It’s often said that “offense is the best defense” — and with the Strayed Lights, it’s just the opposite. Strayed Lights is an action-adventure game where the action unfolds without words, and it’s up to the player to explain what’s happening before your eyes.
You start out as a luminous child figure, after some strange rituals you suddenly become an adult, although still a luminous being, you must now embark on adventures in various mysterious worlds to clear them of being possessed and of darkness creature. As you may have noticed, I’ve been a little superficial in my description of the story, simply because it can be a little difficult to figure out what’s going on. Unfortunately, this also leads to the fact that it’s difficult to actually engage with the game’s action, which is also a bit convoluted.
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The gameplay is sharper, everything is built around an exciting combat system, and it works better than it sounds. The whole thing is built around the fact that you overcome enemy attacks with well-timed blocks, thereby making yourself stronger so that you can eventually deliver a deadly attack. Every time you block, a small amount of power is injected into the meter, and when it’s full, you can unleash a deadly attack. It’s simple and works well – but it takes a while for your brain to realize that you shouldn’t attack directly.
In addition to that, each enemy can switch between three colors; orange, blue, and purple–your own character can switch between two of these colors, orange and blue. This means that if an enemy attacks in orange, you must block the attack in orange. The same goes for blue. The purple attack cannot be blocked, so you have to dodge it. Enemies change color all the time, you have to do it yourself, and if your block succeeds, it brings a rhythm to the fight. However, it gets a little more complicated when you’re fighting several enemies at once, which constantly change colors and sometimes attack simultaneously.
It sounds like an exciting concept – and it is, but unfortunately, it all quickly becomes a bit monotonous. Once you crack the color-changing code at the right time and learn how to block it, the challenge practically disappears, as the game hardly introduces anything new to the concept. Boss fights are a bit more interesting, but they’re built more or less on the same principles.
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While the gameplay may be a bit lacking in variety and development, the magical world in which Strayed Lights takes place is still exciting and fun. The paths may be somewhat linear, but their design continues to impress, and you travel through a world that exudes mystery and magic. The mystery is backed up by an excellent score by Austin Wintory, who has been responsible for scores for Journey, Abzü, and Flow, among others.
Strayed Lights is a slight disappointment. I may not have high hopes for it, but there seems to be some unrealized potential lurking somewhere. It’s trying to Journey with a mysterious wordless narrative, it’s trying to shake things up with an exciting combat system, but it just doesn’t seem fleshed out and everything gets a bit monotonous, which doesn’t help that the game can last 6-7 hours Finish.
I’d actually like to be able to recommend Strayed Lights, but it’s kind of hard to do so unless you really like games that are a bit like Journey. Which is a bit of a shame, because here are some really good ideas that, with a little more time in the oven, could help create a truly exciting and different adventure.
