Static Dread: The Lighthouse review — Beckoning from the brine

On the misty island of Outsmouth, a lone lighthouse guides ships through the glow of a strange aurora creeping over the land. It's here where you'll be spending the next fifteen days, guiding weary ships through the creeping darkness of the sea. However, an ancient entity is slowly gaining  strength beneath the waves, as cultists and strange happenings begin to swell and the aurora descends upon the land. Will you succumb to the call of the sea, or prevail in the light?

Static Dread's main gameplay loop is all about guiding ships to the correct port, alongside verifying documentation and keeping the lighthouse operational during storms. Most of your time will be spent at the radio desk, where you can search for ship signals and receive requests. While the main goal will always be to direct a ship along the safest path to port, each night also features additional rules that you will have to follow. Sometimes these will be vessel-specific, such as all cargo ships needing redirection to a specific port, or there can be changes to the guidance instructions, like avoiding restricted areas of water. There are quite a few of these modifiers to experience over the 15 day trip, and they definitely help make each night just a little different than the last.

You aren't stuck at the desk all night though, as the locals will periodically stop by the lighthouse for a visit. While some of these encounters are simply an idle chat, others can develop into something akin to a side quest depending on your responses. Plenty of people also have reasons to want to enter the lighthouse, and it's up to you whether you invite them inside or not. Not everyone has good intentions though, and you'll need to be careful about who you shun and who you are more amicable with. These choices, alongside your decisions on the radio, can influence who lives and dies, and can also sway the overarching narrative as well depending on how evil or amicable you are feeling. I always enjoyed getting up to see who was knocking on my door in the middle of the night, as it served as an interesting narrative tool to help with the creepy vibes of operating the lighthouse alone. 

Keeping the lighthouse operational is also part of your job, as well as maintaining your sanity and tiredness. Occasionally you'll need to switch the radio tower back on, or get the generator running again, and these are usually just flipping a lever or hitting a switch. As for yourself, you'll need to keep a stock of coffee, food and other snacks to ensure you don't fall asleep; a lighthouse keeper's greatest sin. While I didn't really find these systems that interesting, I suppose they do keep you on your toes during the evenings and give you something to do outside of manning the radio. I just wish they were a bit more engaging instead of just crunching down a fish or sipping coffee every couple of minutes.

While Static Dread certainly falls into the horror category, there was hardly ever much to make it feel scary. This is especially noticeable for at least the first half of the game, which takes its time to ramp up to any meaningful scares. In my discussion of the preview build, I mentioned that the dark presence in the airwaves felt more akin to a scooby-doo villain, and that notion certainly still holds true. Receiving a fax from an otherworldly entity that says I AM YOUR DOOM is just never going to be scary. Without going into spoiler territory too much, things thankfully do ramp up beyond this singular threat later in the game, which is a saving grace for the narrative.

Static Dread is a reasonably enjoyable game that allows you to make the choice between curtailing a dark ritual or reveling in it. While the characters are the stars of the show, it felt like the horror knobs were never quite cranked high enough for me to become fully invested. Sure there are some creepy moments and happenings to explore, but it can lose its charm as you approach the ending. Ultimately, if you're interested in a game like Paper's, Please but in a Lovecraftian setting, this could potentially satiate that craving.