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White Night

White Night stands as one of the best executed and most emotional games in the past few years, with outstanding game-character-player relation and a disturbing and frightening setting
White Night Game Cover
67%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
grinding, replayability
68% User Score Based on 196 reviews
Critic Score 66%Based on 25 reviews

Platforms

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White Night Game Cover

About

White Night is a single player survival action adventure game with a horror theme. It was developed by Plug In Digital and was released on March 3, 2015. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

In White Night, a survival horror game set in the 1930s, players explore a haunted mansion while avoiding darkness, which poses a constant threat. The game features puzzle-solving and incorporates lighting and shadows to create tension and atmosphere. Players control a man seeking help after a car accident and must uncover the mansion's secrets while contending with the supernatural.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
White Night screenshot
+7
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68%
Audience ScoreBased on 196 reviews
story57 positive mentions
grinding6 negative mentions
  • White Night features a unique monochrome art style that enhances its atmospheric horror experience.
  • The game effectively builds tension through its use of light and darkness, creating a sense of dread as players navigate the mansion.
  • The narrative is engaging, with a compelling backstory revealed through collectibles and environmental storytelling.
  • The fixed camera angles can lead to frustrating navigation and cheap deaths, making it difficult to avoid enemies.
  • The save system is punishing, requiring players to find specific save points, which can result in losing significant progress.
  • Some puzzles can be obscure or tedious, leading to moments of frustration rather than enjoyment.
  • story
    176 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "White Night" is a blend of noir and horror, set against a backdrop of a haunting mansion filled with environmental storytelling and collectibles that reveal its tragic past. While many players appreciate the atmospheric and engaging narrative, some criticize its predictability and reliance on scattered notes for plot development, which can detract from the overall experience. Despite its flaws, the game is noted for its compelling themes and strong voice acting, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of narrative-driven horror.

    • “The game leans heavily on exploration and environmental storytelling, rewarding patience with clues about the mansion’s tragic past.”
    • “White Night is atmospheric horror done right, with gorgeous noir graphics and moody jazz music, featuring a story that is startlingly violent and oppressive in its portrayal of mental illness and inherited family trauma.”
    • “The story is interesting and the extra notes in the game help round it out.”
    • “The story is mostly told through notes, but damn, they're really interesting to read.”
    • “The atmosphere is the only thing going for it, and forget making sense of the story until you get all collectibles so you can read them in order.”
    • “The story of the game isn't all that great.”
  • gameplay
    105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "White Night" is characterized by its intriguing light and shadow mechanics that enhance the noir atmosphere, but it suffers from significant flaws such as frustrating fixed camera angles, janky controls, and a punishing save system that can lead to tedious repetition. While the art direction and narrative are praised, many players find the gameplay experience to be awkward and frustrating, often detracting from the overall enjoyment of the game. Ultimately, the gameplay is a mixed bag, appealing to those who appreciate its aesthetic and story, but likely to frustrate others due to its mechanical shortcomings.

    • “Shadows aren’t just decoration; they shape gameplay, revealing threats and secrets alike.”
    • “The gameplay mechanic is very interesting, with darkness being a danger, light being scarce, and light sources being limited.”
    • “The puzzles for the most part are simple enough given either a little bit of thought or a little trial and error and the mechanics of light and shadow that often accompany them never feel gimmicky or too out of place.”
    • “The game has some gameplay flaws, like the fixed camera angles forcing you to run right into an enemy you can't possibly see, which instantly kills you.”
    • “Gameplay here is an awkward and frustrating experience with poor camera angles, deliberately obtuse layouts to make the illumination game theme even more frustrating.”
    • “Unfortunately, the release's biggest issues sit in the gameplay department, as it's exceedingly frustrating on far too many occasions.”
  • graphics
    103 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "White Night" are widely praised for their unique monochrome art style, which effectively captures a noir aesthetic and enhances the game's atmospheric horror. While many reviewers commend the striking black and white visuals and their role in creating tension, some criticize the simplistic and low-polygon design, suggesting it detracts from gameplay and can hinder navigation. Overall, the visuals are considered the standout feature, though they come with mixed opinions regarding their impact on the overall gaming experience.

