Will Follow The Light Review – A Deeply Emotional Indie Lighthouse Adventure

Will Follow The Light is the debut game by indie developer TomorrowHead Studio. It’s a narrative-driven linear story that follows the titular character of Will.

Will is a lighthouse keeper, and the game opens with him going about his daily routine. He is alerted to a large storm front on its way. As Will, you will take readings to indicate how the weather is impacting where the lighthouse is located and input the readings into the network’s computer.

As this weather front starts to move in, you’ll need to start tending to the lighthouse, making sure the generator is turned on and replacing burnt-out fuses. The storm picks up, and you notice a ship nearing the lighthouse perimeter. You’ll then need to relight the light at the top of the lighthouse to warn the ship before it gets too close to land.

Shortly after this, Will is relieved of his duties by fellow lighthouse keeper Greg and goes into the local town to find his son who he has been told over the radio is at his house with his estranged father. Upon reaching the town, the game’s tone shifts into that of a disaster movie. You see the town in chaos with rescue helicopters zooming overhead with houses and buildings below in utter ruin.

As you make your way out of the local hospital, you move through the destruction to Will’s house only to find it destroyed with his son and his father nowhere to be seen. Will then passes out and wakes up in a tent in the evacuation site in the safe part of town.

You learn that there was a disastrous mudslide caused by the storm. You then learn that Will’s son Thomas is safe with Will’s father, and they left town before the mudslide on board a boat. You then start making preparations to go and find them, getting your father’s old sailing boat ready and setting sail on the open sea on a deeply emotional journey.

Narrative Inspiration & Emotional Themes

In a sense, the way the game plays out and the way it feels when playing almost makes it feel (in a way) like a spiritual successor to the game Firewatch. That too was a deeply emotional game with the main character going on a journey to overcome a difficulty in their life.

In Will Follow The Light, Will has lost both his mother and his wife. He is now a single father driven by the desire to find his son, but also not to become like his father and be an absent parent to his own son.

On this journey he overcomes the heartache of his mother’s death by revisiting the site of past events and facing that pain. He also comes to the realization that he hasn’t been the best dad he can be since the passing of his wife and that he might just be heading on the same path as his own father.

Being a dad myself and having lost a parent in the past I instantly connected to this story. I understand what grief can do to you and also recognize the daily burden of asking yourself the question “am I a good enough parent to my child” while not wanting to impart the negatives of your own upbringing onto them. So for the game to make me connect to the story on that level I commend it for doing such a good job at telling a heartfelt and original story in a current climate of games that just feel unoriginal.

Sound Design

Sound design in any game is key, and Will Follow The Light is a bit of a mixed bag. Firstly the sound effects and the soundtrack are where this game shines. The soundtrack is very cinematic and atmospheric drawing the player into the environment and adding to the immersion.

The sound effects do this too with authentic and realistic sounds of the waves as they hit the side of your boat, or when you hit a fuel tank to check for fuel and hear a resounding empty echo replying back. Both elements add to the realism that Will Follow The Light is going for.

The downside is the voice acting. While the main voice of Will is the strongest, the other NPC characters (and the few that speak) are a bit of a mixed bag of weak performances or wooden acting.

That’s not saying all of them are bad, but when you have a game with a mixture of different accents floating about, some often feel forced or like a mix of say American trying to do British. It’s hard to pinpoint. This might sound like me going off on a tangent but I did find the amount of accents in this game distracting, and with the main character being British you would expect the game to be set in the UK, but throw in American and multiple other accents and it becomes hard to pinpoint geographically where Will Follow The Light is supposed to be set.

Graphics & Visual Presentation

Now the strongest and most impressive part of Will Follow The Light is the graphics. Running on Unreal Engine 5 Will Follow The Light looks beautiful, with dynamic lighting and weather effects. It makes the game feel so atmospheric and at times almost look real, especially with the water effects.

For example, when standing near the edge of the harbor’s pier and looking down into the water below, you really get a sense of depth being able to see the ripple and waves of the water while seeing the sea bed underneath dropping off into the depths of the ocean.

Ocean spray creates water droplets on the camera, and small icebergs float away in response to the waves caused by the boat moving by them. All of this gives a level of authenticity to Will Follow The Light, and to help sell its nautical themes and drive immersion.

However there are some downsides that I spotted throughout my playthrough. Character models of NPCs have soulless expressions with no expressive facial movements. Hair or facial hair sometimes looks plastic and unrealistic. Reflections in building windows appear to glitch, moving quickly between a dark and light shade of grey. Subtitles at times appear to not match up with the spoken dialogue.

Performance & Platforms

Will Follow The Light is available on PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox. With the game being part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program I tested it on multiple devices. The main being the Xbox Series X which 80% of my playthrough was played on.

I also tested it on an Asus ROG Ally and an Xbox ROG Ally X using performance mode settings for better battery life and lower fan noise.

On the Asus ROG Ally (15W performance mode), the best settings were low graphics at 720p. This delivered a mostly stable 30fps, but with noticeable texture pop-in, especially with NPCs.

On the Xbox ROG Ally X (17W performance mode), medium settings at 720p offered a stable 30fps, but still suffered from occasional pop-in issues.

Gameplay Mechanics

Apart from walking exploration, the main travel method is via your sailing boat. You can interact with sails, use the engine for tighter navigation, drop and raise anchor, and explore the cabin.

The boat acts as a mobile base with collectibles, a navigational map, and tea brewing mechanics that appear throughout the journey. Players can choose to fully sail between locations or skip travel segments entirely.

Other gameplay elements include mini-games such as generator puzzles, crane operation, fuse box memory challenges, and waveform matching to recharge the lantern.

The lantern is a key mechanic that allows players to relive memories by matching colours to environmental drawings. It can also cut through fog and guide navigation, but overuse drains its battery and requires recharging stations.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Will Follow The Light is a strong debut from TomorrowHead Studio. It delivers a deeply emotional story, engaging gameplay mechanics, and stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5.

While it does have flaws in voice acting, performance polish, and some visual inconsistencies, it remains a standout indie experience that is well worth playing.