The Town of Light from LKA.it and Wired Productions is a first-person, story-driven adventure game set in the Volterra Psychiatric Asylum, which closed down in the 1970s. Want to learn more? Then read our The Town of Light review!
The first thing I noticed when I started the game was that my PS4 decided to turn into a commercial jet – the PS4 fan kicked into overdrive to disperse the heat from running the game. After the console got a chance to cool down a bit during the first 5-10 minutes or so, the fan continued to be very loud but not as loud as during the initial loading sequence.
Before you go any further, I need to “warn you” about the nature of the game. This is part of what some are calling the “walking simulator” genre. If after hearing those words you still want to learn more about The Town of Light, then carry on below! I don’t understand the hate towards games in this genre since I’m definitely a fan and like the exploration aspect that goes hand in hand with its storytelling.
The game is based on real life events and is set in a very really place in Italy. After a short sequence where you see someone is being held inside of a closed room, the screen fades to black and transports you to a scene outside in the woods. The woman you heard is called Renée, and she suffers from mental illness. The outdoors scene is set in 2016, and it functions as a colorful daylight entry into the madness that is Renée’s world.
This one could be described as a horror game, but instead of jump scares, the horror is very real. Each flashback to the past gives us a glimpse of the things that inmates, many years ago, had to experience within the walls of the abandoned asylum. Renée is facing her demons in the present, but what she went through is hard to shake. You will see what the “caregivers” at the asylum did not only to Renée, but to all the people who ever walked through the building’s doors.
The story itself is a tad linear for most of your journey, but there are branching paths you can explore based on the answers given during Renée’s… evaluations. The answers you give might at first make you think they are honest and uplifting, but the consequences from the words contained in each answer you give might have deeper implications than your first realize.
Renée is pretty much alone during her time in the asylum, except for a peculiar doll she calls Charlotte. Due to everything Renée has gone/is going through, Charlotte brings to her a sense of safety, peace and protection. But is that real? Is Charlotte real?
The game includes a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy. This being a short adventure, you can probably unlock it in roughly 4-6 hours or so depending on how good you are at solving puzzles and how fast you can explore each area. As mentioned before, there are several branching points that allow you to follow a different subchapter path, and this is where you’ll spend most of your time unlocking extra trophies.
The Town of Light is a harsh horror game where the horror is very real – it is something that could certainly happen to us or to a loved one. What Renée had to go through, and how it changed her and made her into the person she is in the present day is something that you certainly will not forget.
Disclaimer
This The Town of Light review is based on a PS4 copy provide by Wired Productions.
