A deep and touching narrative can be the soul that gives purpose to all other elements in a game. Unfortunately in Will: Follow the Light, there simply aren’t enough elements of the game to even be carried by the narrative.
The light in the darkness
Will: Follow the Light is a story first and foremost. One with puzzles and input mechanics, but a story still. The atmosphere is built around darkness and uncertainty, but over time opens itself to provide different settings for different ways to explore the themes and characters. This is the absolute strongest pillar that the game stands on, but isn’t always a reliable structure. At times, the urgent story doesn’t mix well with the slow gameplay that drags on and asks you to get sidetracked repeatedly in order to finally start to feel a sense of progression. In terms of the setting it feels true to the events of the story, however in terms of the main character and player’s goals, it feels like an anchor.
The best part about the story is the tension and possibility of consequence that it presents. There are quite dark suggestions relating to the loss of family both passed on, and still alive. Even in these sensible and captivating moments, there will be hiccups in which the player is bound to think, “How in the world could that happen?” The subject matter and gameplay are all mostly grounded, and while that helps with the dark and helpless tone of the narrative, it turns the gameplay into a slog.
Sailing the unsteady seas
There is attempt to make it known what kinds of mechanics the player will interact with from the beginning of the game. Both the sailing and task handling sections on land are required to clear the earliest section of the game. Despite this, those task sections on land rarely feel fulfilling, especially for the first hour or two. Rather than feeling like a way to close the distance toward the conclusion of the story, they feel like roadblocks. In short, it becomes difficult to want to play the game. It continues to require an investment in the narrative for the player to even consider continuing.
Turning small-vessel sailing into a compelling gameplay system isn’t an easy task. It’s hard to blame TomorrowHead Studio for not being able to pull it off. To its credit, it made it quite detailed and mostly as functional as a player would want it to be. That doesn’t, however, mean that small-vessel sailing simulation is something most players will want. The system itself isn’t terrible as a whole, it is the requirement to use the gameplay system on multiple occasions to progress that will dampen the experience for most. For those who get invested in the story from the beginning, they will likely find themselves engaging with certain mechanics because they want to progress, not because they want to experience those particular mechanics.
The tasks on land, while often unfulfilling, can sometimes draw the player’s attention enough to be passable. There are some slightly connected systems within each set of tasks that are fun to try and reach the end of. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, this is overshadowed by the fact that most of these tasks are very monotonous. Every once in a while an interesting even will pique the player’s interest, only to be reminded by the next few minutes that they’re still simply trudging along.
A search requires place
The explorable environments are well-designed to set a tone and mood of uncertainty. A gloomy towns, misty oceanside hills, and the solitary arctic are where most of the game is set. While there is a lot of Unreal Engine 5 stitching very visible in the visual design, it is fairly well-crafted. What’s most important is that it serves the strong suit of the game — the narrative — to have a greater impact. It sets player expectation for the story playing out, and surprisingly does the same for the gameplay. The slow and unexciting gameplay do actually feel more appropriate in a setting like this, so there is at least that. Overall though, the game is good on the eyes when presenting vistas and landscapes to look out at and get a feel for where you are.
Fog horn required
The promising narrative unfortunately never delivers completely with any kind of payoff or execution. Mainly it ends up being depth that is void from the game overall. In both narrative and gameplay, the surface level is predictable, and the attempts to explore deeper bring no excitement. This game will definitely speak to some audiences, though perhaps not the majority. Those who are looking for something slow, cinematic, and provocative can find a positive experience within Will: Follow the Light. The issue is of course that it feels like you have to be in a certain kind of mood to really dig into this game in a way that makes you feel like your time is well spent. As a short film there may have been something memorable about this story. As a game, it feels like a fluffed up experience with something to say, but takes far too long to say it.
4 — POOR
Review copy provided by developer/publisher/PR group.
Will: Follow the Light is out now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
