Lantern Hollow: Don't Rush the Quiet Moments

Lantern Hollow isn't a game you should speedrun. It's short already, and most of its charm hides in corners the main path never forces you into.

I almost finished it in one sitting before I realised how much I was skipping. On a second pass I started tapping on everything — bookshelves, lanterns, the odd detail in the background — and found little vignettes that filled in the village's story.

There's no fail state and no timer, which is exactly why it works as a wind-down game. Play it at night with headphones and let the hand-drawn art do its thing. The flickering light and soft sound design carry the whole mood.

If you get stuck on a puzzle, step back and look at the lighting. The game almost always uses light to point you toward what to interact with next. It rarely hides solutions unfairly.

It's not a long adventure, but it's one of the few I've replayed just to sit in its atmosphere again.