Lightmatter

91%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,708 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Lightmatter Game Cover
Lightmatter's puzzles are shockingly smart, and getting that "Aha!" moment is brilliant. A little more refining and this may be a true first-person puzzle classic
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"Lightmatter is a single-player Science Fiction Adventure game with an intriguing story, stellar gameplay, and fantastic visuals. As a visitor to the world debut of Lightmatter, a revolutionary renewable energy source, you'll encounter mind-bending technological wonders and a life-changing experience, as described in a personal invitation from Virgil, CEO of Lightmatter Technologies."

  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

91%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,708 reviews
story259 positive mentions
stability16 negative mentions
  • Clever and engaging puzzles that provide satisfying 'aha' moments.
  • Strong voice acting and humor that adds to the overall experience.
  • Unique light and shadow mechanics that create an interesting gameplay dynamic.
  • Short playtime of around 4-5 hours, which may not justify the full price.
  • Some puzzles can feel repetitive due to limited mechanics.
  • Technical issues such as crashes and frame rate drops can detract from the experience.
  • story539 mentions

    The story of "Lightmatter" is often compared to that of the "Portal" series, featuring a similar narrative style with a quirky antagonist guiding the player through a series of puzzles. While some players appreciate the engaging and humorous storytelling, many criticize it for being derivative and predictable, lacking depth and character development. Overall, the narrative is seen as a decent backdrop for the gameplay, with a mix of intriguing concepts and light-hearted humor, though it may not fully satisfy those seeking a more original or complex story.

    • “The story is engaging and the references to other games are a nice touch.”
    • “The story is well built and has nice comedy to it.”
    • “The story is intriguing and constantly draws you along through curiosity using a trail of breadcrumbs and a disembodied voice.”
    • “The story is just a generic massive tech company that goes bad but has a weird emphasis on hair for some reason.”
    • “The only things that did disappoint me were the game's incredibly predictable story and seeming pride at being inspired by Portal.”
    • “The story is cliché and very predictable, but it does the job.”
  • gameplay474 mentions

    The gameplay of *Lightmatter* is characterized by its unique light and shadow mechanics, where players must navigate puzzles by manipulating light sources to avoid deadly shadows. While the game draws inspiration from titles like *Portal* and *The Talos Principle*, it features a limited set of mechanics that can lead to repetitive puzzle-solving experiences. Despite its short playtime of around 3-6 hours, the game is praised for its clever design, engaging atmosphere, and charming narrative, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of first-person puzzle games.

    • “The way light plays a central role in both the gameplay and the story is incredibly clever.”
    • “I loved how the light mechanics forced you to think creatively.”
    • “The gameplay is simple in its elements, but makes you think enough to keep things interesting.”
    • “The game wants to be Portal so bad, but its concept is not translated very well into gameplay.”
    • “The game’s puzzles are okay, but the mechanic of the game is nowhere near the cleverness of Portal’s central mechanic, and indeed, overall, the game feels very standard from a mechanical standpoint, and lacks the variety of something like Portal or even The Talos Principle, with only a very limited number of puzzle variants.”
    • “The primary mechanic, for those who haven't played, is that you manipulate spotlights to provide safe passage through a level.”
  • graphics238 mentions

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a unique, minimalist art style that blends well with its light and shadow mechanics, creating an aesthetically pleasing experience. While some players appreciate the cartoonish and simplistic visuals, others find them repetitive and lacking in detail, leading to mixed feelings about their overall impact on immersion. Performance issues have also been noted, with some users experiencing low frame rates even on lower settings, but many agree that the visuals contribute positively to the game's atmosphere and puzzle design.

    • “Absolutely gorgeous art style, very fun puzzles, only wish is that it was longer.”
    • “The art style is beautiful, the dialogue entertaining.”
    • “The graphics are beautiful and the plot is second only to the portal series.”
    • “The graphics are a bit cartoonish, though that probably helps performance on my older PC.”
    • “The graphics don't seem to be on par with Portal, but I suppose that's because the color spectrum is pretty much shades of gray with occasional emergency red lighting and green of plants.”
    • “The graphics were a little too colorless.”
  • humor125 mentions

    The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its witty dialogue and clever references to the Portal series, while others feel it falls short of the original's charm and finesse. Some found the humor to be entertaining and engaging, particularly through the narrator's commentary, but others criticized it as forced or lacking depth. Overall, while the game offers moments of genuine humor, it struggles to establish its own identity apart from its inspirations.

