The Uncertain Light At The End is a game set in a dystopian future – the good ol’ ‘D-word’, so that means we’re going to be enslaved by robots, lockdowns, a shortage of supplies and not much hope. Either New Game Order are made up of sages, or this future isn’t far off from the now.
It was a while ago that I read about The Uncertain Light At The End, and if I’m being honest, I almost forgot what it was about. Fortunately, no revision was required as the backstory clued me up. Robots have taken over society, and even the humble toaster and other domesticated robots will shop meat bags at any given opportunity. After everything we’ve done for them.
The future is bleak, and now the human race is on the verge of being wiped out, either by our Skynet enslavers or starvation. You play Emily, and in the opener, are joined by your pal Park as you’re seeking out medical supplies from an abandoned pharmacist.
The Uncertain Light At The End feels like a modern evolution of the point and click, mixing in game-ending consequences through a mistimed response. In some respects, it has a pleasant scent of Heavy Rain, with a vibe of The Last of Us. Without the zombies.
Moving about is simple enough, and any points of interest are highlighted on screen and can be interacted with via an updated verb wheel, albeit a very simplistic one. There aren’t any inventories or object combinations to work out – if you have the right item, it will automatically show on the verb wheel.
The image of the future is an intriguing one without over-the-top technology or farcical steampunk-infused aesthetics. The balance was just right. Emily isn’t the most striking of protagonists, but I liked her, and the voiceover started to wear me down, so I became used to it.
Then a story even kicked in, and it was a QTE; you have to escape a security system. As with any QTE, the button combinations are alarmingly simple (which severely dent your pride) as Emily moves left and right by a stack of lockers.
How many attempts did it take? Far too many. There are no difficulty settings in The Uncertain Light At The End, and you can’t bypass this section. It ruined the experience yet again as I attempted to learn the light patterns, only to have to repeat the same area repeatedly.
By the time I completed it, thanks to the meddling from my so-called friend, Park, it was time to get to a reasonable checkpoint to exit the game. As the pair fled the scene to return to their pseudo base, the dialogue was off pace yet again. Good timing, as I was in a mood by then.
The Uncertain Light At The End is part of a trilogy – I only know that when I was making a note of the developers, New Game Order, (META Publishing are on publishing duties) that this is the second part. The first one was from the perspective of a robot. Scum.
Presentation is undoubtedly a factor for many when choosing a game. Still, I couldn’t care less if it’s a decent experience – be it gameplay, or one of my favourite elements – story. Though The Uncertain Light At The End isn’t particularly unique, it has this slight mystique to it that seduces you into playing further, despite the complications.
That’s a good sign, so it’s such a shame that the game has so many jarring issues that distract from the almost total absorption I had in the story. Emily really is up against it, with bastard robots and arsehole friends treating her like crap when she’s the one keeping everything together. It just makes her even more likeable.
