With Halloween a week away, I decided to try the psychological horror game THE TOWN OF LIGHT. Developed by LKA, it was released for PC in February 2016 and for consoles earlier this year. The setting is based on an actual mental hospital in Tuscany and the protagonist, Renée, is based on medical files read by the developers.
I usually avoid scary movies and games like the plague, but from what I saw, it lacks jump scares, monsters and blood splatter. The real horror is what human beings do to each other. The most frightening shadows are those within us.
I liked THE TOWN OF LIGHT more than Murdered: Soul Suspect, another story game aka “walking simulator” I played recently. I like first-person POV much more than third-person, but I think it’s more than that.
THE TOWN OF LIGHT felt mature and engaging in a very visceral way, with better storytelling, not just better writing, but the way the environment created a narrative with lighting, sound effects, object placement, and camera angles. Like comparing an Alfred Hitchcock film to Ghost Whisperer. Both enjoyable, but one’s on another level.
I’ve heard that there are four possible endings, depending on choices made in the game. I’m really interested in seeing more than the free demo.
Rated “M” for mature audiences, due to blood, intense violence, language, nudity, and strong sexual content.
~ J.L. Hilton
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