God of Light Review

By , on March 6, 2014
Last modified 10 years ago


God of Light
  • Publisher: Playmous
  • Genre: Casual
  • Released: 27 Feb, 2014
  • Size: 306.9 MB
  • Price: $1.99
Download on the AppStore
4 out of 5

PROS

  • Haunting art style
  • Interesting geometry-based puzzles
  • Goal posts are constantly changing

CONS

  • Switching between interactive elements can be fiddly on the small screen

VERDICT

An engaging mental challenge that constantly evolves, God of Light kept us perplexed - and satisfied - for hours.


  • Full Review
  • App Store Info

In some ways Playmous's new game, God of Light, reminds us of the album art for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon - it focuses on a beam of light, and it has a sweet soundtrack.

Taking control of a glowing ball called Shiny, you have to bounce a ray of light off various reflective flowers to reach the Source of Life. Things aren't quite that straightforward, however. You see, you begin all of God of Light's mazes in darkness. 

Tapping on Shiny allows you to easily rotate the single beam of light by dragging it around the screen. Any reflective surface the light falls on will begin to glow, before serenely animating into life and becoming a light source itself. This creates a beautiful effect as the world is slowly illuminated from multiple sources. It also adds an interesting challenge, as you have to battle your natural instinct of following the path you can see, and instead hunt out the route that is hidden.

To help you explore the world, the various reflective surfaces have a number of different properties - some are able to be rotate, while others can teleport from one area to another. Other mechanics are added as you move through the game providing an evolving cerebral challenge. Though, once the screen is filled with reflectors, switching between them becomes fiddly.

Despite its complexly, God of Light's naturalistic use of reflection means solving its puzzles is almost second nature. But, though you may have sussed out a solution, manipulating the various reflectors to get past doors and switches is often less easy.

Collecting the three crystals dotted around each level is the game's final wrinkle. You need to pass your beam through these awkwardly located gems en route to your goal to get your three stars. This experimentation required to work out how to light up the end goal and illuminate the crystals makes each level more challenging, and more fun.

God of Light's clever use of darkness not only lends it a beautiful, haunting look, but also serves the puzzles themselves, adding a welcome layer of exploration that helps the game truly shine. 

Screenshots

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