Lightless: The 21st Sacrifice - Review

Indie adventures are a genre that isn't unknown to many game developers. However, the best works in this domain unsurprisingly come from those creators who can make games that are strongly personal projects. In the case of Lightless: The 21st Sacrifice mainly made by a single developer, Bahman Aminipour, you can immediately see one such game and tell in a matter of minutes that it is a product of pure creative passion.

This title, available on Steam for free, represents a homage to the point and click adventures of the early 2000s. More precisely, the horror titles that utilize one or more famous plots from this genre. Lightless is similar in a sense, but also dramatically different and original. Its story is set in Iran, where Navid returns after 30 years in Canada to his hometown. There, the man, now a writer, quickly ends up in a morphing nightmare that includes some deep-buried terrible moments from his long-lost past.

Right from the get-go, the game excellently defines its atmosphere of dread and insanity, which is at the same time set in a country and region not often seen in video games. It also quickly defines two great in-game mechanics of a digital camera and a flashlight. These are horror tropes, but they work amazingly well in this title, as well as being refreshingly in-depth for a single-dev indie title.

From there on, the game just grips and pulls the players further in. It bases itself on a regular point and click process of item use, but also overcomes it quickly with a multitude of spaces to explore and numerous unnerving horror moments. As a package, there is no doubt that Lightless: The 21st Sacrifice will be an absolute joy for all adventure gaming fans, as well as a showcase of what you can do even as a lone developer with a clear vision and plenty of passion for making that vision into reality.