Developed by LKA
Published by Wired Productions
Released for Xbox One (6/6/2017)
Also on PC/PS4
Originally released for PC in February 2016, the Town of Light was ported to both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One in June 2017. Powered by the Unity Engine, the game has players navigating an abandoned mental hospital in Tuscany, Italy. The developers state that it's based on extensive research and inspired by real events.
In the Town of Light, the player assumes the role of a 16-year-old girl named Renée, who was a former patient at the hospital back in the 1940's. As Renée you'll explore the now abandoned hospital, searching for answers from the past and recollecting several memories of where she spent her youth. Sometimes these pop up as images, but mostly it is described in narrative. The hospital is a large facility, so there's a lot of ground to explore making it easy to get confused as to where or what you're supposed to do next. Luckily, guides are easy to find out there but it shows that the Town of Light is a bit more open-ended than your average walking simulator. There are a couple points in the story where your decisions will branch the story off a different path, helping to add a little replay value for those who want to play again.
Graphically, the Town of Light presents a detailed environment for you to explore with a decent amount of interactivity, but there are some issues here for sure. There's a filter over the screen at all times during the game that makes it look as if you're looking through some lenses that could use some cleaning. This definitely made me double-take on several occasions to make sure my TV wasn't dirty. It really stands out in the bright outdoor segments and is something I would've liked an option to turn off. There's also quite a bit of graphic pop-in that occurs, particularly noticeable when walking around in the large outdoor areas. The framerate struggles to maintain in quite a few areas, even while playing on an Xbox One X. The game definitely doesn't keep any kind of consistent frame-rate, but with this being a simple walking simulator it's not game-breaking, just a bit annoying. These issues aside, the environment looks good with lots of detail.
While the Town of Light is not your traditional horror game, some of the events that Renée experienced while locked up in the hospital are indeed quite horrific. In particular, the methods used to lobotomize patients back in the '40's were quite disturbing, involving shoving a tool up into the brain through the patient's eye. There are also some sexual themes as our character recalls her lesbian relationship with one of her fellow patients throughout the story. It's nothing too explicit, but I know how people are sensitive to this kind of thing so just a heads up. Sexual themes in general have always had a strange reception in America, but that's a different rabbit-hole to jump into another time. If you want a darker walking-simulator game, particularly one that deals with psychology in the old days, give the Town of Light a go. I'd recommend waiting for a sale due to the short length of the game, but it's worth a shot.
Final Verdict: Those into psychology, especially the history of it, will definitely find something to like with the Town of Light. It's dark and emotional, as a game about one afflicted with a mental illness should be.
Purchase Links:
Buy the Town of Light - Microsoft Store
Related Links:
The Town of Light - Official Site
LKA - Official Site
Wired Productions - Official Site
The Town of Light - GameFAQs
The Town of Light - Wikipedia
The Town of Light - True Achievements
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