The Hollow Lantern
The Hollow Lantern is a slow, gorgeous adventure game and easily one of the best-looking things we've played on a phone this year. You explore a dim little town by tapping to move and tapping objects to examine them, slowly piecing together why everyone here speaks in half-memories.
The puzzles are logical and fair. Nothing here asks you to combine a rubber duck with a ladder for no reason; the solutions come from paying attention to the story. That makes solving them feel earned rather than random. The hand-drawn art and soft sound design carry a mood that stuck with us after we put the phone down.
It's short, maybe four hours, and it's a linear experience. If you want endless content this isn't it. But as a single quiet evening of a game, it's close to perfect.
What we liked
- Stunning hand-drawn art
- Fair, story-driven puzzles
- A mood that lingers