Strayed Lights Reviews

Strayed Lights is ranked in the 51st percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
3.5 / 5.0
Apr 23, 2023

Strayed Lights is a decent game with some good ideas but can't use them to their full potential. The gameplay and enemy design will become repetitive after a while, but the narrative design of it is bold and something we don't see often. Strayed Lights isn't the best indie game of this year but it is worth a play if you are looking for something new.

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80 / 100
Apr 25, 2023

As someone who loves to see smaller studios try their own interpretation at character action using their confined limitations, it's good to see Strayed Lights succeed at what it does while coaxing you with lovely aesthetics and a masterfully-composed Austin Wintory soundtrack.

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8.7 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

A brief, focused experience, Strayed Lights offers solid combat, a beautiful world, and a compelling narrative. Never before has a game with so much parrying been so wholesome.

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8 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

Despite the short adventure, I highly enjoyed my time with Strayed Lights. Its atmospheric music and unique art style wonderfully set the game’s mysterious tone from the get-go. The game’s well-executed combat and boss fights remained engaging and satisfying throughout my playthrough. Despite some minor animation hiccups and repetitive enemy design, Strayed Lights is a wonderful journey from start to finish.

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6.5 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

There's a great deal of cool traits to Strayed Lights, including thoughtful enemy design, strong premise, and charming visuals. However, pacing suffers greatly, and combat forces its way into the forefront with memorization and inconsistent parry windows. It's short and can be sweet, but there's an overarching bitterness that's hard to ignore.

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Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights is a gorgeous journey through a dreamlike world, one that is often haunting in its size and sense of loneliness. It's a fantastic debut, a promising start for a new studio looking to make their mark in the incredibly competitive indie-game market. A few missteps hold Strayed Lights back and stop me from recommending it to everyone, but for the right group of people this is an excellent game.

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6.5 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

I can't stress enough how close Embers is to something great here. Strayed Lights is just a few design decisions, tweaks and adjustments away from being fantastic

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6 / 10
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights is ultimately frustrating because there’s a brilliant game lurking somewhere here. Upon finishing the game, I understood the story to be about conquering corruptive behavior and going on a spiritual journey inward, but it’s let down by subpar platforming and gameplay. I would even argue that the game might not have needed combat at all and could have worked better as an explorative adventure instead. Perhaps Embers might consider this for its next project.

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9 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights offers players a profound journey of self-discovery in a visually stunning world without any dialogue, transcending language barriers. While I occasionally struggled to remain fully engaged during quiet moments, the exceptional combat system quickly drew me back in. Despite being a short game, Strayed Lights is a captivating and unforgettable adventure that is worth experiencing.

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7 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

For a game designed by a relatively small indie studio, Strayed Lights is more than competent in terms of gameplay and combat.

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70 / 100
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights is a short and sweet game exploring a unique, defensive combat experience. It can feel shallow and falls short in aspects like the music, but it remains engaging throughout its runtime.

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7 / 10
Apr 25, 2023

Embers' debut game is beautifully presented, with an interesting but flawed combat system. Lovely music (thanks to Journey composer Austin Wintory) and exciting boss battles make it worth your time.

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8 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

It’s not out to shake up the indie video game space, but thanks to a uniquely engaging combat system and a consistent stream of wonderous sights and sounds, Strayed Lights is a worthwhile little journey that makes for a great lazy afternoon play. It’s unfortunate that the user experience has suffered an oversight or two, especially in areas of accessibility, but mainly because it’s a quiet gem of a game that absolutely deserves to be played.

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8 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

At its core, Strayed Lights revolves around a simple, intuitive, and unique combat system, and with this strong base in place, it’s no wonder the game shines as bright as it does.

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8.5 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights surprised me into liking it, though the action/combat genre isn't regularly my jam. The interesting mechanics kept me coming back - sometimes against my better judgement - and the beautiful visuals went a long way towards keeping me engaged. The combat in the game is deceptively straightforward, but the ways you are forced to use it continuously ramp up the difficulty in an enjoyable way. This game might feel simple for some, but it was difficult enough for me that I felt pretty proud when I would down one of the bigger baddies. Recommended.

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87 / 100
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights is a special game. Learning attack patterns and taking on fierce foes is an absolute joy. Bosses are intimidating and offer memorable battles with cinematic flair. The world is mesmerizing and its mystery is amplified through the epic score. Even with the vague narrative, the game manages to deliver an unforgettable experience that will keep you engaged throughout.

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Recommended
Apr 25, 2023
STRAYED LIGHTS | Finished It, Here Are My Thoughts. (It's Sekiro + Ikaruga?!) video thumbnail
65 / 100
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights tells a great story without any words and brings a wonderful world to your screen. Its potential though isn't fully used as sooner or later, it's just your gateway to the next bossfight. The bossfights can become frustrating, especially due to the shaky performance of the game on Xbox Series S.

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90 / 100
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights is a fantastic game that deserves a whole lot of love, and the positives of the experience massively outweigh the negatives. It isn’t all that long at about 5-6 hours, but it’s exactly as long as it needs to be. So, check out Strayed Lights if you want a not-too-tough soulslike game that also happens to do a few new things along the way.

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4.7 / 5.0
Apr 25, 2023

Strayed Lights is a truly beautiful game. While its visuals and audio design are incredibly vibrant and breathtaking, the true beauty of it shines through with how the game uses both. As for the combat, despite it being far more forgiving than other games in the genre, it still provides you with enough of a challenge to keep you engaged and keep coming back for more.

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