    • “White Night is atmospheric horror done right, with gorgeous noir graphics and moody jazz music, featuring a story that is startlingly violent and oppressive in its portrayal of mental illness and inherited family trauma.”
    • “The aesthetic of the game is stunningly beautiful, stark contrasting blacks and whites without any greyscale gives the world a cold and eerie feeling.”
    • “The art style is fantastic, and while it hurts other things – like the visibility of the title's many collectibles – the trade-off is honestly worth it.”
    • “White Night is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it was a real PC game (it's not)... it's a cash grab from greedy mobile devs. This mobile app is a film noir themed adventure mystery that uses the godawfully bad stark black and white graphics as part of the game mechanic.”
    • “The lack of textures is a method that lazy devs often use to disguise their lack of talent or interest in doing the graphics properly, trying to disguise it under the name of 'art' or 'we made it look bad on purpose', which really isn't something gamers should have to put up with.”
    • “Another case where the graphics are a gimmick and they forgot about the gameplay.”
  • atmosphere
    85 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its striking black and white visuals, noir style, and haunting piano music, creating a deeply immersive and chilling experience. Reviewers highlight the effective use of light and shadow, which enhances the tension and encourages exploration, despite some frustrations with gameplay mechanics. Overall, the atmosphere is considered the game's strongest aspect, making it a compelling choice for fans of atmospheric horror.

    • “The game oozes with atmosphere, further enhanced by the piano music and the noir style monologues.”
    • “White Night emphasizes its irresistible black and white noir visuals, atmosphere, and perfect soundtrack, featuring intelligent puzzles and a story that is startlingly violent and oppressive in its portrayal of mental illness and inherited family trauma.”
    • “The game’s biggest problem is that by the first quarter of the game you lose the tension and foreboding atmosphere and instead become jaded by the ridiculous ghosts, exploration, controls, and overuse of blood splatters.”
    • “The atmosphere it provides is incredibly convincing and genuinely unsettling, right up until the time that the perceived threat becomes a reality and things take a nosedive.”
    • “Even though story and atmosphere are where it's at for a game like this, let's talk gameplay before you guys turn to hard drinking and fistfighting just to get some action in.”
  • music
    41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its ability to enhance the atmospheric and immersive experience, with a standout noir-inspired soundtrack that complements the visuals and storytelling. Players appreciate the haunting piano melodies and jazz elements, which effectively contribute to the game's eerie ambiance and emotional depth. Overall, the sound design, including voice acting and ambient effects, is considered excellent, making it a key component of the game's appeal.

    • “The game oozes with atmosphere, further enhanced by the piano music and the noir style monologues.”
    • “White Night emphasizes its irresistible black and white noir visuals, atmosphere, and perfect soundtrack, intelligent puzzles, and is reminiscent of films such as 'The Fall of the House of Usher' based on a short story by Poe, giving at certain points an air of tension for the audience.”
    • “The music and sound in this game is awesome and makes my skin crawl on occasions while roaming the mansion.”
    • “Black and white aesthetic and jazz music doesn't make your game automatically noir.”
    • “The soundtrack pent suspense, panic of players, so as to climax - such as running from the pursuit of the three ghosts - both soul and my body wants crushed.”
    • “Your headlights illuminate billboards along the road with the game's credits while a mournful jazz song plays.”
  • grinding
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, with frequent deaths and poorly placed checkpoints leading to repetitive gameplay. The combination of fixed camera angles and challenging enemy encounters contributes to a frustrating experience, as players must repeatedly navigate through earlier sections to retry difficult areas. While the game has good pacing initially, it ultimately suffers from prolonged trial-and-error segments that detract from the overall enjoyment.

