This has become one of my favorite games of all time. The opportunities are endless. I trust the developers to truly listen to the community. Since it's release, this game has transformed into something totally different. In the true essence of a sandbox RPG, you can be and do absolutely anything you want. My father, in his 50s, just sent me a screenshot of a new title he earned by destroying pirates.

Over the past few weeks, I've spent almost 100 hours doing nothing but exploring, discovering new species in wonder, and becoming a merchant. I'm even excited to tell my non-gamer friends about my space exploits haha. It's really got something for everyone.

I've played on PC and Switch. The Switch has some limitations and crashes every once in a while, but the autosaves are frequent so you never lose enough for it to be frustrating. The Switch version also has limited FPS and doesn't have the multiplayer capabilities that PC has. I recommend on anything though, handhelds or PC.

Candleman is a 3D puzzle adventure platformer where you play as a candle with a wick long enough to provide only 10 seconds of light for you to get through each level. You light candles and solve puzzles to make your way through chapters of a story. Each level has a destination, and there are overarching destinations revealed to you throughout the game. The story is simple, but metaphorical, which I appreciated. The cut scenes and most of the levels are beautiful. The use of light and dark in the game is really clever and was done well, for the most part. The puzzles were dynamic and continued to change and develop throughout gameplay, which helped progression not feel overly repetitive or stagnant.

There were two levels in particular that I did not like: the boss battle and the light levels immediately following the boss battle. The pace drastically changed for the boss fight, and I didn’t feel the transition was done well enough. Light was used in a really obnoxious way and sound was so repetitive it got annoying. The whole level kind of stood out like a sore thumb by comparison to the rest of the game. But this is not indicative of the game as a whole.

Overall, I enjoyed Candleman. The ending made me emotional and it was really satisfying. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who enjoys chill games with beautiful visuals.

*I received this product from Zodiac Interactive for the purpose of coverage.

I really fell in love with this story, it reminded me a lot of the old fables you would learn in grade school - there was always something to learn in those fables and I think that there were definitely some thought provoking messages in this game. I've seen some complaints about the writing, but it was all very clear to me. A lot of the writing is done in metaphors for the player to interpret.

There was one particular area, The Abyss, where the lighting of the game was pretty awful and the direction wasn't clear. I got lost there for a while and it was frustrating. Other than that I really don't have any complaints.

Overall, I'm actually really looking forward to whatever the devs, Swordtales, come out with in the future.

*Just a side note, if you are wondering how long the game is, I finished the game in 2.7 hours. I think the average is around 2 hours.

Okay, imagine your high school days of careless adventure (hopefully you had some of those). Most teenagers have this idea that they're invincible; They can do anything, go anywhere, see everything. And not one thought that it may be risky or there may be a bad outcome. OXENFREE speaks to that adventurous teenager that hides within.

You start the game with useless banter amongst a small group of friends who've decided to stick to tradition by venturing to an island before moving on to bigger, better things in life. Initially it seems like it's going to be an innocent, drunken night on the beach, but it quickly turns into an adventure to discover the hidden truths of this strange and mysterious island. As you uncover lies that have run generations deep, you are enveloped by a story that is both scary and touching in parts.

OXENFREE offers you the paranormal, the supernatural, and the who knows what else, because half the time, you have no idea what's ACTUALLY happening, and that's the beauty of this game. It's a mystery right up until the very end. Your decisions affect your outcomes and great attention is put into your ability to maintain and form relationships. The dialog is extremely appropriate, and even funny in many parts. The graphics are stunning, and the audio can make your hair stand on end. So yes, this supernatural relationally driven adventure game is worth your time.