The Town of Light now Available On Nintendo Switch

It seems like every game from 2017 and earlier is coming to the Nintendo Switch. With all the new titles dropping daily, it can be hard to tell what’s worth getting. If you are down with some indie-artsy games and only have $10 to spare, get The Town of Light. Of all the games I’ve played in the past 6 years of doing this whole review thing, it’s the only game that made me cry. It’s haunting, emotive, and drives a stake into the very core of abuse and vulnerability. If you have a soul and haven’t yet been blackpilled into an unflinching troll, The Town of Light will make you hurt.

Keep in mind, I’m not the kind of person that generally enjoys artsy emotive games. If you asked me what about The Town of Light makes it so resonate, I lack the emotional intelligence to come up with a cohesive answer. Maybe it’s because the game is based on how mentally ill people were actually treated for a very long time. Learning the story of Renée, you can’t walk away from The Town of Light without feeling like a grave, irreversible injustice was inflicted on this 16-year-old girl. Or maybe The Town of Light stuck with me because the halls of the Volterra Psychiatric Hospital feel so lived in, giving more weight to their brutal application. A shower is just a shower. It’s the context that turns it into torture.

As I said, I honestly don’t know what made The Town of Light work for me. All I know is that it did. Consider this me going out on a limb to deliver a personal recommendation that might fall flat. With these kinds of games, there’s always the chance that it just won’t land the same for everyone. There are no jump scares, and most of the gameplay is just walking around. Even so, I loved it enough to take that chance. Even if you don’t, you can rest assured knowing that 10% of your purchase went to the mental health charity Safe In Our World. So give it a shot, even if it hurts.