We have meats
Golden light has been on my radar for quite some time. I bought it back in Early Access but don’t plan on touching it until its full release, come and go while I’m playing WWE 2K22 and Elden Ring.
But look at it. This is my aesthetic. Ugly, meaty and weird. It would be my dream if my brain could come up with something more imaginative than shopping malls, noodles and falling teeth. It’s a roguelite, but no one is perfect.
Golden light (computer)
Developer: Mr. Pink
Publisher: HypeTrain Digital
Released: March 11, 2022
MSRP: $19.99
Your girlfriend is devoured by a fleshy hole in the ground. Love makes us do crazy things, so you follow her down the muscle tube. You might find someone less abducted by the flesh, but if she somehow manages to get herself out, you’ll never hear the end of it. Plus, she’ll definitely tell her mom, and that woman already hates your gut, so you’ll hear it in stereo. I guess there’s nothing more to do than put myself at the mercy of the piece of meat and follow her.
You find yourself in Gut, both Golden Light’s world and its main antagonist. How much it hates you depends on your actions inside it and how well you manage your finances. When Golden light Quickly prepare your weapons and ammunition each time, only committing to violence when necessary. Going HAM into meat monsters will only upset Gut. The angrier Gut is, the harder your life will be. Items will be more expensive and monsters will be more hostile. However, you can reset it by feeding a tree half your fortune.
Calling is both accurate and misleading Golden light a roguelite. It contains many of the hallmarks of the genre: random levels and loot, loss of gear and power-ups on death, and small perks that mark progress. However, “roguelite” often suggests that you are starting over after each death, and that is not really the way to go. Golden light move.
The tower structure is misaligned. Technically, you’re trying to get deeper and deeper into Gut. However, instead of a continuous gauntlet, it is split into “biomes” that each have their own start and end points. Not only that, if you die, you will continue from the floor where you left off. It’s less like Isaac’s Binding and more King’s Realm Go crazy and turn yourself inside out.
This may sound like a small difference, but it has a huge impact on how the game feels compared to other roguelites. You only need to get through one floor to make lasting progress to the end, which means each of them is their own struggle. The goal is to find enough keys to unlock the elevator to the next level, and sometimes it’s a scramble just to hit the exit button before you’re claimed by one of The Gut’s monsters.
I know I said avoiding teamfights is in your best interest, but it’s not always possible. Some enemies are just dicks and will attack you. Picking up the last key needed to unlock the elevator can sometimes make the whole level frenzy. Then there are the bosses, probably Golden Light’s the biggest weakness, as they mostly only deal damage to sponges that are so large they are difficult to regain shape and usually only clamp on you when they attack. Like everything else, you don’t necessarily have to fight them. You just have to survive, get the key and get to the elevator.
While progress through Gut is never lost, you are given the option to reset any Biomes and start from their top tier. However, I’ve never really found it useful, as the central world, Eternal Field, offers plenty of opportunity to prepare if you take the time to explore it. Sometimes, I don’t even prepare because like I said, sometimes it’s better to avoid teamfights altogether.
New biomes are found by unlocking parts of the Field of Eternity, but beyond that you also find scattered characters and bonuses. It was huge and like a maze. There’s an oppressive fog making it difficult to find where you’re going. It was a time of eerily quiet and idyllic before going down to the bowels. Just don’t let your guard down; there are people who mushroom about.
The story is told through puzzling flashbacks between floors. Golden light certainly implies that it is allegorical, but it is difficult to discern a singular meaning. At its core, it seems to be about torment, and possibly about torment myself torment. A troubled relationship is constantly hinted at – happy times, arguments, bad endings. The obsession with work and the resulting straying continued, but then doubt overtook it. It is likely that the main character is an unreliable narrator who only conveys their interpretation of events.
Regardless, I think it’s meant to hit differently. The unpleasant emotion it evoked in me the most was guilt. Gut is a villain everywhere – if you don’t want to rule out the same case on the left – Gruntilda from Banjo-Kazooie. It constantly taunts you with lines that would be familiar to anyone in a fractious relationship. Gut offers apologies, blames all around and doubts who the real problem is. It also questions your violent tendencies, speaks to you in non-small words when it gets angry, and expresses its own remorse. Humans are difficult. At least Gut tries to communicate.
You don’t have to take it seriously. Golden light It feels like a confluence of ideas that have formed throughout, rather than a cohesive whole that was planned in the first place. You can focus on unraveling the game’s secrets, adopting more effective tactics to get through the floors, and simply earning gold. However, the story really got me through. It gives meaning to the uncanny gameplay and is a fascinating refactoring of the all-too-normal human experience.
At the same time, when it comes to gameplay, you’re a bit worried about the random nature of the game, which will totally upset some people. Keys, weapons, mementos, and other items will be more available on certain floors of permutations, while others will be more dangerous. There are certainly skills that need to be developed to make things easier for you, but the best plans can get derailed pretty quickly.
I honestly think Golden light will especially appeal to people with a specific type of brain rot. Mine Specifically brain rot, where we like our writhing absurdity mixed with the kind of emotion that eats into you from the inside. It is torment Golden light foundation in every respect. It’s the perfect interactive demonstration of how the mind never lets the light shine. The fact that it’s simultaneously become a unique and enjoyable experience is probably a very important fact that I’m too busy staring at my shoes to appreciate.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game purchased by the author.]
