A Light in the Dark

About

"A Light in the Dark" is a 2D pixel art puzzle-platformer where you play as a young girl with the power to control light. Use your abilities to solve puzzles, reveal hidden paths, and evade shadow creatures as you journey to find your missing sister. With its unique mechanics, atmospheric setting, and engaging narrative, this game offers a fresh take on the puzzle-platformer genre.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 404 reviews

story114 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

The game features beautiful art and a compelling soundtrack that enhances the emotional depth of the story.
The narrative tackles heavy themes such as social inequality and humanizes the characters, making them relatable and complex.
Players have reported feeling a strong emotional connection to the characters, with some even shedding tears during gameplay.

The writing is often repetitive and can feel preachy, which detracts from the overall impact of the story.
Technical issues such as slow skip functions, limited save options, and grammatical errors can frustrate players.
Some players found the story to be too short and lacking in variety, leading to a feeling of dissatisfaction with the number of endings.

story
254 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
50%
5%
The story of "A Light in the Dark" is a compelling and emotionally charged narrative that explores themes of social inequality and personal struggle, often leaving players with a sense of reflection on life's harsh realities. While some reviewers noted issues with pacing and occasional heavy-handedness in its moral messaging, many praised its unique premise, sympathetic characters, and the depth of its storytelling, making it a memorable experience for fans of visual novels. Overall, the game successfully immerses players in its narrative, prompting them to engage with the choices and consequences faced by the characters.
- “A light in the dark was my first visual novel, and even though it is not a very long story, it is still my favorite visual novel to this day due to its emotional depth.”
- “This is worth your every penny; I can't describe enough how great the story was. It will put your understanding to the test, and it will teach you that no matter how hard, painful, depressing, unforgiving, and unfair the world is, there will always be a light in the dark.”
- “With regards to the story, it's a compelling and intriguing premise that I believe the game does justice.”
- “The extremely ludicrous plot ruined the whole game and nothing can make it up.”
- “The story is very predictable and straightforward, with no emotional ups and downs, with no twists, just one solid idea throughout, that is fairly heavy-handed.”
- “The dialogue is repetitive, the story is repetitive, and the characters are flat and one-dimensional.”
music
76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
37%
8%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim for its emotional depth and ability to enhance the storytelling, with many users praising the soundtrack as phenomenal and well-timed. While some noted that the music can be repetitive and somewhat limited, the overall quality and fitting nature of the compositions were highlighted as significant strengths. The combination of beautiful music and art contributes to a compelling experience, making it a standout aspect of the game.
- “The soundtrack I felt was phenomenal and extremely well-timed when the situation needed it.”
- “The music was amazing to listen to and highlighted the emotions in the scene very clearly.”
- “This game has great writing, great art, great music, and a great story!”
- “The music is okay but can get repetitive.”
- “Pretty short, only a couple backgrounds, not a lot of music, and no voiceovers—but all that's an issue of budget rather than quality.”
- “The music was somewhat limited, but was probably the best choice for it.”
emotional
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
94%
6%
The emotional aspect of the game is highly praised, with many players expressing that it deeply resonated with them, evoking strong feelings ranging from joy to heartbreak. Several reviews highlight the game's ability to create emotional attachments to characters and elicit tears, while others note its poignant storytelling and impactful music. However, some critiques mention a lack of emotional depth in certain narratives, describing them as predictable and heavy-handed, which detracted from the overall experience.
- “A very touching game indeed.”
- “The first time that a game has ever caused me to shed a tear; I can't recommend this game enough.”
- “I just finished this novel for the first time and wow, it is so good. It hits so hard emotionally; the writing, the music, everything is just wow...”
graphics
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
38%
9%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their fantastic and detailed art style, which effectively conveys the story's themes. While some users noted minor graphical hiccups and issues with text placement, the overall presentation, including the soundtrack, is considered top-notch and enhances the gaming experience. Many reviewers expressed a desire for more content, highlighting the quality of the artwork as a standout feature.
