Golden Light

I ate my gun, got health. I ate a fetus and caught on fire and died. 10/10 would recommend.

Golden Light is a strange, creepy, and very unique roguelike.
The game hooks you with its absurd atmosphere: fleshy hallways, living objects, bizarre monsters, and the constant feeling that everything around you is alive and watching. Levels are procedurally generated, so every run feels unpredictable — sometimes funny, sometimes genuinely scary.
What I really liked is that the game doesn’t hold your hand: you discover the rules yourself and learn how to use the environment and weapons in creative ways. Even glitches here somehow feel like part of the style. The soundtrack fits perfectly with the madness on screen.
That said, it’s not a game for everyone. It can feel chaotic, a bit clunky at times, and if you’re not into surreal “meatcore” aesthetics, this will probably be too much.
Overall, it’s a great horror roguelike for players looking for something unconventional that isn’t afraid to break the rules.

I tried to throw the axe at an vending machine that was running at me.
I pressed H and I hit myself in the head with the axe. Then I tried F and I ate the axe,
10/10 game

I've spent a lot of time playing Golden Light (my Steam playtime is a bit misleading since half of the time was offline while I was traveling or without internet access). I've explored its world, met its monsters, talked to some, eaten others, and acted as both friend and foe to the ubiquitous Gut. But, I am not sure I can adequately describe Golden Light. Yes, it is a first-person survival horror action/stealth game with randomly generated dungeons, a persistent overworld, and roguelike elements. That description may lead you to believe you have played games like Golden Light. Let me assure you that you have not.

You know how people describe the modern Doom games as playable Heavy Metal albums? This game is a playable weirdcore/traumacore playlist. It's like playing a nightmare born of liminal space horror and Backrooms wikis, complete with the flailing, imprecise movement and dark, blurred vision.

Golden Light is one of the most effective survival horror titles I have ever played at inducing near-constant dread, which is all the more astounding when nothing much in the game is actually that scary. Instead, the anxiety comes from the dark, surreal ambiance of the dungeons, the esoteric soundscape, and never knowing if that pile of books is actually a monster in disguise.

While the horror is effective, what really captivates me about Golden Light is the surreal world it constucts. For all of the dread in the dungeons, the levels really are not dead set on killing the player (pun intended): the Gut -the world in which all of the events in the game take place- is sentient, and somewhat callous, but does not hate the player (unless the player is in turn violent and cruel). Even the individual denizens of the Gut are a mixed bag. Sure, some want to prey upon the player, but some are indifferent unless provoked. Some can even be friendly. The fascinating thing about Golden Light is that it presents an ecosystem, just not one that takes time to understand.

There is a story to Golden Light. Something about a struggling writer. And a woman. Maybe the woman left the struggling writer. Maybe she died. Maybe he killed her. Maybe he turned into a dog. Maybe the woman never existed and it's all a hallucination. I don't put spoilers here because the game doesn't actually tell you a story, in fact the Gut sternly refuses to let the player think the experiences of the gut are about anything, at all. Golden Light refuses to be straightforwardly interpretable, preferring to let its bizarre locales and denizens be their own meaning, or have none at all. If I were more pretentious I would compare Golden Light to the Dao De Jing, and if I spend any more time thinking about it I might start to earnestly believe that comparison to be apt.

I don't know if Golden Light is a good video game, but I know that I am glad that I experienced it. It is not for everyone. Golden Light probably is not for you, but I am not sure if that matters. Golden Light was not for me, either, and look how that went.

Not a roguelike.
That being said, this game is the second most unsettling game I've ever played. It is also an accurate depiction of what PETA actually believes.
In this game, you're meat. You must murder meat before it murders you. You murder the meat with meat and then possibly eat the meat. Everything is meat. Except the gold, unless that's also meat which I won't find out because I like being able to sleep at night.
Which I wasn't able to do with the most unsettling game I've ever played. Which, that game has a lot in common with this one. Except you're looking for a girl instead of being a girl and the developer didn't get killed by the tsunami that wrecked Fukushima Daiichi in March of 2011. But it's still Hell, it's still mindbreak, and you're still being murdered repeatedly by meat monsters that want to maim you.
Also it's like the sequel to that game - which will never be completed - in that you sometimes have a gun. Not that it'll do you any good.
9/10, I hate this game and I don't want to play it anymore but that probably means I'm going to pick it up again in a fortnight.

Very strange game. Graphics reminds me of PC Demo Scene from the 1990s with gouraud shading

Trying to find a sense in our life | KAMGUSTA's MINI REVIEW
In it's way, it's art. An absurd, weird, gross, horrific and original 3D first person rogue-like horror. First runs can feel senseless, but little by little most of the game world will make sense. The graphics are a little better than on the screenshots; nice art style; musics and audio effects are spot on. If you like the genre or the idea, you won't be disappointed. Prepare for a sick ride!
Best played with keyboard & mouse
Recommended buy price: 10$
Score: 7/10