Demo Time: Static Dread: The Lighthouse Demo (VSD)

[Disclaimer:  I received a review key for Static Dread: The Lighthouse Demo through Keymailer, a third-party website/company that connects publishers and developers with content creators.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and content be created through the playing of the game and the experience.  Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.]

Static Dread: The Lighthouse Demo

Systems: Windows, Steam OS, Linux

Release Date: August 6, 2025

Publisher: Polden Publishing

Developer: solarsuit games

Time Spent: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

Playthrough on YouTube

I've tried a couple of times to write this article for Static Dread: The Lighthouse and it feels very similar to when I wrote about Arkham Horror: Mother's Embrace on the Switch several years back.  I get this feeling too whenever I write about anything that pays homage or is derivative of Lovecraftian cosmic horror.  I feel like I need to provide context because I have a hard time seperating what I know of Lovecraft's story and how it is intergrated into the game I've been playing.  And this is where we are with Static Dread.  There are obvious Lovecraftian references, but none that I could see that were so obvious as The Shadow Over Innsmouth, At the Mountains of Madness, or even The Music of Eric Zahn (this concludes the portion where I list off short stories so I sound like I know what I'm talking about).

What Static Dread: The Lighthouse does is combine localized sea-based Lovecraftian horror with game mechanics similar to Papers, Please, the game where you play as a border and immigration inspector with ever increasing responsibilities and regulations to follow with each subsequent day that further complicate your job.  In Static Dread, your job is to opperate a lighthouse during the night and direct boats to their destination through a very rocky bay.  You communicate with boats through a radio that can also pick up local radio stations, local police chatter, and other strange signals akin to Numbers stations.  When you start, you only have to direct boats to their desired destinations, but as the nights progress, you're ordered by your supervisor to direct ships to different locations based on specific circumstatnces such as the type of vessel, if anything "strange" can be verified, or if their desired destination is inaccessible.  Any deviation from your orders results in a fine that's immediately faxed to you so the threat of having docked pay because of a mistake is constantly present.  In this way, it felt very similar to the dread of making mistakes in Papers, Please.

One way that Static Dread is different from Papers, Please is that you're working an overnight shift and like anyone who's ever worked an overnight shift, there are times when sleep wants to creep in and take over.  To counteract drooping eyelids, you can consume food and drink, some of which will also "heal" any mental strain brought on by your job as well.  Food, drink, and other supplies are purchased from a visiting merchant with the money from your salary.  It's a fun and tricky balance to stay awake, or have your pay docked, and to work quickly to let boats into their desired harbor without making any mistakes.  I wonder how much the sanity mechanic plays with your characters perceptions and if the night when the doors were opening and closing by themselves was a result of lowered sanity or if they were simply scripted events.

Another major difference from Papers, Please is that you will often have several visitors to your lighthouse over the course of a night.  Some are functional like the travelling merchant, others add both worldbuilding and flavor to the setting.  Some of your visitors are directly tied to your job as a wicky while others might be related to storylines related to you letting ships into the harbor and directing them to their desitination.  During the demo, I did make the effort to answer the door anytime I heard someone knock, so I do wonder how that affects the overall game and the story.

The last big difference I'll discuss from Papers, Please is the general upkeep of the lighthouse.  There were times when the light went out and the power needed to be flicked on and off to kickstart the power to the lighthouse.  One time, I had to climb up to the light to restart the light at the souce, although that might've been my own fault, flipping switches without knowing what would happen before "clocking in" and starting my nightly shift.  Another time the power generator needed repairing.

The demo for Static Dread: The Lighthouse only lasted three nights and honestly, those were a very stressful three nights.  The game never felt like I was expected to physically fight off anything despite the game being in first-person and I was only somewhat sure that there wasn't going to be a Five Nights at Freddies event where something was going to jump through my window out to the bay and immediately end my play session.  The threat of making a mistake and having it taken out of my pay and not being able to afford supplies or ultimately be fired was the biggest driver of dread.  And I loved it.

The demo was very fun to play, despite and because of the anxiety and dread that the game created.  The save file looks like I might be able to continue if/when I buy the full game, but I think I'd probably like to start over just because.  And I do love a good lighthouse story.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

We'll Do It In The Rain

P.S.  On a side note, when I requested this game through Keymailer, I legitimately thought I was requesting for the full game, not the demo since the demo was readily available through Steam, although it has since been pulled; maybe stay tuned for the next Next Fest?