Light The Dark

As far as platformers go, they are not extremely difficult to design and put into practice, but they need to feature a very refined set of gameplay mechanics. Since the goal is for the players to navigate tough levels full of enemies and traps, it’s important that the experience remains fun at the same time, otherwise frustration takes over and no one is happy in the end.

Light The Dark is a very simple platformer in which you have a clear purpose: reach the end of the level and touch all the checkpoints before doing so. However, everything is designed to be both challenging and engaging, which is why you might lose track of time while you are playing it. Naturally, there are flaws as well, but not bad enough to make you quit too quickly.

To begin with, you play the role of a bouncing light source that has the ability to restore light in a dark world full of dangers and enemies. However, the said enemies can also hurt you if you do not pay enough attention. Because of this, it’s important that you take a good look at the environment, even if this task is tougher than it needs to be because of the perpetual darkness.

On top of all these obstacles, it’s also imperative that you are not left out of light yourself. Hence, light is drained at a constant pace as you keep playing, but a lot more is lost if you happen to touch an enemy. You can replenish the light by picking up small quantities along the way, but it’s still mandatory that you move quickly and make it to the main light source as fast as you can.

As for the graphics, the perpetual darkness makes it difficult to distinguish anything, which means that the level design is quite lazy as well. Although the game doesn’t necessarily look bad, it’s still a shame that the landscapes are so boring. The soundtrack is not that great either, which affects the atmosphere and the general mood of the game.

All things considered, Light The Dark is more than capable to keep you entertained for a while, but there are some defects to take into consideration as well. Hence, the poor level design and the repetitive levels might get annoying after a while, even if such things matter so little in a platformer.