The Legend of Candlewind: Nights & Candles

Starting at €9.99Buy now

In "The Legend of Candlewind: Nights & Candles," players must protect the once peaceful town of Candlewind from the forces of darkness that have taken residence in the depths of the earth. With hand-drawn graphics and turn-based battles, this role-playing game pays homage to classic dungeon crawlers and challenges players to explore dark dungeons, discover legendary treasures, and battle evil. Only the most skilled role-playing gamers will have a chance at survival.

Play Modes

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

Reviews

Audience ScoreBased on 23 reviews

music3 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The game features nice illustrations and graphics that could appeal to some players.
It attempts to capture the feel of classic dungeon crawlers, reminiscent of games like Eye of the Beholder.
There is a potential for resource management, as players must carefully manage torches, food, and spell points.

The game lacks basic functionality, such as character creation, a coherent story, and a proper tutorial, leaving players confused.
The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to perform basic actions like equipping items or using ranged attacks.
Combat is repetitive and lacks depth, with enemies appearing randomly and minimal variety in encounters, leading to a tedious gameplay experience.

story
10 mentions
30 % positive mentions
40 % neutral mentions
30 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight a mixed reception regarding the story aspect, with some praising it as great while others criticize it for being shallow and poorly developed. Many users express disappointment in the lack of engaging narrative, character choices, and meaningful plot progression, describing the storytelling as minimal and uninspired. Overall, the story fails to captivate players, leading to a lack of investment in the game.
- “5 of 5: Great story, great gameplay.”
- “4 of 5: Great story, average gameplay.”
- “What about some story?”
- “There is no story development or plot; you have no choices to make when your characters level up, and you have no NPCs or neutrals you can either fight or help for different risks/rewards.”
- “The story is delivered in text boxes and feels ultra-lazy.”
- “The plot consists of exactly ten lines of text.”
gameplay
8 mentions
38 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
38 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Legend of Vandlewind" is criticized for being repetitive and unengaging, featuring uninspired enemies and frustrating mechanics that detract from the overall experience. Reviewers noted a lack of intriguing story and level design, with many feeling that the game fails to offer compelling gameplay elements or a sense of immersion, leading to a disappointing experience that ultimately resulted in uninstallation. Additionally, some players struggled to grasp the mechanics, indicating a lack of clarity in gameplay instructions.
- “While others have flaws as well, at least they have worlds, recognizable areas and advanced party management mechanics.”
- “Again, I've played few games without one, but at least it was compensated by game mechanics - puzzles of some kind, different textures on the wall, interaction with NPCs, animation of monsters (and also groups of monsters) or animation of swings during the fight.”
- “Let's face it, half an hour of gameplay isn't really enough to give a 'review'.”
- “Well, you can actually finish it, but the mechanics are just terrible.”
- “There are some glitches, the mechanics are terrible, dungeons are somehow 'empty' and I have the impression that the developers just did a sloppy job of finishing it.”
- “There's no wonder the video on the store page doesn't show gameplay as there's really nothing to hook you at all.”
graphics
5 mentions
60 % positive mentions
-20 % neutral mentions
60 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally considered decent for a throwback turn-based CRPG, with appealing character and enemy artwork. However, the overall visual experience is hampered by a lack of diverse environments, basic NPC interactions without accompanying visuals, and underwhelming combat animations, leading to a bare-bones aesthetic that may disappoint some players.
- “In terms of first impressions, I quite liked the artwork of the characters and enemies.”
- “The in-game graphics are not bad for this type of game, it has to be said.”
- “It captures some of the feel of playing Eye of the Beholder 1 or Bard's Tale, but with better graphics.”
- “But that is it, it is very bare bones; there aren't any different looking levels, there aren't any puzzles, and the few NPC encounters are very basic text (not even a graphic of the NPC!) with a yes/no option of whether to give them gold, torches, or healing potions in exchange for healing or XP.”
- “Random NPCs you run into have no artwork, just a wall of text.”
- “In terms of first impressions, I quite liked the artwork of the characters and enemies, but I was underwhelmed by the combat animations. I found the wall textures to be troublesome for navigation and really didn't like the lack of an in-game tutorial.”
music
3 mentions
100 % positive mentions
-67 % neutral mentions
67 % negative mentions
The music in the game is limited to a single track, which some players found underwhelming and felt it contributed to a lack of engagement, especially since it stops playing and requires a game restart to resume. Overall, opinions on the music are mixed, with some appreciating the atmosphere it creates while others express ambivalence.
- “The song is captivating and adds a unique atmosphere to the game.”
- “The textures on the walls and the creatures are impressive, but the music truly stands out.”
- “The music enhances the overall experience and keeps you engaged throughout the game.”
- “When it stops, there won't be any music unless you restart the game client.”
- “I found myself fairly ambivalent towards the music.”
grinding
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Players note that the game features a relatively short playtime of around five hours, which includes time spent on grinding, particularly in dungeon crawling. This suggests that while grinding is present, it may not be excessively time-consuming compared to the overall game length.
- “The game is a short dungeon crawler; I beat it within 5 hours, including grinding time.”
- “Grinding feels tedious and takes away from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
- “The repetitive nature of grinding makes it hard to stay engaged with the storyline.”
humor
1 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by dark and unexpected twists, as exemplified by the ironic situation where characters are humorously rescued only to immediately meet their demise.
- “And a funny thing - as soon as I rescued them, both of them were dead.”
stability
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been criticized for numerous glitches and poorly implemented mechanics, leading to a perception of unfinished content, particularly in dungeons that feel lacking and empty.
- “There are some glitches, the mechanics are terrible, dungeons feel somehow 'empty', and I have the impression that the developers just did a sloppy job of finishing it.”