Seriously. Does anyone actually have to pay for a gaming hobby now? Let me just pad the beginning of this out because I have very little to say about the game, and I was thinking recently that it probably is viable now to regularly play a lot of good games and legitimately not pay a cent for it, excluding hardware of course.
Epic just got through another Xmas bonanza of free games. GOG is increasingly doing giveaways. There are regular free releases on Steam. Add in all the free2play bait. Amazon have been doing it monthly for years (actually it’s paid for but I think I had Prime before they added games without a price rise so it always feels free). Incidentally, the best place online to keep up with free games is probably Indie Game Bundles. These free games are not just from new devs trying to make a name for themselves. I’ve got a long list of big titles now such as two of the recent Tomb Raiders, Watch Dogs 2, a Wolfenstein game, Dishonored 1 and 2, Control, and loads more. It’s crazy.
Back to this much smaller and simpler freebie. Light & Shadow is a runner game. You keep moving to the right. Sometimes it’s more of an up and left then right, but generally keep moving right. Jump the obstacles, collect the notes to beat the timer. There’s no actual timer on screen. One of the nice gimmicks is that over time a swarm of flies gradually closes in on you, encircling you and reducing your vision. You must collect the notes to buy more time. If they touch you it’s a loss of a life. Start from a checkpoint. It happened once to me when I wasn’t sure of what I was doing. After that it was fine. It’s an easy game. Takes 40 minutes to finish.
I tend to think of these sorts of free games as a proof of ability from fresh devs. There’s a distinct artistic quality to the graphics, that I like, eye of the beholder etc. Music is good. A little flair in the programming. The collectibles on puppeteering sticks that seem to move toward you is unusual. It’s a decent little game to kill some time. It plays fine. Nothing more than that. Don’t expect too much.
Available FREE from Steam.
mishmash 