Candle

61%
Game Brain Score Based on 600 reviews
  • story
  • graphics
  • music
Candle Game Cover
A beautifully drawn adventure told by an extremely talented voice actor that suffers a little from its own style.
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"Candle is a single-player fantasy platformer game with an intriguing story, where you play as Teku, a novice on a dangerous journey to rescue your tribe's shaman. The game features delightful hand-painted watercolor visuals and awesome music, but requires keen observation and problem-solving to overcome challenging puzzles and sinister traps. Teku's left hand, a candle, is a powerful tool to light your way and fend off enemies."

  • Mac OS
  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Linux
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

61%
Audience ScoreBased on 600 reviews
story148 positive mentions
grinding16 negative mentions
  • The game features stunning hand-drawn graphics and a beautiful art style that captivates players.
  • The puzzles are challenging and engaging, providing a satisfying experience for those who enjoy problem-solving.
  • The story is interesting and well-told, with a charming narrative that adds depth to the gameplay.
  • The controls are clunky and unresponsive, making platforming sections frustrating and difficult to navigate.
  • Some puzzles are poorly designed or obscure, leading to confusion and requiring players to rely on walkthroughs.
  • The game can feel tedious due to frequent deaths and backtracking, which disrupts the flow of gameplay.
  • story294 mentions

    The story of "Candle" is generally praised for its engaging narrative and beautiful presentation, often drawing from folklore and exploring deeper themes despite its simplicity. While some players found the storyline compelling and well-integrated with the gameplay, others criticized it for being thin or predictable, with issues in puzzle design affecting the overall experience. The game's art and music complement the story well, creating a charming atmosphere that many players appreciated, even if the controls and mechanics were sometimes frustrating.

    • “Candle paired lovely drawings and level design with a lovely story, all in all making it a great game I can only recommend.”
    • “The story is interesting, the game looks gorgeous, the puzzles (for the most part) make sense and, most importantly, it doesn't drag the story endlessly.”
    • “The story is well written and well-told, and is a touch darker than the cutesy graphics would have you believe at first.”
    • “The story itself is really thin, and the utterly silent main character doesn't help me connect with him at all.”
    • “I had a very hard time feeling any connection to this storyline, so this game was just places and puzzles for me by the end.”
    • “The story was so pointless but I guess it was just a theme anyway.”
  • graphics260 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning watercolor art style and hand-drawn aesthetics, which create a visually captivating experience. Many players appreciate the unique and charming visuals, although some express frustration that the beautiful graphics can obscure interactive elements, leading to confusion during gameplay. Overall, while the visuals are a significant highlight, they are often contrasted with gameplay issues, leaving some players feeling that the graphics alone are not enough to elevate the overall experience.

    • “With its gorgeous visuals in watercolor and its magnificent soundtrack, the game offers interesting puzzles, neither too easy, nor too hard.”
    • “The visuals are definitely the biggest strength of the game, with its gorgeous watercolor painting style and smooth animation.”
    • “Everything about this just oozes charm, from the incredibly beautiful graphics, to the flowing, lovely background music and sound effects, to the animation of the adorable characters.”
    • “Ironically, what I hate most is also the graphics; everything blends really well together, so there are very few clues to know what to do when stuck.”
    • “Sometimes I did not know a path existed because the art style kind of hid it.”
    • “Could have been good, but they decided to put more effort into graphics than polishing the gameplay.”
  • music158 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and fitting ambiance, enhancing the overall experience with soothing and catchy melodies that complement the stunning visuals. Many reviewers noted that the soundtrack is non-intrusive and well-balanced, although some mentioned issues with specific sound effects, like the death music being too loud. Overall, the combination of music and art creates a charming atmosphere that many players found enjoyable and relaxing.

    • “Candle is a platformer puzzle game of beautiful art, a good story, and pleasant music that loops pleasantly in the background without being obnoxious.”
    • “The art and music of this game are just amazing; every hand-drawn scenario is so pleasing to see that I like to replay the game every now and then just to watch it all over again.”
    • “The music nicely complements the visuals and immediately reminded me of Monkey Island even before the character designs did.”
    • “And, to be fair, the game brings you back to the same screen regardless of when you last saved, so that's nice, but when you have to hear the death music and watch the fade to black after every single slight misstep, and it's hard enough you misstep at least a dozen times, this irks.”
    • “I muted it because the narration cues and death music playing over and over were driving me insane.”
    • “Unfortunately, it was made less enjoyable with some sound effects/music being poorly balanced.”
  • gameplay122 mentions

    The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful graphics and intriguing story, but criticizing the mechanics as clunky and frustrating. Players often found the controls imprecise, leading to repeated failures and confusion over puzzle solutions, which detracted from the overall experience. While some enjoyed the challenge and creativity of the gameplay, others felt it was poorly executed, making it difficult to recommend for those seeking a smooth and engaging gameplay experience.

