#DiscoverIndies: Flood of Light (NS)

Flood of Light by Irisloft and published by Indienova was the game I decided to play for February's #DiscoverIndies event, and I am going to go into my selection process a bit more than I did with my first title last month, Earthworms (which I still haven't finished because I am currently stuck on a few puzzles spanning a handful of rooms).

My search began by scrolling through Nintendo's eShop on the Switch.  I figured I would use the eShop app on the Switch itself rather than the storefront in the browser, mainly because I wanted to make sure I was only browsing Switch games, plus I was lying in bed and my computer was downstairs.  I set the search parameters to all available games, priced between $0.00 and $9.99, and scrolled through the first three pages of games (technically not pages per se, but the eShop deeding to load additional titles when it comes to the end of the 'page'), figuring that games closer to the top possibly had some exposure.  What initially drew me to Flood of Light was initially the title as well as the icon the artwork in the thumbnails in the eShop.  And as much as I like to make light of the people who get up-in-arms about Switch icons that they do not like, I guess you could say I was drawn in by this particular icon.  I then did a brief search on HowLongToBeat, Metacritic (the Switch review has 10, and the PC has 0), and GameFAQs to see how well represented the game was there.  Looking back I think I should have also just done a regular google search for "Flood of Light Switch," or even just searched on YouTube.  Maybe additional steps I will take for #DiscoverIndies in March?

So, once I started playing Flood of Light, I was delighted to find that it is purely a puzzle game, in the sense that you direct the character referred to in-game as the Guide, towards specific sources of light in order to absorb that light, which is then used to "unlock" further areas of each stage.  The concept is pretty simple, but Irisloft has done a great job with making simple puzzles incredibly more complex than I was expecting,  especially since Irisloft describes it as a "casual puzzle game."  I can see the casualness of the game coming in due to the fact that the Guide only walks one speed.  She does not run, jump, climb, or fall.  The difficulty of the puzzles though, are a combination of the complexity of needing to move lights around without wasting them, but I won't blame my puzzle solving inadequacies on the not always great translation and spacing of when the player receives information.

Irisloft, is a Chinese game company, so there could have been a hiccup or two with the English translation, but the occasional errors in grammar and/or syntax that I came across did not seem to hinder my progress, or my ability to solve puzzles.  And possibly coming from an era where translations in NES games contained errors here and there that I was able to either look past or interpret the intention of the sentence, I did notice though that when speaking with a robot in the fourth stage, it gave me a piece of gaming mechanic advice that I had been using since the first stage.  In-game, when you press the ZL button, all of the interact-able light sources and your character show their circumference for where light can interact with them.  It seems like an odd thing to introduce so late in the game, especially since I looked at the control scheme when I first started the game; I also pressed all of the buttons to see what everything did and what that effect looked like on screen.

As is the case with a lot of puzzle games, there have been a number of times that I became stuck.  The first time was at the beginning of the second stage when I was expected to use a mechanic that was not adequately explained and demonstrated in the first stage.  After watching a walkthrough on YouTube, I was able to proceed.  In two other instances I ended up having to resort to using the same YouTube walkthrough in order to solve the puzzles in the later levels when a second color light is introduced.  I do somewhat appreciate the fact that this game will not tell you if you have backed yourself into an unsolvable corner, such as using a lantern that you need to use multiple times by setting a light in it that you cannot retrieve, or if you send a yellow light underwater (which destroys the light) instead of using a blue light.  Once you realize your error, you are forced to restart that area, or at least from the last save marker your walked over.

I have yet to come to a place where I accidentally used too many lights in a previous screen when I should have saved them for the following room where I activated a save point because I didn't know any better.  But it is like this screenshot over here where I am utterly flummoxed.  Where I am at, is I have access to one blue light, and three yellow lights, but I need to get the blue light across the screen (to the left) to a lamp that is underwater.  You know, I do not think I'll explain all of the parts that will go into this particular puzzle as there are elements/mechanics that I have not even mentioned yet.  Let us just say that I have yet to figure it out, it I have not messed it up already.  And if I did accidentally forget a light in a previous screen, I will have to start over from the beginning of the stage, which is something that I would rather not do because I feel like this is the last area of the stage before completing it altogether.  And after this stage, there are still three more, plus something that seems like a Christmas themed free DLC.

So, presently, I have completed 50.4% of the game (including optional Wick Lamps that are for the super smart) and I have used YouTube help on two (soon to be three) separate occasions.  Flood of Light has been fun when I am able to figure out the puzzles on my own and I do not resent the game for not being able to figure things out.  The story itself is pretty intriguing, the atmosphere is relaxing (when I am not wracking my brain for a solution), and the ambient rain fall is pretty soothing overall.  Even I were to never finish this game (which I will do, one way or another), I do consider it a good $4.99 well spent.  And Irisloft/Indienova, if either of you are reading, spend a couple extra bucks and have another person read over your English translation script.  It could not hurt.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Alone I Witness the Never Ending Day