Hollow Lantern and the art of not running out of light

Hollow Lantern gives you a lantern with a finite supply of oil, and that single constraint turns simple exploration into something tense and thoughtful. Every time I stepped into a dark room I found myself asking whether it was worth the oil. That's the whole game, really.

My advice is to map rooms in your head before diving deep. Do a quick loop to spot where oil refills sit, then commit to the longer detours knowing you have a safety net. Wandering blind is how you get stranded in the dark far from a refill.

Puzzles are built into the environment rather than signposted, so slow down and actually look. I missed a whole side area early because I rushed past a shadow that turned out to be a passage. The game rewards curiosity but never nags you toward it.

Play it with headphones in a quiet room. The soundtrack does a lot of the storytelling, and rushing this one would miss the point entirely. It's short, but it's the kind of short you'll think about afterwards.