The Town of Light (PlayStation 4) Review

The Town of Light tells the story of Renee, a young woman suffering from mental illness in the 1940s. She is placed in Voltera, a mental hospital that, like many of its day, is exceptionally cruel to its patients. Renee is no different, and is subjected to horrors that are all too real. Just for tackling this kind of subject matter, The Town of Light is highly commendable.

This is a walking simulator, if you care for that moniker, but does manage to incorporate minor puzzles. Some of these are not hard, but very obtuse. This makes sense to an extent, as the player is exploring a home for the mentally ill, many of whom think in very abstract terms. The player seems to be in control of, or hearing the thoughts of, Renee, or someone very close to her.

Really, the story, the focal point here, has a tough time managing to make sense. It does, but it often feels a bit too convoluted. The player is often asked for a response, to steer the story forward, and these options feel well-grounded and eerily realistic. These moments work much better at guiding the story than the story itself often does, as some things just aren't conveyed very well.

The Town of Light makes major stumbles in its technical presentation. Loading takes entirely too long at times, and on one occasion, after filling the load circle, actually then proceeded to say it was loading. It loaded twice, which was very bizarre, but fortunately only did it once.

What it does very often is freeze, often for 10 seconds or more at a time. This happens a lot when exiting rooms or even turning your avatar around. Couple this with textures that don't load until you're practically on top of them, and the technical presentation falls apart quickly and hard. There are times when, walking down a hallway, the other end hasn't loaded, so it looks like half of the building is gone. As the player gets closer, the other side appears, making for some extreme suspension of belief.