Candleman is a fun, relaxing, and great-looking puzzle platformer on Nintendo Switch that you have to check out. Find out why in our Candleman review!
As the name suggests, in this one, you’re going to play as a candle that can walk and jump all over the place, lighting other candles as you go, trying to reach the exit before your light runs out. The game is a compact adventure that will probably take you a handful of hours to complete, but it’s a blast to play! For Candleman, you’ll need to make good use of how you can force your candle to burn up its own wick to be able to light up the way since most areas will be a bit dark for you to be able to make out where some solid footing can be found.
Burn the candle, and it will start to get shorter and shorter as it comes closer to running out – the wax will melt away as the flame burns bright. The wax that your candle loses can be put to good use as it can fall over the ground, marking where you can stand in each area so that when your light runs out, and you respawn at the last checkpoint candle you managed to lit, you can quickly walk through areas you’ve already explored. Lighting each of the checkpoint candles is a must since, along with saving your progress for the level, it will also act as a valuable source of light.
Your candle will burn brightly when you force it to burn strong, but since you only have a few seconds of total light per candle at most, I suggest that you only lightly tap the button to ignite your candle in full, make a note of where you’re standing and were the path to the next section is located, and lightly tap the button again as you make your way there, so that you can still get the benefit of lighting up your candle without burning out in a handful of seconds and losing a life.
Due to how most of the game will have sections that are almost pitch-black, you’ll need to pay attention to where platforms are, particularly moving platforms, so that you can avoid falling down to your death. Stationary platforms? Not much of an issue once you get the hang of things, but then when you are going after moving platforms, things are a bit more challenging. Floating planks coming down a stream of water? Not as easy as platforms that are sitting right there to your right! Timing your jumps will be key for this one.
At first, I thought Candleman would be a very challenging platformer, what with the limited amount of light available to you as you walk down each location you visit, but it’s actually a very relaxing game! The candles you light along the way help you see the way forward, and the distance between one checkpoint candle and the next one is not that big, so you’ll always be a few steps away from getting a chance to lit a new candle to save your progress. It’s definitely not a tough game, so you’ll be able to jump in and have fun right away. You are going to die every now and then since your candle won’t be able to stay lit forever, but the good news is that you’ll quickly respawn at the last checkpoint candle without any other issues.
You have ten lives for each level you take on, and along with the generous supply of checkpoint candles you’ll run into, you shouldn’t have any issues completing each of the chapters in Candleman. You’ll have a lot of fun during the candle’s journey to the lighthouse, and when you do end up dying, you’ll know it was your fault for not planning for how fast your candle can burn, or for making a jump before first lighting up the way and seeing where the next platform actually is.
Candleman is a great game on Nintendo Switch that is fun, colorful, and charming, and definitely worth the $14.99 asking price. You’re looking at around 6-7 hours or so to see everything the game has to offer, and it will be a journey to remember.
Disclaimer
This Candleman review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by indienova.
