Everyone's got demons. Sometimes, you get to fight your own demons in a video game, and the upcoming action-adventure game Strayed Lights is possibly the artsiest allegory I've seen for this exact trope since playing the Kingdom Hearts trilogy. For visuals junkies, it's not totally dissimilar from Ori and the Blind Forest in style either, and its gorgeous soundtrack by the famed Austin Wintory immediately stood out in the short time I got to try it out. I was able to explore several areas in its imaginative, physics-defying world -- but unlike Ori, Strayed Lights seems way more like a linear campaign than a side-scrolling Metroidvania. Regardless, its action combat system is tight enough to carry its abstract story, and it even introduces an interesting mechanic that could make Strayed Lights worth checking out when it finally releases in April.
Action-adventure games have drilled their combat formulas down to a science at this point. In most action-adventure games – let's use God of War or Devil May Cry as examples here – you usually have at least one or two attack buttons, an ability button, some sort of special ability bar, a block button, and a dodge roll that lets you become momentarily invincible. This is all pretty standard stuff, and Strayed Lights doesn't seem to stray too far from what already works. It's in its favor that beating up these giant elemental creatures (that look like Flame Atronachs from The Elder Scrolls series) feels exactly as good as it looks, with attack timings and patterns that are both predictable and responsive.
However, Strayed Lights does something interesting within its established patterns: in order to properly block attacks, you need to switch your avatar's color to the color telegraphed by the enemy you're fighting, which adds an extra layer of thought to your attack patterns. And this is almost meditative in practice. It might sound like a throwaway mechanic to someone who's more accustomed to Elden Ring, or the Dark Souls series – where action combat is taken to incredible levels of complexity – but Strayed Lights' action can get pretty hectic when two or more enemies are on-screen at once, forcing me to mentally prepare to switch colors at just the right moment to block each oncoming attack.
Strayed Lights threw another curveball at me in the form of corrupted attacks, which are unblockable and must be dodged, but I never found it too difficult to land a perfect dodge. It may be considered a bit too easy to just spam the attack button and dodge each attack, but the caveat there is that the only way to heal yourself is to block -- and since you do the most damage that way anyway, I found that to be the winning strategy.
Strayed Lights has a story, but it's probably not going to impress anyone looking for sweeping literary overtures. It's presented in a purely aesthetic format with absolutely zero dialogue or voice-acting, but the abstract imagery portrayed through your journey as a... uh, let's just call your avatar a "strayed light", is one that's clearly meant to outline a universal story of personal growth through hardship and inner turmoil. It’s great news then that this style of storytelling works so well, given just how much painstaking attention is given to its breathtaking art style and visual fidelity.
Its art direction seems like something out of a Pixar film, and it’s this part that genuinely stuck with me after the credits rolled on my demo. There are so many scenes in the first chapter of this campaign that make delightful set pieces for battles -- like this full moon rising above this flock of spirit creatures, or the first corridor you walk down as you are metaphorically "birthed" into existence, or the meditation chamber where you can purchase new abilities with the crystal shards dropped by enemies.
Its art direction seems like something out of a Pixar film, and it’s this part that genuinely stuck with me after the credits rolled on my demo.
Its musical score by Austin Wintory is downright calming, filled with the sound of twinkling guitars, celestial woodwinds, and mellow symphonic harmonies befitting a zen garden just as well as it would fit in a Hollywood film (or, you know, a AAA video game).
Strayed Lights is currently in development for PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC. It’s officially slated for an April release, and it will be playable at PAX East ahead of its launch on March 23 through March 26.
Continue reading...
Action-adventure games have drilled their combat formulas down to a science at this point. In most action-adventure games – let's use God of War or Devil May Cry as examples here – you usually have at least one or two attack buttons, an ability button, some sort of special ability bar, a block button, and a dodge roll that lets you become momentarily invincible. This is all pretty standard stuff, and Strayed Lights doesn't seem to stray too far from what already works. It's in its favor that beating up these giant elemental creatures (that look like Flame Atronachs from The Elder Scrolls series) feels exactly as good as it looks, with attack timings and patterns that are both predictable and responsive.
However, Strayed Lights does something interesting within its established patterns: in order to properly block attacks, you need to switch your avatar's color to the color telegraphed by the enemy you're fighting, which adds an extra layer of thought to your attack patterns. And this is almost meditative in practice. It might sound like a throwaway mechanic to someone who's more accustomed to Elden Ring, or the Dark Souls series – where action combat is taken to incredible levels of complexity – but Strayed Lights' action can get pretty hectic when two or more enemies are on-screen at once, forcing me to mentally prepare to switch colors at just the right moment to block each oncoming attack.
Strayed Lights threw another curveball at me in the form of corrupted attacks, which are unblockable and must be dodged, but I never found it too difficult to land a perfect dodge. It may be considered a bit too easy to just spam the attack button and dodge each attack, but the caveat there is that the only way to heal yourself is to block -- and since you do the most damage that way anyway, I found that to be the winning strategy.
Strayed Lights has a story, but it's probably not going to impress anyone looking for sweeping literary overtures. It's presented in a purely aesthetic format with absolutely zero dialogue or voice-acting, but the abstract imagery portrayed through your journey as a... uh, let's just call your avatar a "strayed light", is one that's clearly meant to outline a universal story of personal growth through hardship and inner turmoil. It’s great news then that this style of storytelling works so well, given just how much painstaking attention is given to its breathtaking art style and visual fidelity.
Its art direction seems like something out of a Pixar film, and it’s this part that genuinely stuck with me after the credits rolled on my demo. There are so many scenes in the first chapter of this campaign that make delightful set pieces for battles -- like this full moon rising above this flock of spirit creatures, or the first corridor you walk down as you are metaphorically "birthed" into existence, or the meditation chamber where you can purchase new abilities with the crystal shards dropped by enemies.
Its art direction seems like something out of a Pixar film, and it’s this part that genuinely stuck with me after the credits rolled on my demo.
Its musical score by Austin Wintory is downright calming, filled with the sound of twinkling guitars, celestial woodwinds, and mellow symphonic harmonies befitting a zen garden just as well as it would fit in a Hollywood film (or, you know, a AAA video game).
Strayed Lights is currently in development for PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC. It’s officially slated for an April release, and it will be playable at PAX East ahead of its launch on March 23 through March 26.
Continue reading...