    • “The progression of names is a funny detail.”
    • “A nice puzzle game with a fairly quick playthrough time and humorous voice acting.”
    • “The story is interesting with funny dialogue.”
    • “Some humor is okay, but it's mostly unfunny and mentions Portal too often to leech off its glory.”
    • “The narrator is a bad, unfunny, cheap version of Portal and The Stanley Parable narration.”
    • “The writing was pretty bad, and the references are not funny and stale.”
  • music75 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its atmospheric qualities and integration into the gameplay, while others find it repetitive and lacking in variety. Many highlight the effective voice acting and sound design, which enhance the overall experience, but some feel the soundtrack could have been more dynamic, especially during key moments. Overall, while the music contributes positively to the ambiance, it may not meet the expectations set by similar titles like Portal.

    • “The dynamic music perfectly sets the mood.”
    • “The music is incredible and really adds to the overall feeling of importance and impact that the player is supposed to feel while navigating the machinery and offices of the facility.”
    • “The soundtrack is also one of the better soundtracks I've heard in a while.”
    • “The music didn't help either.”
    • “Pretty dull soundtrack, doesn't really change depending on what's happening.”
    • “Music wasn't there; the game gives you hope of more interesting scenes before shoving you back into more of what you know.”
  • atmosphere44 mentions

    The atmosphere of Lightmatter is consistently praised for its unique visual style and immersive design, blending a cold, menacing aesthetic with engaging gameplay mechanics centered around light and shadows. Many reviewers draw comparisons to Portal, highlighting the game's suspenseful ambiance, excellent voice acting, and artistic elements that enhance the overall experience. The combination of subdued colors, atmospheric music, and clever puzzle design creates a captivating environment that keeps players engaged and on edge throughout their journey.

    • “Lightmatter's visual style is unique and incredibly well thought-out, blending a cold and menacing atmosphere with a novel gameplay mechanic: light keeps, shadows destroy.”
    • “The game plays its light versus darkness aesthetic to magical effect, creating an appealing and atmospheric mixture of subdued purples, blues, white, and black.”
    • “It's atmospheric, artistic, has a good plot, the voice acting is amazing, and when you're not losing yourself taking in the beauty, it makes you think so hard your head might explode.”
    • “The lack thereof certainly lends to the overall atmosphere of the game, and I very much vibed with it, but I'm left wondering what it'd be like with more color is all.”
    • “Very entertaining game with well-designed puzzles and some excellent voice acting and art design, although the number of overt references can be a bit much sometimes as it jars quite a lot with the atmosphere it tries to build.”
    • “Talking about light, I love the way that the game uses light; it really builds the oppressive atmosphere of the game, but also contributes a lot to making it amazing looking.”
  • optimization32 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization is a significant concern, with many players reporting poor performance, inconsistent frame rates, and high GPU usage even on capable hardware. While some users noted that the game runs smoothly on older systems due to its simpler graphics, others experienced stuttering and low FPS, suggesting that optimization issues persist across various configurations. Despite these performance challenges, some players found the gameplay enjoyable, indicating that the experience can still be engaging despite technical shortcomings.

    • “Many options to set the graphics quality and performance, so this will run on older hardware.”
    • “Luckily the simplicity allows for good performance even at higher resolutions, and the game can be played even on older GPUs.”
    • “Game is polished and well-optimized, there are cool achievements and great voiceovers.”
    • “It has many obvious flaws, like the ugly game menu, the optimization is bad (a simple puzzle game took nearly 100% GPU), the talk is not that bad but does slow down the gameplay, other sound is either too low or none.”
    • “Yet even so, the game suffers from lack of optimization still -- even my RTX 3080 had additional aggressive stutters in some parts of the game even when locked to 50 fps.”
    • “Horrible performance (low fps) in some areas, even with the minimum graphic settings.”
  • replayability22 mentions

    Overall, the game has limited replayability, primarily due to its short playtime of around 3-6 hours and the nature of its puzzles, which lose their novelty after the first playthrough. While there are some achievements to collect and an alternate ending to unlock, many players feel it lacks substantial content to warrant multiple playthroughs. Speedrunning options and developer commentary provide slight incentives for replay, but the consensus is that it is best experienced once.

