30 Good(?) Uses Of The Light/Darkness Mechanic
What the title says. Why 30? Because 30 is a spooky number! WOOOOOO-I could only think of 30.
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Being in the light is safe.
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Being in the light is dangerous.
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Being in the light is dangerous, but not as dangerous as not being in the light.
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Taking out searchlights is a stealth game staple.
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Floating. Eyeballs.
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Things look different in the dark.
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Very different in the dark.
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The dark is a good place for jump scares to live.
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And grues.
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And.. magical luminescent goat heads.
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Maybe it's for the best we can't see what lives in the darkness here...
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The dark is also a good place for a particularly feckless adventurer to trip over and break his neck.
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When it's dark, they can't see you, but you can see them. Comeuppance'd?
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The darkness is useful when it manifests itself as weird snake demon things and eats gangsters. This is rare. Normally it just means you can't see shit.
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Can't stop here, this is bat country. Exploding bats, no less.
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There are things that explode at you in the dark here too. It's almost as if venturing outside in the dark is a bad thing.
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However, there are times when the dark incapacitates troublesome foes, like the deadly alien plants in the hydroponics bay.
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Or the dark just makes them invincible, which just makes things all the more difficult when they're already psychotic anime schoolgirls with assault rifles.
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Shops tend to close when it's dark. Yay? Guess I'll be hitting the "Wait" button.
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Darkness can be an interesting aesthetic choice.
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Or a cost-effective one.
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It can provide a natural barrier to progression until the player finds a source of light.
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Or can be added arbitrarily to a game title to make it seem dangerous and exciting.
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There are Lords of Darkness, apparently.
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And Kings.
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And Queens?
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And Knights? Can we get a full chess set?
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Dark Bishops? Check.
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Dark Castles too.
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I don't.. I don't think this counts as a darkness mechanic.
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