Here we have another game I probably would not have picked up had I bought myself. However, when Epic gave it away for free, I figured it looked just strange enough to give it a shot and a home in my backlog. Well, it definitely proved strange, but it was missing the staying power to really recommend you follow me through it.
Story: Honestly, I'm not sure I know what the story is for this game. There clearly is one with a start and about five possible endings, but what is actually going on being up for interpretation might just be one of the biggest understatements I could write on here.
Everything starts in what appears to be a picnic in a hilly field. You are with a young woman who talks about how the sun never sets, it just goes to the other side of the planet and gets metaphorical from there if you keep talking to her. There is really little else to do yet, but there is a single rose growing nearby. Picking it and bringing it back to the girl will have you witnessing a drastic change as the sky goes dark, a giant hole grows in the ground and a huge bloody hand reaches up, grabbing the young lady, and pulling her down below. But you can't leave it like this so you plunge in after her...
...only to suddenly be in a rathole apartment with a single bed, a knocked over light, and a desk with a phone and a typewriter. You will have a moment to look around before you are suddenly no longer there, but in a 1920s elevator and the words "floor 0" on the screen.
And I am giving you a play-by-play of this opening because it sets the tone of disorientation the story absolutely revels in. The only real story you will get is between floors where you will visit random scenes presumably from your past, often with this same young woman where you will have a moment to explore or talk to her before being ripped back to the main gameplay. Occasionally you will meet a second young woman who might say something to hint at things... but I honestly was never able to make the connection. Just the hint that somewhere deep down there might be one.
But that story it's connecting to is just as vague. You will collect pieces and basically all I can tell for certain is the game is metaphorically connected to this woman who the game only calls simply "she" and whatever happened to bring you here, it will do nothing more then hint at. Nor when you get the ending will it be any less vague since each ending conflicts with the others, not just in outcome, but even in the relationship hinted at... and explaining the possibilities would be a spoiler to anyone who is still interested in following this up.
But as far as I'm concerned, I think I have to call this basically non-sense hoping to be passed off as something deep.
4/10
Graphics: The first thing this game is going to show you is it is one of those low-poly games that's mimicking the look you might have seen in the 32-bit console era. The world you are in is low-polygon and everything is made of large chunky pixels. Hell, if you don't turn off the setting, the game will even display the world in low-resolution, further completing this retro-picture.
You will travel through dark corridors, starting with an old decrepit set of corridors, complete with beaten wood panels and frayed wallpaper with ugly green patterns. For the most part it's not well lit, using monitors of local computers as a light source as often as actual lighting... and on some occasions less then that. It's also littered with those computers along with other artifacts, like piles of books (organized and unorganized), bits of paper, and... meat. Literal slabs of meat make up walls you can press through, pulsing and writhing as a living thing might.... and these slabs are not alone. Many distorted and messed up horrors share this world with you, and when they reveal themselves, they will use the low-tech look to it's absolute max to be as disturbing as it possibly can.... and this is just the first biome.
There are several such places you will visit before the game is over, each having their own flavor of hellishness, so you will likely not get board with how things look before your time with this game is over.
8/10
Sound: Going with the rather disjointed and disturbing look is an equally disturbing soundscape... at least at first. Do not expect a lot of music while playing, at least not anything truly considered a soundtrack. There are notes and all, if you can hear it, it likely shares the world with you. Sometimes there is a piano out there, sometimes speech clips, sometimes garlges and roars... and who knows whatever noises creatures not of our world are making. It's frankly disconcerting when you first start playing. But you won't take too long before you learn what noises are things to watch out for and others are just slabs of meat nearby... breathing. Unfortunately by this point all shock value is gone, and with it any genuine unease the noise could cause, but it's nice while it lasts
Also, do not expect much in the way of voice acting in this game. Yes there are voices, but most of it is just the creatures either making noises or saying things like "kill... kill...." in some cases. Or you might even caught bits of public domain horror movies used... but aside from that it's all garbled like an old game just putting a "voice" to the text on your screen.
7/10
Gameplay: Golden Light is a first person horror rouge-like and arguably one of the most bizarre games I've ever played, rivalling even GhostDream. But to boil it down, you will make your way through a dungeon made of floors going ever deeper into "The Gut" a literal land made entirely of meat. Even the walls that give each area in the Gut it's character look only carries that look on it's surface. If you hit it, it will bleed. And hit it enough you can dig past that surface to tunnel anywhere you like within the meat.