    • “The story is good, replay value for achievements and different endings, speedrunning potential is great, and the voice acting is superb.”
    • “The game is pretty short, it took me just under 3 hours to beat the campaign, but it has some replay value because there are secret things you can do or find to unlock achievements, and there's an option to enable speedrun stats if you're into that sort of thing.”
    • “Replayability is conditioned by a few achievements that collectionists will spend an extra hour getting and an alternate ending you can unlock by idling at a key moment.”
    • “Replayability is conditioned by a few achievements collectionists will spend an extra hour getting and an alternate ending you can unlock by idling at a key moment.”
    • “Not much replay value once the puzzles get cooked out, and honestly with the short play time (3-5 hours, I found it on the shorter side but I did rush it), I would save this one for a Steam sale.”
    • “Getting into what makes me not recommend this game, it's only about three hours long, with zero replay value unless you wanted to speedrun or listen to developer commentary.”
  • stability18 mentions

    The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting frequent bugs and crashes, particularly during later levels, leading to frustration and the need for restarts. While some users experienced minimal issues, others noted significant problems, including game freezes and glitches that hindered gameplay. Overall, the game is described as "fun but buggy," with a clear need for further stability improvements.

    • “This is one of my favorite games, and it runs great on Steam Deck.”
    • “I had no technical problems and found no glitches, thumbs up!”
    • “In my 3 hours of actual gameplay, I experienced about 30 freezes and crashes where I had to restart the game.”
    • “I have no idea what can go so wrong in such a simple and short game, but when your first launch of the game freezes, it doesn’t look good.”
    • “Its a buggy mess that constantly crashes and I wasn't able to get through the first puzzle because the game forgot to load the exit section.”
  • grinding16 mentions

    The reviews indicate that grinding in the game is often perceived as tedious and unfulfilling, with many puzzles lacking a rewarding payoff after completion. While some puzzles provide satisfying "a ha!" moments, others devolve into monotonous tasks that detract from the overall experience. Players express frustration with the amount of time spent on repetitive actions, suggesting that the game could benefit from a more engaging approach to puzzle-solving.

    • “A lot of grinding is required to fully enjoy the game.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding to reach the highest levels.”
    • “All of the puzzles have a sense of tediousness to them and never really feel rewarding at the end.”
    • “Honestly, it annoys me that this isn't a demo; besides that already being a bad thing, the narrator just isn't really funny, it's just annoying and the puzzles are super simple and honestly more tedious doing them than figuring them out.”
    • “I agree with almost all of the problems that were already mentioned, but in my opinion, Lightmatter's biggest problem is that after you've solved a puzzle in your head, everything that comes afterwards is just a lot of tedious busy work that takes way too long to finish.”
  • emotional15 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while some players appreciate the heartfelt dev commentary and the relatable voice acting that conveys character emotions, others feel that certain emotional moments fall flat due to gameplay mechanics that distract from the narrative. The storyline is generally well-received, but the repetitive ambient music detracts from the emotional experience, leading some players to seek their own background music. Overall, the game offers moments of emotional depth, particularly through character interactions, but struggles to maintain consistent emotional engagement throughout.

    • “Ever since I played The Talos Principle by Croteam, I have felt a real emotional response from a female researcher's recordings laying out the background story for me.”
    • “Virgil and Natalie both sounded like actual people rather than voice actors reading lines - I could really feel Virgil's emotional state changing over the course of the game.”
    • “The dev commentary is pretty wholesome.”
  • character development3 mentions

    Character development is gradual and somewhat predictable by the end, yet the story offers surprising depth for a game that can be completed in around five hours. Players appreciate the engaging mechanics and character design, which enhance the overall experience.

    • “Nice mechanics and character design.”
    • “Character development happens slowly, and the ending is a little bit predictable.”
    • “The story has surprising depth and character development for a game that can be 100% completed in about 5 hours.”
  • monetization2 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for aggressively promoting Discord ads upon launch, which some users find intrusive, while others acknowledge the cleverness of the advertising approach.

    • “The game constantly bombards you with Discord ads as soon as you launch it.”
    • “The monetization strategy is incredibly aggressive and intrusive.”
    • “It's frustrating how they prioritize profit over player experience.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

72% average critic score

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Play time

4hMedian play time
5hAverage play time
3-6hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 25 analyzed playthroughs

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