Lantern Hollow

Lantern Hollow is an adventure game that trades action for atmosphere. You wander a hand-drawn world, solve environmental puzzles, and slowly piece together what happened to a fading village. There's no fail state in most sections, just curiosity pulling you forward.

The puzzles are clever without being obtuse, and the game nudges you gently if you get stuck. We played most of it in one long evening because the pacing kept hooking us into 'just one more area.' The art and sound design do a lot of heavy lifting.

If you want twitch reflexes, look elsewhere. But as a cozy, thoughtful adventure, Lantern Hollow is one of the nicer surprises we've played this year.

What we liked

• Beautiful hand-drawn world
• Fair, satisfying puzzles
• Cozy, low-stress pacing