Of course the world is not thrilled with being burrowed through, however, and will spawn new enemies if you piss it off enough, making the game harder and harder... until you either clear the biome you are in or die. But death is not the end for you, for when you die (and you will most likely do so more then a few times) you will be able to go back to try again in a newly generated version of the floor you were on (the Meat remembers). But this can wait for a little bit. For now, you will find yourself fairly unarmed as you will lose just about everything you found during your run, but safe. Looking around, your new location is a graveyard in the center of the area surrounding (and probably above) the Gut... the Meat Garden.
Here is where you can relatively relax. There are enemies in the Garden, much like the Gut, but they are weaker here, and there are plenty of roses to find, which you can take advantage of to gain the "regen" status just by holding one, letting you heal in the process if you need it. The place is vast and open, unlike the levels in the Gut, and you may find upgrades out there before venturing back inside (you will find them while in a run as well, but building up resources before you go is usually a good idea). These come in a few forms: items, weapons, mementos, and quest items.
Weapons and items are the most standard here, as you carry them in both hands, using commands to scroll though items or switch which of the two weapons (or maps or shields) you are carrying. And while weapons break, their use to attack enemies or defend yourself becomes quite obvious. Items, on the other hand, will have an effect you can use by throwing them. In both cases, however, can be eaten to heal, even if you will have to deal with the effects of whatever you devoured. You heard me right, you will find yourself fairly regularly eating your weapons to survive your trips through the Gut.
In addition to this, mementos will be extra powers and mutations you pick up, taking the form of photos you will find throughout your adventure. When you so, you will be given a choice of two options and these can be anything from slowing down your jumps to increasing your speed by growing more legs to gaining the power to shoot lasers from your eyes "if you squint" and many more insane powers. However, these too, like your weapons and items, will all go away if you die.
However, the last items are the exception to this: quest items. If you are lucky enough to find these things, you get to keep them forever... or at least until you use them. These include She's body parts, mix tapes, golden keys and meat, as well as medicines. Most of these are story items, but others are enhancements, like extending your health bar by having pieces of golden meat, or the ability to unlock gates in the Meat Garden by using a golden key up. But the medicine item is perhaps the best in the bunch.... because by using one, you can remove a memento you don't like before you die... or even better, cause one to forever follow you through death if you like the effect of it. This is the one way you can really take control of your runs, so if you find one and a power you really like using, lock it down.
And as noticed in the sound section, you will have a LOT of company trying to kill you while making these runs. Everything from doors with spikes that randomly decide to squirm and slash (or even fake doors getting to close to will snap like a trap) to giant meat-piles who will likely want to kill (or hug?) you: including several bosses at the end of each biome. Completing a new biome will earn you a trip back to the Meat Garden keeping whatever you have left from your run as well as a new item: a bodypart of She. The first time will give you her head your ultimate goal will be to collect all the parts on your quest to finish the game. It will be a challenge, I assure you.
Unfortunately this is also where I have my issues with the game. A hard game is fun, yes, but I found myself running out of new things to see while trying to make my way through the game well before I finished. In short, it's a bit of a detriment as the new and exciting becomes the same old well before you finish your journey.
6/10
Bugs: For as weird as this game is I can not be sure, but I THINK this game ran bug-free.
Digital Rights Management: This is not a game that has DRM attached, at least at all times. If you are playing through Steam it uses it as DRM, however the version on the Epic Game Store apparently has nothing.
Score: This game made one hell of a first impression. From the first time a potted plant slowly slid up to me before exploding into a man-sized meat pile with giant arms moaning as it tried to grab me, to the absolutely disorientating and confusing sound effects I just could not be sure if it was something to look for or to avoid, the world was wild and left me paranoid of the world. It was simply astounding, if confusing as hell.
But then as I got used to it, I learned what to look and listen for, and the charm began to wear off. The same happened as I picked up more and more mementos and finally began to repeat them. Add to this I managed to see just about all areas, enemies, and bosses, and I just found myself not really wanting to spend the effort. The spectacle grew thin and had very little to back it once that charm wore off... not even a real story to want to see how it ends.
If you like rouge-likes, I haven't played many, but I have played better. If you like horror games, I've played few with the toure-de-force this game starts with, but unlike this game, many that remain fascinating well past that first impression.
I just can't recommend picking this one up for any other choices you have.
6/10
System Requirements:
- Intel Core i5 4000+
- 4 GB RAM
- NVidia GeForce with at least 1 GB VRAM
- 2 GB hard drive space
- Windows 7
System Specs:
- Ryzen 7 (5700X) 3.4 Ghz
- 32 GB RAM
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB VRAM)
- Windows 11 (64 Bit)
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