Review: The Town Of Light

The Town Of Light

The Town Of Light (TTOL) is a refreshing take on mental health as a subject matter that few games barely merely scratch the surface of , and yet in this game you follow the story of a young girl.

Renée, the young girl in this story has struggled for a long time with an undiagnosed metal health issues, she is removed from her own home & family and placed in the Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, which is a real asylum for women with mental health issues in Italy, which has long since been shut down and is now a wreck of a building.

As they are known, this is another walking simulator, and your job as the player is to piece together what exactly happened here to young Renée. This is done by exploration of the old hospital, reading files, papers and pictures left scattered about the building, and completing small puzzles to progress. As you do, you encounter memories of events that may or not have occurred here.

The story is narrated throughout by Renée, who is voiced quite wonderfully, and the emotions come through as you continue through her story searching the hospital rooms and grounds alike.

Minor gripes within the game are that some of the locations are a little samey, and could use some small tweaks to make exploration a little more ‘something’, and its not always obvious what you have to do next, although there is a small hint system built in, so its not all lost.

While the story focuses on metal health and the horrific things that have happened within it, (while fictional) the story is based on real life events. There are no jump scares in this game, its not Dead Space (certainly, far from it!), and for once I really do welcome that design decision. The story is succinctly told by LKA, the studio behind The Town Of Light.

Overall, TTOL succeeds in telling a great story, and while it may have minor issues, it is something that will stay with this reviewer for some time. If you have six hours to spare, you cant really go wrong with this game.