There Is No Light: Enhanced Edition

Cool concept. The previews made it look a lot more interesting than it actually is. The combat feels bad, and I was just outright bored. I also noticed a few grammatical errors, and some of the dialogue was cringey, though that’s a personal gripe. If I could give a neutral rating, I would. I’m sure a certain audience might enjoy this, but it’s definitely not for me.

Since it's the weekend and the sale is on, I wanted to bang out my initial thoughts. I've got just over an hour in the game, all of which I've played with a game pad. And the crowning achievement... cue drumroll... you can remap game pad keys! For some reason this seems like a superpower in 2025 with the number of indie games releasing without remap functionality, but this one has it. Take this review as a tentative recommendation, pending more time in game. This is very clearly an artistic passion project, and not something that was just banged out. Everything about this game drips with theme. This is a super interesting world that has been built.... and the audio design is really something unique. This is a very dark theme, and to be fair... you actually don't play as the nicest guy. You do get to make choices at certain points that will swing your alignment between red and green (good and evil), but there is definitely a little birdie on your shoulder urging you to the dark side. I won't say more to avoid anything spoiler-ish, but this is a kind of post apocalyptic setting with some really interesting twists and motivations. Movement is great. Very snappy and quick. Dashing works great. Sword swings carry some momentum, so you do have to be careful about leaving yourself open. There is a very strong stagger mechanic, so most of the threat to you actually comes from groups of enemies. All enemies get markers to indicate they are about to attack. red for interruptible and gold for special (I would say uninterruptible, but you can interrupt gold with a special attack if your rage bar is full). Enemies range from quick and dirty to hard hitting and fast. You are dodging a lot in this game. Don't mistake it though, despite the user tags this is most certainly not a souls-like... it's easier than that, and you really don't get the flexibility you normally would find in a souls-like. That said, you should at a minimum have some experience with reactions and controlling dodge directions and sword swings. I wouldn't play this on normal difficulty if you haven't at least played some isometric action or roguelite games. Worry not, however, as it does have an easier difficulty selection though which is really great accessibility so that anyone can enjoy the game. I haven't unlocked the other weapons yet, but there are multiple weapon types and each one has a set of skills to unlock. There aren't a ton though... this isn't going to take you a hundred hours to max out. The levels are, so far, very linear. They are very thematic... and sometimes there is a bit of a loop in one room that can be kind of like a maze... but you are clearly progressing in a single direction in every area I have played. So this is a linear game for at least the first hout, not something open world like Drova. That does work though because you are unraveling a pretty linear story, and it is very interesting. That said, the description does say that we can "explore the world the way we want," so I am still wondering if this opens up a bit further into the game. I will update when I find out. The maps do tend to be a bit empty... there's a lot of running around even in new areas without running into enemies. I think this could have been drawn back a bit... probably there could have been shorter levels for the number and intensity of fights. But I mean it works, and there are interesting sights to see. And there's always that haunting audio in the background. Someone put a lot of heart into this world building, this theme, and this story subject matter. I am looking forward to seeing where it goes, and so far I do enjoy the way the combat works so I will keep playing it!

Holy shit the first major boss fight is so horrible it completely made me drop the game. [spoiler] the boss homunculus jumps around the arena spamming attacks giving you basically zero time to react. He also spawns spikes around himself that damage you which feels like unavoidable damage.[/spoiler] everything else in this game exploration, item collection, art style, is completely fine. But this fight was so unbearable it made me realize that basically every boss from this point going forward would probably be designed similar which I find to be super unfun to fight. My problem with the combat is not with it's difficulty but, how brain dead and unrewarding it feels. Clearly with examples like Hades and Sekiro you can make games with fast and difficult combat that are also satisfying and punishing when they need to be. This game just feels like a stupid button spamming simulator which if I wanted to play that I would just download Cookie Clicker.

love the idea, but not the the final product. Where to start??? First battle system dont work, its either trivial easy, ether irritating hard. Some bosses are y can just spam attack and win, some y have to wish for a luck, why? well lets say attack animation take N second, it cannot be cancelled, but time of enemy to start, and perform an attack is less the 0,6-0,8 of N. who design it??? also there are enemies that disable your dash option if y near them, in game where dash is only way to evade enemies, who design it??? also tons of enemies teleport to random part of arena, in game where y have to predict from where is their attack coming who design it????? Second problem is world design, its terrible. Map are big but unintuitive. I spend hours in abbys trying to find final book, there no guidance of where should you go, and don misunderstand me, I dont want another AC, but if you do half open world, you have to design it well, they didnt. also game is hella dark, and i like the vibes, but if you think about playing on laptop during long journey, well, I think once more. There are more, like goofy character development system, weird and boring plot, or idiotic karma system, but this are details, game dont work to its core. Battle system is bad, map design even worse, unfourtunetly I cannot reccomend it.

a solid and challenging isometric action game well worth the $6 sale price i paid for it

Have yet to finish it, and while It can be a bit rough around the edges at times, for the price? especially on sale Its a steal! The mystery and intrigue of the world and the style of story telling are where this game signs. The grim dark vibe and atmosphere suck you in, and easily make up for its short comings.

shit from a butt

A masterpiece and a hidden gem <3