Static Dread: The Lighthouse is a game that is described as “Lovecraft meets Papers, Please”, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s a game that absolutely fascinates me.
Developed by Solarsuit Games, Static Dread has all the key characteristics of what I believe a Lovecraftian story needs. It’s played from a first-person perspective, narrative elements are purposefully contradictory, and there’s a growing, unseen terror far beyond the comprehension of any character that appears in the game.
In the aftermath of a global cataclysm, you play as a lighthouse keeper who is tasked with guiding passing vessels to their destinations. But in this twisted new world, an otherworldly presence threatens the very face of reality, and you play a part in either helping it or stopping it.
Taking place over the course of about two in-game weeks, your role is pretty simple. At the beginning of each night, you answer calls from nearby mariners who need guidance to their port or destination. It’s up to you to provide them with safe passage by marking a route on the map, while also following the rules set by the chief.
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As the nights go on, new rules are set in place depending on how the story has been shaped so far. Certain routes might need to be avoided, suspicious vessels are to be sent elsewhere from their target destination, and you must cross-check ship reports with the captain’s ID to make sure everything adds up. Essentially, you are constantly needing to adapt to the world as it changes depending on your choices. And this is a Lovecraftian tale, after all, so some ships may also be harboring eldritch terrors that definitely shouldn't be trusted.
One night, you might accidentally send a suspicious ship to its intended destination, inadvertently having a disastrous consequence for the residents of that destination. Then, the following night a new rule may be put in place that makes things more complicated for you. It becomes more difficult as you have more variables to check, and mistakes become a lot easier to make.
In between these calls, you may also get visits from the local villagers. They may come to you with a task or request to either fulfil or deny. Each character has their own personalities and motivations, sometimes at odds with each other, and your choices in whether to help them or not can affect the overall story. Helping them might open up new possibilities later on in the narrative, but also close off some routes than if you’d chosen to ignore their pleas. It’s this that means Static Dread is a decent game to replay, as the various choices and consequences can thread the story in a lot of different ways.
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In addition to this, you also need to keep the lighthouse functioning properly. The radio antenna must remain on, the lighthouse light beam must stay active, and the generator to power all this must keep running at all times. Being left in the darkness is very dangerous, but fortunately for you, a cosmic force is constantly trying to tamper with these machinations. So, not only do you need to be answering calls and speaking to the local villagers, but you’re also constantly running about tending to each part of the lighthouse and ensuring it’s all running smoothly.
Static Dread: The Lighthouse fascinates me from a narrative point of view. Although there are aspects of the horror that you eventually “see”, the most disturbing imagery comes through what you receive from the ships you’re in contact with. As an example, contacting one ship resulted in the captain updating me about the state of the crew before I could set a course for them. Over the receiver, I’m warned about a weird sickness affecting some of the crewmates, and they can hear a soft whispering coming from the ocean.
It’s a direct example of why that infamous, age-old writing tip of “show, don’t tell” is often better reversed for cosmic horror. These images are not being shown to me directly. I can’t see the sick soldiers or hear the creepy whispers of the ocean. But the captain’s dialogue paints a clear picture in my head about what otherworldly terrors inhabit this world. What he doesn’t tell me, or whatever information I don’t get from this call—my mind fills in the blanks.
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Stories like this are always better in written form, which is why I’m a big fan of cosmic horror in novels. The horrors depicted on the page can be described in great detail, or it can be so incomprehensible that the narrator simply can’t accurately explain what they’re witnessing. And I believe Static Dread does an excellent job at adapting this style in the form of these radio calls.
Unfortunately, it does fall apart at times. This style of horror is often difficult to adapt into a video game because there is always this expectation that there will eventually be a physical “monster” to attack and defeat. And the weakest part of Static Dread is when this occurs. Without venturing too much into spoilers, as you get further into the story, these otherworldly creatures gain physical manifestations. You can’t attack them directly, but you do have ways of surviving against these threats. And if you’re caught by them, you can indeed die and get a game over screen.
I think I would have preferred it if these parts of the game were left on the cutting room floor. I absolutely loved the dread set in from answering the calls and just simply existing in a tense atmosphere, but introducing physical threats I need to directly deal with feels a bit cheap. It’s like Solarsuit wanted to make an interesting, terrifying narrative experience, but were afraid that players might be bored if there wasn’t something to amp up the difficulty. It just feels too artificial for the type of game Static Dread should be.
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Still, I would certainly recommend this to horror fans, particularly those who love a good creepy atmosphere and prefer it when scary things are implied rather than shown. The few shortcomings it does have feel antithetical to the story Solarsuit is trying to tell, but it’s by no means an immersion-ruining experience.
Pros: Creepy atmosphere, well-written dialogue, excellent pacing
Cons: Artificial difficulty
For fans of: H.P. Lovecraft, Dredge, Mundaun
9/10: Exceptional
Static Dread: The Lighthouse is out today, 6th August, on PC (version tested). A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.
Topics: Indie Games, Reviews