Review - The Green Light

Nikolas Tolgyesi
Jul 30
4 min read

Developer: Waleedzo

Publisher: Waleedzo

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X

For those who have read my review covering The Shore, you will know I have an insatiable fascination with lighthouses. Not sure why myself; games with this theme captivate me every time. When the thumbnail depicts a lighthouse surrounded by rough seas, what choice was there? You will need all your composure to navigate the twisted seas of Fred’s mind.

You start The Green Light in an office as Fred, a tired, beaten-down worker leading a life of repetitive exhaustion. Stuck in a dead-end job, reporting to a boss who is only interested in slave driving him, he feels as if all hope is gone. His future is bleak. One night, after a phone call from his superior, Fred feels frustrated and unappreciated. While performing the task assigned to him, he hears an unlikely voice come over a walkie-talkie. Not aware of it yet, this voice will lead Fred on a journey into his own psyche to face what lies within. Navigating the office building, a narrow street, and a house, these locations will lead to a lighthouse at the water’s edge, where all questions will come to light, and answers will emerge.

The Psychology Behind It

The Green Light did an amazing job picking a theme that most players can relate to. An office. The scenery won’t necessarily take razor-sharp teeth to your flesh. But in Fred’s case, day by day, the walls close in on him just a little more, pushing him to the breaking point. The feeling of being stuck dancing around his mind. The house highlights the repetitive trap he is living in, unable to find his way out. Finally getting to a lighthouse, where he would be able to breathe deeply with the fresh air filling his lungs, he must now traverse into his own mind and face what lies within.

The Well-Lit Darkness Will Guide You

The Green Light does an incredible job not only with the location of the story but also demonstrates how a dark game can use hints of light to play with the player’s mind. For example, a dark alleyway is a great place to walk around and play with valves. When a monstrous blob appears, cutting off a path, things can look insurmountable, especially with darkness consuming you. But a hint of light in the form of a circle can change everything quickly, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled as the game unfolds.

The Puzzling Truth

Puzzles are such a good way to bring confusion to an already epic mind trip. When the lights are out and all you have is a lantern and your instincts, realizing you cannot progress without solving a problem makes an experience much more gripping. The Green Light did a really nice job incorporating puzzles while keeping them simple enough so as not to hold up the story. The solutions made perfect sense. I really liked how this was shown in the later stage of the game. To access the lighthouse, you need to unlock a door. Doing this requires fuses to be collected and put into a fuse box, which completes the circuit. The fuses are all scattered inside the house, in places you would ordinarily find them, such as close to the box, and on the second story of the house with other equipment. The puzzles made sense.

Target Acquired

While overwhelmingly positive, there is one small item I would like to bring forth to be considered for a potential sequel or any future projects, which would be an absolute treat and I would love to see. While you are still in the office building, there is a point where you need to restore electricity to turn the lights back on. Doing this requires you to pull a handle. This handle is quite large and should be easy to interact with. However, unless you are directly over the center of the lever, the option to interact does not appear. In a panic, I thought I may have missed something and scoured the internet for any information. Watching a playthrough of the section alerted me to the issue. Making the target area larger for interactions would help combat the uncertainty of this.

Explosive Detail

Another highlight of The Green Light was how much variety was crammed into the experience. When I think about a psychological horror story, I envision either a dark, dank scene or perhaps a seemingly bright location descending into darkness. It is uncommon for titles to include explosions, chainsaws, and a friendly voice that turns on you, all packed into one box. All can be found in The Green Light, with a seemingly calm and mysterious property becoming the center of an explosion, quest, and escape-by-boat situation. My heart is still racing.

Controlling the Light

What I really enjoyed about the controls in The Green Light was how natural they felt. Like a broken record, I sometimes feel as though some games do not want to play with me. Whether the buttons are in uncomfortable spots or the sequence of buttons is strenuous, I have had my fair share of frustrating titles. In this playthrough, I found that each control matched the location you would expect it to be. Since the important buttons were on the front-facing controls, there was minimal fatigue.

The Green Light has a fantastic story, a perfectly creepy environment, and compelling questions that demand answers. At roughly 2 hours in length, you can go on an unforgettable adventure with enough time afterwards to let your mind catch its breath. Sometimes the light can be darkness in disguise.