No One Lives Under the Lighthouse Review: Stranded Horror (PS5)

Some of my favorite gaming memories are playing scary games at night surrounded by darkness. The only light was coming from the TV as you tried and stay brave. It’s one of the core memories that a lot of gamers have, which is why horror is often the most streamed genre on Youtube and Twitch. No One Lives Under the Lighthouse brings those many memories back to the modern day. It’s a slow burn that’s good to experience one of the memories for the night.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse is now available on Steam, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S, and Nintendo Switch for $11.99.

Story: Slow Burn

The game starts off with you getting dropped off on an island you become the new lighthouse keeper. You’re tasked with keeping up the lighthouse, but you start to discover something menacing going on. Reality starts to slip as the edge of sanity starts to decay over time, as you might not be the only one on the island. If the story sounds a little like The Lighthouse, then you would be correct, and that’s a great thing. It’s more about the atmosphere of the situation than finding out about what lies beneath.

It keeps the anticipation up because of the little teases that the game gives up. While some gamers might think the slow-burn story is bad, it doesn’t stray from becoming boring. Think of it more as deliberately paced than a slow drag to the end credits. The length runs around two hours, but does feature multiple endings depending on your choices.

I’m sure that nothing bad will happen to you at all.

Gameplay: Walking Simulator

There isn’t much invigorating gameplay featured here. Most of the time, it feels like a walking sim as you go from place to place. Thankfully, unlike other games, this has a spring button that doesn’t stretch out the game’s length. In the meantime, you explore the island as you figure out what needs fixing. It does get annoying sometimes when you try to see if an item can get picked up but won’t do it immediately, resulting in you circling around.

Without going into spoilers, the game shifts perspective at specific points. Usually, the controls feel smooth, but it takes a weird direction at this point. It becomes inverted and sometimes will go back to normal. The amount of time it took to correct this got frustrating at some points, as I had to start from the beginning.

Don’t mess with the seagulls.

Graphics & Sound: Homage to the PS1 Era

While this is a very recent game, the graphics and art style appear like something from the PS1 in the best way. It’s not explained in the game, but the description for No One Lives Under the Lighthouse talks about you finding an old disc game (this one) that looks mysterious. It’s an intriguing way to show why this game is visually out of older generations and adds to the overall charm. That doesn’t mean they can’t get beautiful shots, such as whenever they manage to get in red. Or when you get to explore the island during a sunset.

Like the graphics, the sound design works with the horror vibes. Most of the game has little music featured and instead relies on the sounds of mundane items combined with the dread of silence. The creak of the steps, the barrels of oil you must carry, and more fill the time as you try to do your job as the lighthouse keeper. But the fear of something preying on you while being trapped on the island is unnerving. You only hear the chirping of the seagulls and the ocean waves as you’re all alone.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse was played on the PS5 with a key provided by Marevo Collective.