- “I loved the art style in this VN.”
- “The artwork was very detailed.”
- “The art style and music are fantastic, and I really wish there was more to the game as it did end up being quite good.”
- “By that I mean the English translation itself, some graphical hiccups, incorrect text placement, the lack of any text in certain text boxes... there's a bunch of issues like that, and I'm gonna go over them real quick.”
- “The graphical hiccups aren't that frequent, but there are some.”
- “Some artwork probably doesn't look optimal yet, but I didn’t find that disturbing.”
gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
77%
12%
The gameplay of this visual novel features solid mechanics with some variations that enhance interactivity, setting it apart from typical entries in the genre. While the core gameplay revolves around making dialogue choices under time constraints, which adds tension, it suffers from misleading choices and a short playtime of 4-6 hours. Overall, the experience leans heavily on the narrative, with multiple endings providing some replay value, though the gameplay itself is not particularly groundbreaking.
- “I've always loved multiple endings and wanted to see each outcome during my gameplay.”
- “The main mechanic of choosing dialogue options and actions while on a strict timer really helps instill the tension of your character's situation as the victim of a kidnapping, and it's up to your choices and your investigating to find out the answers to what has happened to you and how to get out alive.”
- “On the spectrum of visual novel gameplay and interactivity, this one definitely has more than most visual novels.”
- “Game mechanics are just your typical visual novel type, nothing too special.”
- “But the gameplay is often misleading with choices, and the game is detrimentally hampered by its poor length of 4-6 hours.”
- “A real challenge with reviewing and talking about visual novels and story-based games in general is trying to actually talk about the story itself, since it relies on you getting your enjoyment from the story rather than the gameplay.”
character development
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
Character development in the game is polarizing; while some players praise it for its depth and impact on the story, others criticize it for being shallow and lacking emotional resonance, particularly with antagonists. The effectiveness of character arcs seems to vary significantly, with some experiences feeling rushed or underdeveloped, especially given the game's short playtime. Overall, the quality of character development appears to hinge on the player's choices and engagement with the narrative.
- “Amazing artwork, wonderful soundtrack, and great character development.”
- “The artwork is fantastic, the soundtrack is amazing, great characters and character development, and a compelling story.”
- “Visual novel with many choices, character development, and how the protagonist adapts to situations; this will affect the ending, so choose carefully.”
- “The character development falls flat; don't tell me the background in a passing, show me.”
- “The kidnappers are hard to relate to because they show no remorse and have no character development whatsoever, and on top of that you can complete the game in 3-4 hours, so I don't think that is worth it.”
- “- tame character development”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere of the visual novel is praised for its unique and immersive qualities, effectively capturing the story's mood through detailed environmental elements. However, the repetitive writing detracts from the overall experience, leaving some players feeling that the game's substance does not match the time invested.
- “From the lighting of the lamp to the shadow in the corner, it captured the atmosphere of the story and the situation the main character was in.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious due to its poor tracking of progress and slow fast-forward feature, which complicates the pursuit of all endings. Additionally, the repetitive and overly focused dialogues contribute to a sense of monotony, making the experience feel more laborious.
- “The game isn't great about remembering what you've done and what you haven't, and the fast-forward can be slower than just mashing confirm, which makes trying to get all the endings more tedious.”
- “There are too many meaningful messages that are too focused here, making the dialogues seem repetitive and tedious.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The humor in the game is characterized by clever gags embedded in the dialogue, which many players find amusing and entertaining.
- “There are some gags in the dialogue that are pretty funny, in my opinion.”
- “The humor in the game is spot on, with clever jokes that kept me laughing.”
- “I love the witty banter between characters; it adds a delightful layer of humor to the gameplay.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game has low replayability, with a maximum playtime of around 7 hours and a lack of meaningful choices or branching routes, leading to a limited incentive for players to revisit it.
- “Low replayability, 7 hours long at most, no routes and poor choices.”