Flood of Light is the next entry into the inventive puzzle-platformer genre. It follows the story of an abandoned little girl in a flooded city who is trying to lower the flood level through technologic puzzles. Flood of Light is not innovative, nor the peak of the puzzle-platformer genre, but it is quite enjoyable. Overall, it’s a good experience for those who want their minds tested.

Developer: Indienova

Publisher: Indienova

12 Hours Played // Disclaimer: Review Copy Provided // $4.99

Rising Sea Levels

The objective of Flood of Light is to lower the water level of the city so that it is inhabitable again. To do this, you must light up machines in the city called monoliths. It just so happens that the girl you control has the ability to control light. Naturally, you must use her ability to guide light into the monoliths. However, there are limits to her power: light can’t be sent to already lit lamps, her power has limited range and more. It’s in these limitations that the puzzles arise.

The puzzles themselves are fun, with the challenge being that players must direct the light in such a way that they won’t be backed into a dead-end. Players who do accidentally get themselves caught in a corner will have to restart the level. Though starting off simply enough, they gain complexity as the game progresses. New game elements, such as moving platforms and lanterns, are introduced in later levels and keep the game fresh! Despite an ever-increasing difficulty, the gameplay isn’t unfair and has good puzzles which kept me occupied for the entire span of the game.

Wordy Robots

The story of Flood of Light is told through two main outlets: deactivated robots and old emails you find. By reading old emails and reactivating robots, you slowly learn the finer details of the story. Sadly, the plot is thin and generic. Most of the plot points are taken from sci-fi and apocalyptic stories without creating anything too original or unique. The robots are cutely designed, yet they are also used in tutorials on how to play the game, which sometimes makes their dialogue wordy and unnatural. The story doesn’t add enough to the puzzles, which is disappointing.

A World of Rain and Beauty

Though I wish there was more story to be told, I was captivated by how much plot was told by the carefully curated scenery. While the graphics aren’t cutting edge, the art style is atmospheric, creating a gloomy wonderland with its dark colors. The rain and darkness, combined with the lack of humans add a sense of melancholy to the grand scope of the futuristic city. You get a sense of what the city was like when it was fully functional, without the need to explain it through text which works better than the more in your face way of telling the story via the robots. Additions to the scenery, such as deactivated robots and the ever-present water, make Flood of Light’s style feel fleshed out. As a whole, I am happy that I got to wander, explore, and walk through this world.

Rough Edges

There were a couple of other issues in Flood of Light, that indicates a lack of polish. The biggest of which is its spelling and grammar from its translation. For a game released to a major platform, its lack of quality writing is inexcusable. There isn’t much text, so the ratio of text to error is extremely high. Another problem was the music. The soundtrack of the game lacks variety, keeping a singular tone throughout the game. It becomes grating over time, hearing the same sounds over and over does not add to the atmospheric environment.

On top of that, the motion control also troubled me. This was because they were too sensitive, creating aiming problems for trying to use that were found in the worse of the Wii games. You need to aim a cursor to control the girl’s powers. Playing Flood of Light, I suggest you play in Handheld mode where there are no motion controls (I didn’t see a way to turn them off when docked). These problems prevent Flood of Light from being a great game and keep me from recommending it to everyone.

Conclusion

Flood of Light is filled with fun puzzles and a great atmosphere. It was a world that was fun to explore and a game teeming with good ideas. Yet Flood of Light still has significant problems. The story is flimsy and the typos could have been easily avoided, further damage an already weak story. This game has a lot going for it, but the problems I ran into significantly hindered the experience. However, if you just want good puzzles or an interesting location, Flood of Light is worth exploring.

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