Light&Dark takes the ever popular rouguelike genre and breathes a kooky, Wednesday Addams sort of life into it. Developed by Under the Stairs and ZEROLife, Light&Dark‘s premise isn’t too different from something like Luigi’s Mansion. You know, if it were a 2D rouguelike platformer.
You play as Victoria Bloom, a scared young girl trapped in a labyrinthine mansion overwhelmed by darkness. The gloom brings with it a host of monstrous beasties – spiders, bats, ghosts, you name it.
Old Bloom Mansion was once the beloved home of your inventor grandfather, but now something’s terribly wrong. You have to find your way out through the dark, but you’re completely defenseless, except for the flashlight you use to light your path. This is your sole defense against the creatures of the night.
Procedurally Generated Spooks and Scares
The mansion’s layout is randomly generated, so each playthrough is different. Every room is completely shrouded in total darkness, so light is a huge mechanic in Light&Dark. It’s your only way to clear the darkness and light your path through the mansion.
Aside from your flashlight, other sources of light can be found throughout the game. These can be items like matchsticks or firecrackers that you can throw at enemies, or lanterns that keep you safe. And being the tinkerer that Victoria is, you can modify your flashlight by finding modules. These can upgrade the light to increase its range or deal more damage to enemies.
The game is still early in development and currently has a trailer out, which you can check out below. It shows off some gameplay alongside its charmingly cartoony black and white art style. The devs have also mentioned in their post on r/Games that we can expect the visuals to evolve and polish up over the next year of development.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=1v0YDATIooQ
Light&Dark is expected to release on March 8, 2020 on PC, and already has a Steam page up. With a while to wait before it launches, you can keep up with the game’s development on Twitter, Discord, and their YouTube channel.
