The Light in the Darkness | Steam Deck Review

March 2, 2024March 2, 2024 Alyssa White

I admittedly don’t play a lot of educational games. They usually don’t appeal to me, but I’m always interested in stories about the Holocaust. This alone had me intrigued in experiencing Voices of the Forgotten’s The Light in the Darkness, but my co-host gushing about this game was the icing on the cake. I’m so glad that I ultimately dove into this story.

Absolutely Heartbreaking

The Light in the Darkness portrays the Abramovich family living in France during the Holocaust. Moses, Bluma, and their son Samuel are Jewish; their ordinary home life is soon upended by the events that occurred. They’re simply trying to stay together and remain in France, but they face discrimination and the fear of being captured daily. Seeing how each member of the family is affected by what’s going on is incredibly emotional. Samuel doesn’t understand why his friends will no longer play with him, while Moses and Bluma try to keep their business afloat amid the horrifying events happening around them.

This is only an hour and a half long, but it had me fully hooked and feeling incredibly emotional. The use of archival video footage and photos only adds to the sadness and horror of the Holocaust and the lives that were lost during this time. Though the game doesn’t fully describe all of what occurred and doesn’t address the true brutality that happened during the Holocaust, it leaves an inkling in your mind. Keep in mind this is an educational game aimed for all ages; it’s not going to go in full, graphic depth.

Still Haunted

The graphical style of The Light in the Darkness is one I’d describe as cartoonish. It’s nowhere near being realistic in this regard, but that doesn’t stop the characters from showing their emotions in their facial expressions. Small glimpses of joy can be seen among the lingering dread, sadness, and panic in the eyes of the family and their friends. It’s quite an impressive feat to communicate so much without any dialogue and with a more stylized visual approach.

Gameplay is simple. You move the character you’re currently playing as left or right and occasionally interact with others by pressing A to speak to them. There are also a couple of minigames thrown in, but these are simple and are easy to complete. My only real complaint I had during my playtime was that the frame rate would drop suddenly (and often) while walking outside. There were also a few typos in regard to names being spelled, but this was a minor issue that most players probably won’t even notice.

The Final Verdict

The Light in the Darkness is a short, yet emotionally powerful, educational game. Players of any age can play this and experience a small portrait of the life of a Jewish family during one of the most horrific mass genocides in history. The characters emote wonderfully, and the visual style is unique. Controls are kept simple to allow anyone to pick this up, and though it doesn’t dive deeply into the subject matter, what it does show is affecting and heartbreaking. I urge everyone to pick up and experience this powerful narrative, especially since this game is completely free. Yes, you read that right. It’s 100% free. There’s no reason not to give this short but impactful game a chance.

To hear me talk more about The Light in the Darkness, be sure to listen to the February 14 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast.

This review is based on a Steam copy of The Light in the Darkness provided by Keymailer for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via Epic Games Store.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co