WiiWare is a breeding ground for tons of colorful and cheery puzzle games, but WayForward decided it's time to go easy on the brightness levels and to show that the genre can work with dark and creepy too. And thus, LiT was born.

Right from the the main menu you'll learn that there's no one to hold your hand in the dark, no hints or tutorials, it's just you and flashlight. The concept is simple: you're trapped in a school overrun by darkness and the moment you switch off the light – BAM!- you're a goner with demons dragging you down through the floor. Spooky stuff.

Since you can't just point the flashlight at your own feet and make your way through the door you'll have to make do with other light sources like windows, lamps or computer screens as well as a few items like slingshots or flares. Make a path of light to the exit and you're home free… until the next room.

While the art style itself isn't mind blowing, the presentation serves the whole horror theme of the game pretty well with the faint lights in the midst of all the pitch black darkness never feeling very safe or protecting. The boss designs are very well made though, they're downright weird.

The logic behind some puzzles is pretty refreshing and interesting, relying little on items and more on observation. Restarting, which is something you'll be doing a lot, is quick and easy since each level is a small room and while there is some satisfaction to be had from the trial and error process, the game focuses too much on it. Plenty of stages forcing you to do things over and over again just to see what happens because it's impossible with mere deduction or logic to know how things will turn out, like for example which computer screen will light up first when you flick a switch.

Later on you will have to pay attention not to have too many electrical appliances on at the same time, or the fuses will blow and you'll be left in complete darkness. It's a nice touch that adds another layer of complexity to the game, but also one that will require experimenting and lead to more rage. Still, the greater the frustration- and there is a lot of it- the greater the satisfaction.

The game uses the Wii Remote well enough, to use the flashlight just point the remote where you want while holding A allowing you to check your surroundings before you plunge forward. A few simple motions are used here and there, never obtrusive or problematic and the speaker is put to good use, serving as a phone where you'll be getting some creepy calls from a friend also trapped in the school. Not everything works out fine though, the game requires a lot of precision since a step in the darkness should mean certain death, but it can be inconsistent in that regard: sometimes it's hard to tell if an item's safe to grab or not so you'll have to just try it out, but while sometimes a lamp is in arm's reach others you'll die in a microsecond. Still, for the most part, the controls work well and some issues with the American version have been fixed like the context sensitive actions.

LiT is a very interesting and creative take on the genre, with a refreshingly spooky theme and original puzzle mechanics and even if trial and error is shoved down your throat and can be a bit frustrating, it's worth the 800 points if you like the genre.

Head down for those final scores!

Jo