Candle

It's unfortunate that I cannot recommend this game. Candle is a gorgeously drawn puzzle-platformer that is simply far too frustrating to enjoy without a walkthrough. And walkthroughs are, of course, boring.

The main cause of frustration is the poorly indicated puzzles. Hard puzzles are great! But in this case the difficulty is not due to having to think, it's 100% due to the game's inability to convey your options. The tutorial shows you want you can do ... but that's only a small percentage of what you can do. You need to find secrets in the environment, so get ready to bump into every single wall and jump on every vine and try actions that you've tried before again because next time they might work and maybe you thought it was impossible but actually it's possible this time just because.

I guess people with infinite time and patience to bang their heads against walls can solve these on their own, but some of us would rather play a game and not a self-trolling device.

Also frustrating are the stealth elements. Yes, there is stealth-action in this game, and it's horrendous and unnecessary. Enemies spot you instantly, kill you, and then you have to try the whole thing over again. You sometimes have to wait a very long time for a window of opportunity. It's neither fun nor clever.

Even the occasional platforming can be a pain because controls are imprecise and slow and it's too easy to fall instead of jump and then you die and have to start over.

This is sad. Again, the game is gorgeous and there is a charming little story behind it all. But it's simply too often an unpleasant gaming experience.