Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review

Illumination in an unexpected place

Game Info: (Box Display)

  • System: PC, Xbox One
  • Publisher: Zodiac Interactive
  • Developer: Spotlightor Interactive
  • Release Date: Jan 31, 2018
  • Price:$14.99
  • Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Platformer
  • Players: 1
  • Official Website: http://candleman.me/

Who it Caters to

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review
Candleman: The Complete Journey caters to those who need a new take on the adventure and platforming experience in games. Players control a small candleman and experience a giant world filled with dangers from various elements. Developer Spotlightor Interactive created a truly unique experience with the world of Candleman: The Complete Journey. For those who have been craving such an experience will thoroughly enjoy Candleman: The Complete Journey. If you ready for a rather strange but truly innovative and captivating title then you’re ready to play Candleman: The Complete Journey.

What to Expect

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review
In Candleman: The Complete Journey, players take control of a small candle that has gained life from unknown sources. They must now navigate various areas in order to reach a goal not fully known to them. Along the way, there will be various traps and puzzles that impede your way. Luckily, you can utilize your candleman’s wick to create light to solve these various puzzles. However, if your flame lasts longer than 10 seconds, your little candleman will melt away and you will be forced to restart. Candleman: The Complete Journey shows players a world not uncommon to reality but through the eyes of a rather unique main protagonist.


Story

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review
Amidst a strange ship something odd occurred. A lone candle became something…living. Getting up, the candle began to walk in the lonely ship. With a large adventure ahead of him, the candle’s journey wouldn’t be an easy one. However, the candle isn’t deterred and begins his quest to find a beacon in the distance…

Gameplay

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review
As per usual, 2018 means a new year for the gaming world. With tons of new titles soon to be released, we here at Honey’s Anime are already scouring the gaming libraries for our next title to play and review. Though our journey didn’t take too long as we got our hands on a title that came originally back in 2017. Candleman: The Complete Journey seemed like a very bizarre title with an even stranger theme but regardless we booted up our PCs and began playing. After several hours we have much to discuss with you all in our review of Candleman: The Complete Journey.

The idea in Candleman: The Complete Journey is relatively simple: Guide your small candle—that is legit the character you play as—to the end of each stage. Seems simple enough, right? Well, there’s a rather interesting twist to Candleman: The Complete Journey. Often, levels need light to see or to solve various puzzles. Thus, your candle will have to illuminate itself to light the way but can only do so for 10 seconds. Any longer than that and your candleman melts and thus you lose a life. Lose 10 and the level will have to be restarted.

Candleman: The Complete Journey becomes a rather unique title. Your life is attached to your own skill and that is rather different for an adventure/platforming title. Candleman: The Complete Journey starts off rather easy with you not having to worry about expending your 10 second light but as the levels get more complex it can be quite easy to abuse your skill and find yourself having to either restart at a checkpoint—which levels do have—or the whole stage from the beginning. If there are any flaws with Candleman: The Complete Journey, it is that this set up never changes and even as the levels become more complex or introduce newer elements to work along with your light ability, it still is the same format at the end of the day. Light the candles, navigate the map, and reach the end of the stage. Thankfully, Candleman: The Complete Journey’s repetitive nature is saved by two elements.

Graphically, Candleman: The Complete Journey looks quite amazing. There are several different environments scattered across nine chapters but each area looks and feels different. One chapter you might be in a cargo ship then the next in a lake with tons of large flowers that bloom when you light them. Add the fact that Candleman: The Complete Journey features a great ambiance with strong music and sounds and you have a title that keeps you immersed as you take every small step as the small candleman you are.

The other strong element of Candleman: The Complete Journey is the narrative. Each chapter has a brief narrator who explains the candleman’s strange journey. Though as you read into the tale and reach the conclusion, you can understand that Candleman: The Complete Journey isn’t a simple story of a magical candle coming to life. There’s a strong metaphor being explained here and while we wish to discuss this in detail, we won’t. Candleman: The Complete Journey’s story is something you’ll want to experience first hand and when you see the conclusion you’ll be surprised at what the story was all about.

Now, we need to mention one more fault with Candleman: The Complete Journey that we didn’t mention previously. While Candleman: The Complete Journey controls are extremely simple and none of the puzzles ever are overly challenging, the movement can be a bit imprecise at times. Often jumps and even tightrope movements lead to quick deaths because it’s kind of tough to judge how easily or far candleman will jump. This is a small issue however and as you play Candleman: The Complete Journey you get use to learning how jumps work and how to better take movement slow and steady at times. We recommend playing with a controller over the mouse and keyboard as it makes Candleman: The Complete Journey a better experience overall.


Honey's Gameplay Consensus:

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review
Candleman: The Complete Journey, at first glance, seems like a truly strange and overly simple title. However, when we began playing we found it hard to dislike the oddities and gameplay mechanics seen in Candleman: The Complete Journey. Everything from the visuals to the gameplay in Candleman: The Complete Journey make for a solid title with a truly impressive narrative and nice lasting experience. There are times where frustration may occur from repetitive puzzles and sometimes unforgiving precision jumps but even these moments—which are rare, mind you—don’t hinder what is an excellent adventure platforming game. We highly recommend picking up Candleman: The Complete Journey if you need a break from the usual adventure titles.

Honey's Pros:

  • Impressive visuals
  • Cool lighting mechanics
  • Great ambiance and music
  • Surprising narrative with a hidden message

Honey's Cons:

  • Can get a bit repetitive near the end
  • Sometimes jumps don’t feel 100% precise

Honey's Final Verdict:

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review
Adventure games like Candleman: The Complete Journey might scare off potential buyers at first for their odd narrative direction and style but we here at Honey’s Anime need to tell you this. You need to play Candleman: The Complete Journey as it was such a breath of fresh air for the adventure and platforming gaming genre. With over 30+ levels and a surprising narrative, Candleman: The Complete Journey is a solid title that we hope gets a lot of recognition and love in the gaming community. Have you played Candleman: The Complete Journey or want to after reading our review? Tell us down below, and make sure to keep returning to us here at Honey’s Anime for all your gaming reviews and article needs.

logo-en-bg-black-Candleman-The-Complete-Journey-Capture-500x190 Candleman: The Complete Journey - PC Review

Writer

Author: Aaron

Hey everyone I’m Aaron Curbelo or Blade as I’m called by my YouTube Subscribers. I’ve been an anime/manga fan since I was a young kid. In terms of anime I have watched nearly a thousand shows and have read hundreds of manga series. I love writing and honestly was so happy to join Honey’s Anime to get a shot to write articles for such a wonderful site. I’m a firm believer in respect in the anime community being the most important embodiment we should all have. We all love anime and we have varying opinions of series but we should respect one another for those differences! Life is too precious to spend it making needless arguments in a community that should be the shining example of loving an amazing medium. I hope as a writer for Honey’s Anime I can bring you folks some amazing articles to read and enjoy!

Previous Articles

Top 5 Anime by Aaron