You hate your job and just want to quit without consequences? That’s pretty much what The Green Light is all about. Touted as a psychological horror, you take on the role of Fred, a man who wants to be an artist but is stuck working a dead-end office job. The green light of a lighthouse calls to him to just walk away from his job and answer its call, along with the voice of a mysterious man on a radio.
I should say right off the bat, The Green Light is a short game, less than half an hour long depending on how you play. It’s impressive that it was all done by one dev, waleedzo, but I feel that Take It! Studio let him down with the port to console. Right away, there are issues with the game’s volume; it’s way too damn loud! The only option to adjust the volume is the Master Volume, which makes Fred’s dialogue quiet, unless it’s a cinematic; then it’s back to being uncomfortably loud.
For the game itself, it relies on some horror game cliches with jumpscares that you can kind of see coming; I’ll admit one did get me. I think the game’s length affected how the story was told, as it was kind of rushed and tried to squeeze in as many horror tropes as possible, making it more like a virtual carnival funhouse than a horror game. Again, it’s impressive that one guy made this, but it should fall on the publisher to make sure it’s ported launch goes smoothly.
Overall, The Green Light could have some more original scares and story, but it shows that if being part of a team, Waleedzo can grow as either a dev or game director.
Personally, I don’t feel it’s right to give this a scored review, as there are a lot of things that need improving; yet at the same time, I see promise in the young indie dev.
