Lightmatter a straightforward puzzle game that takes about 4 to 6 hours (depending on how puzzle-capable you are) from start to finish. The premise is ridiculously simple: Trapped inside a mountain after the unveiling of Lightmatter goes awry, you are forced to navigate your way to the surface with the help of the CEO of Lightmatter Industries, Virgil, who gives you only one warning: Stay away from the shadows.
The gameplay is, once again, simple and straightforward: light your way from the entrance to the exit. Initially, you are provided with lamps; this then extends to little poles that create Lightmatter, giving you a circle of light to stand in. The puzzles themselves do not take very long to figure out (I only struggled with the final one) and you’ll find yourself progressing through the levels at a brisk pace.
For those of us wanting more Portal, Lightmatter is a soothing balm of puzzle solving. However, once you invite that comparison, you begin to see just how much Lightmatter falls short of those it wishes to emulate. Lightmatter makes it very clear where its inspiration comes from, which is also extremely evident in the CEO, a wry man with a penchant for insulting the silent main character. Sounds familiar?
This is unfortunate because GLaDOS is one of the best-written characters (and villains) in the history of gaming; in the history of media, rather, and so the CEO can’t help but fall short in terms of how he is written. Lightmatter invites the comparison upon itself, making it clear where it’s inspiration draws from; as much as enjoyed the CEO talk about Cave Johnson and Aperture Sciences, I can’t help but feel he might’ve fared better had he not mentioned Portal at all.
Furthermore, for a game that’s almost a decade old, Portal’s controls are tight and responsive; you never died because the controls got away from you, or because you accidentally fell off of something. In Lightmatter, sometimes you could get away with walking on shadows (as long as you did it really quickly) and other times just the corner of something would sink you, forcing you to be hyper-aware of your surroundings at all times, and even forcing you to start a level over sometimes.
These inconsistencies, however, are few and far apart, and the game, for the most part, is enjoyable when it’s simply just puzzle-solving. The game itself is gorgeous, with simple blacks and whites all over, creating a sharp contrast when colour is introduced (the latter third of the game features a large variety of reds and yellows). The story itself is interesting and the change in the demeanour of the CEO from the beginning to the end feels natural.
All in all, Lightmatter is a delightful puzzle game that invites an unfortunate parallel to Portal (which is superior in its writing, characterization, humour, and wit), but still manages to hold its own as a memorable puzzle game that’s worth playing.
The Average Viewer 