It took a while to warm to, but once it clicked it was like flipping a light switch.

My first contact with this stellar dev was with the Limbo-like 7th Sector. Sergey Noskov has a knack for capturing the post-apo/dystopic genres like no other indie dev out there. Hearing that I was going to get my hands on one of his updated 2012 works so soon after 7th Sector was amazing news. I personally hope it was a reasonably quick-turnaround, mind cleansing project for him!

The Light Remake is certainly not a light remake. If you seek out the 2012 version you'll see what I mean. You could say it's light in content, but that's perfectly matched here by its price point and allows it to deliver just the right pace.

The rest of nature might outlast us, but can it sit on a bench?

But what is it? The Light is a gorgeously rendered, thoughtful light-puzzler. Don't let the Bioshock-gripped pipe in screenshots fool you; you'll be prying open doors and exploring, not doing the one-two punch. The location, built from reference photos (I expect), is remarkably realised. Reclaimed by nature as it is it inspires both eeriness from its abandonment, but also a sense of tranquillity. Dmitry Nikolaev's melodic piano tracks inject just this balance too - undeniably doleful, but with notes that rhyme with the bird chatter outside to evoke the sun dazzled beauty of the place.

As usual with Sergey's games, unfortunately, it doesn't offer the best first impression to an English audience. The translation is bad. Not so bad that the meaning often isn't easily decipherable, but all the same there's rarely a sentence that isn't affected. Despite my trust in Sergey, both this and some performance issues made me initially question the experience.

Perfect for social distancing.

The Light's puzzling is both a relatively light touch, but demanding in its lack of hand-holding. It predominately involves finding and using items 'walk and click' style, although there's certainly good variation otherwise. The hidden alternative ending is also a clever touch. The large area you're thrown into makes this object hunting a tincture overwhelming, but some direction in subtitles (and online guides) can ensure you're not completely bereft.

Ironically, the moment I really first saw the light was in an area marked by its absence. What unfolded was a sequence it would be hard to convey the effectiveness of. I'm a big fan of minimalist horror. It even caps it off with a puzzle that checks the player really understands the magnitude of that horror. That The Light manages to craft such a sequence by just leaning on its sound design and some clever visuals is spectacular.

The Light is certainly doing nothing to make me think being the last person on earth wouldn't be wonderful.

Without spoilers, The Light's more Spec Ops: The Line-esque moments are sufficiently striking and affecting too. Although, the use of quotes and a projector film is much more tell than show compared to the aforementioned brilliant sequence and the letters you read along the way. More than ever it's message on the cost of unchecked progress is relevant. I tend to dislike these subjects being portrayed as an intractable human nature issue rather than a powers that be democracy issue - repeating the past for more rolls of the dice only narrowly won before. Nor do I like humanity to be thought as separate from nature. The Light falls a little afoul of these, admittedly. I like to be presented solutions to problems rather than the problem generalised to near irrelevance. That's a persnickety preference of mine. It's still a thoughtful story regardless, brimming as it is with enough mystery and space for interpretation to keep you interested.

The Light Remake is a cheap (if not cheerful), lightweight (if not light in tone) puzzler that evocatively ponders on the human cost of progress. Marked by some truly brilliant sequences that achieve a lot with very little, The Light's visual and sound design impress throughout. Whilst it impresses on us that we shouldn't let us blow ourselves away, for the price it might just blow you away.