Dark Fall II: Lights Out is a 2004 first-person psychological horror/adventure game developed by British studio XXv Productions and published by The Adventure Company for Microsoft Windows. In 2009, Darkling Room released a director's cut of the game in a limited "Pins & Needles" edition. Later that same year, Iceberg Interactive released the Director's Cut in both a stand-alone edition and as part of Adventures in Terror: British Horror Collection. The original version of the game was made available on Steam in December 2013. Lights Out is an indirect sequel to the 2002 game Dark Fall, telling an unrelated story, although it does feature a recurring minor character. A third Dark Fall game, Dark Fall: Lost Souls, was released in 2009. A fourth entry titled Dark Fall: Ghost Vigil was released in 2020.
The game tells the story of Benjamin Parker, a cartographer sent to Trewarthan, Cornwall in 1912 to map the coastline. Whilst there, he becomes embroiled in the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from the offshore Fetch Rock Lighthouse. Accused of murdering the three men, Parker must jump back and forth through time, facing a powerful entity known as Malaki, whose involvement with the disappearances Parker must attempt to unravel.
Lights Out received mixed reviews, with critics praising Jonathan Boakes' individual work on the game and his obvious passion for the adventure genre. Some also praised the atmosphere and storyline. Common criticisms focused on the game's technical limitations, specifically its graphical presentation, and predictable gameplay. Most critics also felt the game failed to improve on the original Dark Fall.
Gameplay
Lights Out is a first-person psychological horror/adventure game, which employs a very simple HUD. A bar at the bottom of the screen serves as the inventory, storing items which the player has acquired during the game. A bar at the top of the screen displays options for the player to save their game, quit their game, or load a previously saved game.
The game uses a basic point-and-click interface to move the player around and manipulate the game world, which is presented entirely through static pre-rendered images. As the player moves the cursor around the screen it can change into different styles depending on the situation; neutral cursor (no interaction is possible), an arrow (the player can move in the direction indicated), a finger (indicating an item with which the player can directly interact), a wrench (the player must use an inventory item to initiate interaction), a magnifying glass (an area which can be examined in more detail), backwards arrow (the player can move backwards whilst facing the same direction; i.e. they do not have to turn around).
Much of the gameplay is based around solving puzzles. However, unlike most modern adventure games, Lights Out does not keep note of any information or clues acquired by the player (for example, notes found by the player are not entered into the inventory, and journal entries read by the player are not recorded in any way). This forces the player to keep track of every clue and detail themselves. If the player wishes to recheck a journal entry, they must find the journal and re-read it.
Plot
The game begins on April 28, 1912 with the arrival in Trewarthan, Cornwall, of Benjamin Parker, a cartographer who has been commissioned by a local doctor, Robert Demarion, to map the shifting sands beneath the water along the coast. Upon arriving, Parker notices a lighthouse on a nearby island not marked on any map. On his first night in the village, he dreams of a metal container flying through space.
The next morning, in Demarion's house, he learns Demarion discovered a cave beneath the lighthouse, in which he heard "a pulse, like the devil's heartbeat", and saw light patterns appear on the walls. Later that night, Demarion tells Parker the island is called Fetch Rock, and the lighthouse has a reputation for being haunted. He also explains that several hours previously, a ship passed by the lighthouse and found it in darkness. Demarion is afraid something has happened to the three lighthouse keepers (Oliver Drake, Robert Shaw and James Woolfe), and asks Parker to go there to investigate.