Mislight Demo First Impressions

Mislight developed by Etherlight First Impressions

Story

The story begins with the player-character, simply referred to as “The girl”, being transported to a mysterious dark forest. As you progress through the story, the girl’s encounters begin to paint a picture of not only where she was transported to but also who else might be there. The story is a mystery in which you get clues as you continue the game. The story is told in multiple ways. Firstly, through The Girl’s diary. As you make progress in the story an icon will appear, prompting you to press the button that will open the girl’s diary. In it are musings about new enemies, the girl’s family, and the different characters she encounters. There are also collectibles in the game, called Pages. These pages are scattered about the map and contain the journal entries of someone who was transported to this mysterious forest before the girl. What makes the story so good is that everything in the game lends to the story. From the enemies to the shopkeeper, to the mysterious ruins. Everything in the game exudes the story’s lore.

Gameplay

Mislight is a side-scrolling adventure game which takes inspirational cues from games like Cave Story and Mega Man. The game begins with The Girl receiving a flashlight that she uses as a weapon, which I found unique, whimsical, and very fitting for this dark fantasy setting. The flashlight can shoot a light projectile reminiscent of The Blue Bomber’s iconic blaster. As you progress through the game you slowly start to fill out The Girl’s map. When I first started playing it took a little bit of exploring to get a feel for the map, But by the end of the demo, I felt I had such a good feel for where I was that I didn’t need to look at the map. The map is very well made and intuitive. So much so that when I unlocked certain paths, I would let out an audible “ohhh, so that’s where these lead.” The best thing about it is that traversing the map is really fun. The map is filled with tight platforming challenges and beautiful, yet spooky, pixel art enemies. The controls are responsive and while I had difficulty in some areas, I never felt that the game was unfair.

Sound

The sound and music in this game is so good. As you traverse through the dark forest the somber hum continues. Adding to the tension felt as you prepare yourself for what might come next. In totality the music adds to the ambiance of the game. Even the cheerful jingle that plays when you go inside of one of the shops, really makes the save points feel like a safe space. It’s not just when the music plays, that is good, but when the music goes completely silent, just before the boss battles begin, as you watch the monster start to emerge. It’s little touches like these that I love from video games and Etherlight pays attention to the details.

Features

As you continue the game and beat the bosses, The Girl begins to unlock new gameplay features. Such as the ever-useful charge shot and an activation ability which unlocks the magical properties of the Forest. One of my favorite features in the game is the ability to change The Girls costume. Which not only has aesthetic changes but also has an effect on the gameplay if you so choose. Each costume is an homage to a classic horror game. It was a fun challenge trying to guess which game each costume is from.

Impression

My impressions at the end of the demo were that I really cannot wait until the full game’s release. I want to know more about why the animals in the forest have turned evil, what’s the deal with those mysterious runes and structures, and why the mushroom creature is helping The Girl out. The game is set for release Q1 2023 and has an available demo you can try out. If you like the demo, I also suggest checking out the Kickstarter campaign for the game.