    • “Excellent game, with awesome graphics design and very interesting gameplay!”
    • “It has a compelling and interesting story and gameplay is really fun.”
    • “Gameplay-wise it's very easy to get the hang of the mechanics, the levels are pleasantly challenging, the puzzles are fun, some are easier, but quite a few are difficult and require you to actually think or look around.”
    • “The art is pretty and the storyline is great, but the mechanics are terrible.”
    • “Overall, the game doesn't always make it clear what is expected from you on a mechanical level, so you might just try a solution repeatedly just because you think you aren't fast enough, and actually you are just missing a crucial element of the puzzle.”
    • “The controls are absolute garbage, which is definitely the worst part of the game, but everything else about this game is bad as well like the story, the visuals, the mechanics, the puzzles, the enemies; literally everything about this game is crap.”
  • grinding18 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, primarily due to infrequent autosaves and cumbersome manual saving, leading to repetitive gameplay. The combination of poorly designed puzzles, slow platforming, and frustrating timing challenges contributes to a sense of boredom and frustration, overshadowing the game's artistic merits. Overall, the grinding experience is described as painful and detracts significantly from enjoyment.

    • “As in games like [i]Limbo[/i], learning correct routes involves some necessary deaths, but in this game autosave is infrequent and manual saving is tedious, so numbing repetition becomes inevitable.”
    • “There's slow, deliberate platforming that soon becomes tedious as you run back and forth seeking and returning with items.”
    • “Tedious... boring and painful.”
  • humor18 mentions

    The game is praised for its humorous elements, including funny cartoon graphics, amusing voice acting, and clever puzzles that reflect the developers' sense of humor. Players find the comedic aspects, such as the quirky dying tune and witty dialogues, to enhance the overall experience, making it enjoyable despite some gameplay frustrations. The combination of visual style and humor contributes to a lighthearted atmosphere that resonates well with players.

    • “I died plenty of times, and often because the jump was a little wonky, but it mostly just made me laugh that, yep, I jumped right into the canyon again, bloody idiot.”
    • “Sense of humor of the developers shows through some of the puzzles.”
    • “Plus it has a cool art style, funny voice-overs, and pretty good music.”
  • atmosphere12 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is consistently praised for its stunning visuals, superb music, and effective narration, creating an immersive experience that enhances the overall enjoyment. Reviewers highlight the game's artistic design and how well the soundtrack and voice acting complement the atmosphere, making it a standout feature worth experiencing.

    • “The game is utterly beautiful and the voice acting and soundtrack fit very well the atmosphere and art of the game.”
    • “It's a very lovely designed piece of art and the atmosphere never failed to impress.”
    • “This game is worth playing for the art, music, atmosphere, story, and puzzles.”
    • “Personally, I found the atmosphere very much too my liking.”
    • “The game is utterly beautiful, but the atmosphere feels lacking and doesn't immerse me as much as I hoped.”
    • “While the art and music are commendable, the overall atmosphere fails to create a compelling experience.”
  • replayability10 mentions

    The game's replayability is primarily limited to revisiting the story and puzzles, as many players express frustration with the lack of customizable controls and overall playability. While using a controller improves the experience, the poor control scheme detracts from the enjoyment, leading to disappointment among users.

    • “The game is more playable with a controller, but the fact I could now control my character the way I wanted made me realize the even bigger issue.”
    • “Replayable only for the story and revisiting the same puzzles.”
    • “I'm really disappointed that I can't even adjust some settings to make this game more playable for me, as there is no option to customize controls.”
    • “The controls are dreadful and I got tired of trying to figure out which details in the background art were playable.”
  • emotional8 mentions

    The game is described as a cute and visually appealing platformer with a heartfelt, albeit simplistic, story. While it evokes warmth and charm, some players feel conflicted about the gameplay mechanics, which can make them feel more like a villain than a hero.

    • “Cute, beautiful, and obviously heartfelt little platformer.”
    • “Heartwarming story.”
    • “Although all this pushing enemies into the traps made me feel a bit more like a sneaky murderer than a savior of my people.”
    • “The visuals are stunning, but the story fails to evoke any real emotions.”
    • “The game looks great, but the narrative is dull and uninspiring.”
    • “While the graphics are beautiful, the emotional depth of the story is lacking.”
  • character development6 mentions

    Character development is highlighted through interesting character design that captivates players, complemented by a nostalgic musical score reminiscent of classic games like Monkey Island. The integration of narration and gameplay elements further enriches the overall experience, enhancing the depth of the characters within the game's watercolor backgrounds.

    • “The music nicely complements the visuals and immediately reminded me of Monkey Island even before the character designs did.”
    • “- interesting character design”
  • stability2 mentions

    Users report that the game exhibits excellent stability, with almost no bugs or glitches encountered.

Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

71% average critic score

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Play time

30hMedian play time
30hAverage play time
30-30hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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