Striving for Light

About

Striving for Light is a single player and multiplayer casual hack and slash game with a mystery theme. It was developed by Igniting Spark Games and was released on July 11, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

"Striving for Light" is a rogue-lite ARPG with a unique, expanding skill tree and randomly generated maps. Battle through darkness in over 11 environments with distinct enemies and bosses, while leveling up and unlocking new skills, weapons, and characters. The game also features an endgame system, online leaderboards, local co-op, and a hand-drawn art style with a self-composed soundtrack. The dynamic skill tree and deep itemization system offer high replayability value.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

+28

Skip User Reviews

83%

Audience ScoreBased on 123 reviews

gameplay10 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

The game features a unique and infinitely expanding skill tree that allows for diverse character builds and strategies, making each run feel fresh and engaging.
The hand-drawn art style and atmospheric music contribute to a charming and immersive experience, despite some rough edges.
The developers are highly responsive to community feedback, regularly updating the game to fix bugs and improve gameplay, which shows a commitment to enhancing the player experience.

The game suffers from performance issues and frequent crashes, especially during longer play sessions, which can disrupt the gameplay experience.
The companion AI is poorly implemented, often failing to assist effectively, which detracts from the overall gameplay experience.
The skill tree can feel random and frustrating, as players may end up with suboptimal upgrades that hinder their ability to plan effective builds.

gameplay
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
67%
8%
The gameplay is characterized by a fun and addictive loop that combines elements of hack and slash with a customizable skill tree, offering a variety of builds and mechanics. While many players appreciate the distinct art style and atmospheric music, some criticize the dodge mechanic and the overwhelming skill tree reminiscent of other games. Overall, the gameplay is engaging and has potential for extensive replayability, though it may require some adjustment and could benefit from additional content and polish.
- “The gameplay loop is very fun and there's so many builds to explore.”
- “There's crazy builds, huge tree, theorycrafting during runs, RNG loot, crafting, endgame systems, gameplay modifiers/modes, real challenge if you want, boss mechanics, screen-wide pack explosions, meta progression, classes, variety, everything!”
- “It has a simple yet addicting gameplay and charming graphics that I really enjoy!”
- “There are some really good ideas here, but the gameplay itself is mediocre.”
- “I went into this expecting more of a 'pure ARPG', so I was initially disappointed by the roguelike mechanics.”
- “To finish a level, you need to beat a 'key' boss that makes it so you can progress further, but now there's a new mechanic where each level has a second boss, which is awful.”
graphics
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
50%
11%
The graphics of the game feature a distinct hand-drawn art style that, while rough around the edges, offers a unique charm that many players appreciate. Although some animations may feel unpolished and the visuals can initially seem overwhelming, the overall aesthetic and diverse environments have garnered positive feedback for their creativity and appeal. Players have noted that, despite some criticisms, the graphics contribute to an enjoyable gameplay experience that grows on you over time.
- “The graphics and overall art vibe, I enjoyed admiring diverse worlds and cool character art!”
- “I dig the graphics and have fun playing the game!”
- “The hand-painted art style is rough around the edges but has an indie charm.”
- “However, due to the art style, the maps can sometimes be overwhelming.”
- “At first, the visuals and the way the character and enemy mobs move and attack felt quite strange, and I even thought they looked unpolished.”
- “The handmade graphics are a bit rough, not my favorite cup of tea to be honest, but they're not bad at all.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with users reporting significant performance issues, including jittery animations and stuttering gameplay, even on high-end systems. While some hope for improvements through future patches, the current state has led to frustration, particularly regarding the limitations on refunds and unlocalized pricing. Overall, the optimization challenges detract from the gaming experience, making it difficult for players to fully enjoy the title.
- “One would assume that most of these issues will get addressed with patches over time, when it comes to stability and optimization.”
- “Complaining about performance in an early access title isn’t entirely fair, but it's still important to note.”
- “Moderate performance issues running on: amd ryzen 9 5900x, 16 gb ram, nvidia geforce 3070.”
- “Performance issues, slow and boring gameplay, hard to build planning (which for me is essential in games like this), very limited loot and end game progression, that's a no go for me.”
- “But that is overshadowed by horrendous animations, jittery performance, and floaty everything.”
- “Unfortunately, even on a very good gaming rig, the performance is very bad.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
20%
The game offers significant replayability, blending randomness with player control, which keeps each run fresh and engaging. Players appreciate the extensive skill tree and diverse content, although some runs may feel frustrating due to reliance on random elements. Overall, the replay value is considered excellent, providing both challenge and enjoyment.
- “It's a very nice rogue-lite with a lot of replayability and a good balance between randomness and control (though you can still get those runs where you just can't get the passives you're looking for).”
- “The game gets quite hard, but the skill tree is massive and adds in a lot of replayability.”
- “It is highly replayable and somewhat dependent on RNG.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while it can be enjoyable and rewarding, with daily engagement and upgrades, many also feel that the repetitive nature of grinding through maps and defeating bosses can become tedious and risky, especially at higher levels. The visuals may grow stale over time, contributing to the sense of monotony in the gameplay loop.
- “The maps get tedious and the in-map activities can be too risky at higher levels, especially considering each hit can do more than 15 damage.”
- “Sometimes it feels like it is all about grinding from one map to another and beating bosses.”
- “Besides some of the visuals growing a little stale, the overall feeling of the environments, as well as the loop itself felt strangely tedious.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The story aspect of the game shows promise, featuring a variety of engaging combat scenarios like tower defense missions and elemental trials, while allowing players to make meaningful choices without the commitment of a lengthy narrative. Reviewers appreciate the potential for depth in the storyline, suggesting it could enhance the overall experience.
- “Nice to have some hard choices to make, but also not be stuck in a 120-hour story game where I don't want to restart the game just to try a different build.”
- “It holds some potential for a good story.”
- “The story feels disjointed and lacks a coherent narrative arc, making it hard to stay engaged.”
- “Character development is shallow, leaving me feeling disconnected from their motivations and struggles.”
- “The plot twists are predictable and fail to deliver any real emotional impact.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game, currently in early access, suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent crashes and various glitches that hinder gameplay, such as inaccessible keybindings and blank screens in the menu. While it shows promise with a solid gameplay loop, the overall experience is marred by its buggy state.
- “As this game is in early access, glitches and bugs are abundant. I ended up having the game crash at least three times for no clear reason.”
- “Buggy mess, unable to access keybinding and stuck on a blank screen when clicking on the menu.”
- “Good gameplay loop and potential, but incredibly buggy.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game is praised for its atmospheric quality, enhancing the overall experience and complementing the distinct art style. Players find it enjoyable and suitable for background listening, making it a good fit for casual gameplay sessions.
- “Just like survival, I can say only good things about its distinct art style, atmospheric music, and most of the gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is fun and quite addictive, perfect for 'wasting' some time, perhaps listening to a podcast or some music.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its unique art style and atmospheric music, contributing positively to the overall experience. However, some players express frustration with certain gameplay mechanics, such as the dodge system and the skill tree design.
- “Just like survival, I can say only good things about its distinct art style, atmospheric music, and most of the gameplay.”