The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse has a moody, dark atmosphere, with a few plot surprises that might make you shiver a little if you've been reading carefully. You start of as a tourist, heading to see the famous lighthouse in the midst of a heavy rain, with a broken arm, and a hill to climb. The plot itself isn't very original. The scenario of tourists stumbling onto dark secrets in creepy buildings has been done before. However, the author does put a new spin on it. There are some poignantly scary seems that have been written well.

Unfortunately, the puzzles (if you could call them that) are quite easy. There are no codes to crack, no mazes to explore, no and no hidden doors to find. The procedure is routine and the only interesting thing about the "puzzles" is manipulating your actions to find an undiscovered ending. There are multiple endings you can reach, but (from what I've seen) only one can be considered moderately happy.

I wasn't quite sure whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. In the end, I settled for 3. The writing is good, but then again, if I only wanted good writing I could have read a book. I want some challenge out of my IF games and I didn't get it here. (Of course, I might be missing some important piece of information that prevented me from reaching another step of the game, but I doubt it.)

So, if you're looking for a short, atmospheric game that will put you in a dark, slightly paranoid mood, then play The Lighthouse. However, if you're looking for challenging puzzle games, move on.