I’m always interested in games with charming atmospheres and unique gameplay mechanics, and Candleman is no exception. I hadn’t heard of Candleman until after its release, but its launch trailer immediately piqued my interest. Alone in the dark, a little candle, staring wistfully at a lighthouse in the distance, embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
Spotlightor Interactive, the Beijing-based indie developer behind Candleman, says on its website that it aims to “provide unique experiences and meaningful insights.” After playing through this title, they have certainly achieved that.
Candleman starts out with a tiny sentient candle having an existential crisis of sorts as it questions what its purpose is. Starting out in a dank, derelict ship, the candle makes its way through flooded rooms and towers of books until it finally reaches a window. Gazing at a lighthouse, the candle’s purpose suddenly clicks into place. Acting as a beacon of hope, the candle strives to become as tall and beautiful so as to illuminate the dark night. Thus began a perilous adventure towards the light.
There are nine chapters in the game, each with around three to six levels, all beginning and ending with a narration like a children’s book is being read to you. The chapters can be broken into three sections, with 1-3 being aboard the ship, 4-6 taking place outside in a jungle-like area, and 7-9 being set in the lighthouse itself. All-in-all, with limited replay value, it took me a little over four hours to complete.
While the levels get progressively more difficult, I wouldn’t call any of the levels hard by any means. Without relying on violence, every obstacle in your way can be solved through platforming and light management. Illuminating dark areas in the jungle causes flowers to bloom, allowing you to hop over bottomless pits. In the lighthouse, shadows serve as platforms for the candle to walk on. It’s easy to figure out how to cross a room, but actually executing jumps correctly is where the challenge is. I encountered slight hitches in frame rate during later levels, but nothing that impeded my ability to play.
The use of light in Candleman is incredibly creative. The flame on the candle acts as both a gift and a burden. The wick by default is never burning, and can be lit simply by pressing X, Y, or the right trigger. This ability needs to be used sparingly as the candle can only burn for a total of ten seconds before the wax runs out. Completing every level then became a game of carefully managing my flame while navigating dangerous environments. Dangerous to a candle, at least, as I can’t really say that a dark room filled with a few inches of water normally instills any amount of fear. With what little natural light each level offers, managing the flame is a fantastic mechanic.
After all that it went through, the ending to the candle’s tale is bleak. Even before I finished Candleman, I kept thinking about what would happen in the end. How could the candle possibly burn brighter just by making it to the lighthouse? I never could have guessed what did happen. What I assumed would be a cleverly implemented ending full of optimism turned into a nightmare for the candle. At first it felt abrupt and a tad disappointing, but it seems that the ending wants players to contemplate its meaning with some introspection.
Summary
Candleman is a special indie game that has a lot of heart. Its story is surprisingly dark, no pun intended, but it seeks to offer an insightful life lesson, much like Spotlightor hoped to achieve with its games. Through solid platforming sections with a touching journey, it is easily worth people’s time, who may learn just how precious that is once they play this title.
Jennifer is a games journalist, former games journalist and PR Manager at Gearbox. They contributed 234 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: went on to write for Windows Central and later managed PR for Gearbox Software.