whimsical tone it had maintained up to that point. You can still find comments about this in reviews of the time. Flash forward ten months and it received a free expansion called "Lost Light" that not only added several more levels, but also continued the story so that it ended on a much more uplifting note. Having now played through the "Complete Journey" version for PC that includes both the base game and Lost Light's content, I can't help but suspect that the original ending was the result of the developer or publisher rushing the game out to meet a deadline. It's incredibly difficult to imagine the Lost Light expansion not being an originally planned part of the game given how much more naturally it ends the story, but if it truly was something tacked on to address concerns about the bleakness of the original ending, then its quality is laudable in its own right.
Candleman: The Complete Journey is a charming and interesting platformer that you should certainly check out