    • “God, I wanted to love it, but the devs, I'm assuming to pad out the game time, basically make every step of progress a super tedious hard-fought battle.”
    • “Later, you find yourself in a room similarly flooded with ghosts in which you are likely to die, and again the save system proves itself your real enemy: the last manual save is not in the previous room, but two rooms before, so you must play through the first easy room (which on repetition rapidly becomes tedious) before being allowed to re-attempt the one that killed you.”
    • “The fixed camera angles and darkness sound like excellent horror game mechanics on paper, but as you continually run into obstacles you can't see, get insta-killed by enemies that you can't see, and respawn in fixed checkpoints that are rare and poorly placed, the atmospheric tension completely drains away as you replay the same tedious sections.”
  • replayability
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game has limited replayability, primarily revolving around collecting items and achievements rather than offering varied gameplay experiences. Many players express disappointment with the lack of additional mechanics or content that would encourage multiple playthroughs.

    • “I'd rate it higher if it were longer, or perhaps had a bit more mechanics or replayability.”
    • “The only replay value I have found is to go after all collectibles.”
    • “I'd rate it higher if it were longer, or perhaps had a bit more mechanics, or replayability.”
    • “- No replay value, except for collecting all newspaper articles and similar items.”
    • “Not a ton of replayability, but plenty of achievements for those who care.”
  • emotional
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players report that the game effectively evokes a range of emotions, particularly feelings of unease and tension, enhanced by its dark atmosphere and immersive gameplay mechanics. The strong connection between the game, its characters, and the player contributes to its reputation as one of the most emotionally impactful titles in recent years.

    • “This game made me feel consistently uneasy, mainly because the lack of light in various aspects made my brain wonder rather than be underwhelmed by monsters, ghosts, or enemies that could be identified.”
    • “The camera shake made me feel a cold spine, as if someone was watching me.”
    • “White Night stands as one of the best executed and most emotional games in the past few years, with an outstanding game-character-player relationship and a disturbing and frightening setting.”
  • humor
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is characterized by hilarious dialogue and absurd descriptions that often lead to laughter, making it a great choice for "let's play" videos. While some players noted issues with grammar, the overall silliness and unexpected comedic moments contribute to an entertaining experience.

    • “I will say that playing this game would be hilarious fodder for a 'let's play' video, simply because of the dialogue and written pieces that you pick up along the way.”
    • “He would spout random, weird descriptions of things that were just downright silly, and instead of being afraid, I was sitting there laughing.”
    • “Funny... I can cut the heads off zombies with machetes and chainsaws, but I can't play this... a real shame!!!”
  • monetization
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization of "White Night" has been criticized as a cash grab, with users expressing disappointment that it feels more like a mobile app than a legitimate PC game. The game's reliance on poor graphics and its origins as a mobile title contribute to the perception of greed from its developers.

    • “White Night is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it were a real PC game (it's not). It's a cash grab from greedy mobile developers. This mobile app is a film noir themed adventure mystery that uses the godawfully bad stark black and white graphics as part of the game mechanic.”
    • “The monetization in this game is outrageous. It feels like every corner I turn, there's a prompt asking me to spend more money. It's frustrating and takes away from the overall experience.”
    • “I can't believe how much they charge for in-game items. It feels like they designed the game to be unplayable without spending real money, which is incredibly disappointing.”
  • stability
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is reported to have significant stability issues, including frequent bugs and freezing, which can detract from the overall experience. While some players still recommend it for its narrative, they advise against purchasing at full price due to these technical problems. Troubleshooting tips are available for those experiencing loading screen freezes.

    • “It feels very buggy at times and totally takes you out of the story; despite this, I would still recommend it to those who really like narrative-driven games.”
    • “I cannot possibly recommend buying at full price for such a buggy game, though.”
    • “If, like me, the game freezes on the loading screen when you try to play it, use the below website and run it on your NVIDIA graphics card, not your integrated one.”
  • optimization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization is generally solid, though players who are not fans of noir may find some writing elements awkward. However, the strong voice performances help to balance out any shortcomings in the narrative.

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66%Critics’ scoreBased on 25 critic reviews
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White Night is a survival action adventure game with horror theme.

White Night is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, iPhone and others.

On average players spend around 4 hours playing White Night.

White Night was released on March 3, 2015.

White Night was developed by Plug In Digital.

White Night has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

White Night is a single player game.

Similar games include The Beast Inside, Tormented Souls, The Medium, Silence of the Sleep, Song of Horror and others.