The Town of Light

Profoundly sad and hauntingly beautiful, this is mostly a slow-moving walking-simulator game with a few simple tasks to keep the story moving. Ostensibly it's about a poorly treated mental illness, and a poorly treated person more generally, but it's hard not to see it as an allegory for the collective insanity and dissolution of individuality that took hold of Italy under Mussolini's fascism, which is the backdrop to the dismal story.

It's also hard not to compare it to What Remains of Edith Finch, though whereas that game mixed in quite a bit of delight, this game is relentless in its oppressive atmosphere. This monotony works well for what this game is trying to achieve, but be warned that there is not a drop of mirth or humor within.

The root of the story's power is in its setting. You'll explore convincing architecture and natural beauty, all rendered faithfully with excellent lighting and subtle sound design. (Too bad it doesn't support HDR!) Most of the world is not interactive and the few "secret" locations are rather mundane. This isn't exploration for the sake of discovery. It's entirely about illustrating the enclosed world of the protagonist.

I do have complaints. One of these "tasks" was immensely frustrating due to what might be a translation error. I wasted a full hour trying to find the unmarked "reception" room, until realizing it was the room right in front of me and that I had to click on a specific item there. Please fix this.

But worse, it's impossible to experience the entire story, including a new area to explore, in one playthrough. The game branches according to decisions you make but the system is extremely obtuse. I really hate it when games do that: force you to repeat some of the story after you've already concluded it. I just turned to a walkthrough in order to dutifully fill in the gaps and it made me thoroughly upset, as it involved a lot of unskippable repetition. What an awful design decision. The achievements are also very annoying, including one that is time-based.

All in all, I recommend The Town of Light, as long as you know what you are getting into.