Will: Follow the Light

As a short film there may have been something memorable about this story. As a game, it feels like a fluffed up experience with something to say, but takes far too long to say it.

WILL: Follow The Light shows potential through its opening but doesn't deliver on its premise. What should have been a high-stakes story becomes a dull journey, and the story beats don't hit as they should. The sailing is, at least, excellently done, but more focus should have been on that.

WILL: Follow The Light is a beautifully crafted narrative adventure that combines stunning landscapes, a melancholic atmosphere and an emotional story about loss, memories and eventual healing. While the gameplay and puzzles are fairly simple, the game's wonderful soundtrack and excellent story will leave a lasting impression long after the journey ends.

Will Follow The Light is a strong debut from TomorrowHead Studio. It delivers a deeply emotional story, engaging gameplay mechanics, and stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5. While it does have flaws in voice acting, performance polish, and some visual inconsistencies, it remains a standout indie experience that is well worth playing.

WILL: Follow The Light is a sincere, auteur-driven and – at times – evocative adventure that finds its best balance when it lets the sea and the wind do the talking. Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to achieve the desired result: the gameplay is mostly a walking simulator (characterised by decidedly repetitive and unconvincing puzzles), the narrative – despite a twist at the end and a touching message about the time we have and the choices we make – proved too fragmented and underdeveloped, whilst the audio is convincing in terms of the soundtrack and effects but not in the dialogue (at times disastrous). In short – ultimately – it has some interesting ideas that still manage to give the game an identity, thanks above all to its truly stunning setting and the way it uses the journey as an emotional mirror, which will be most appreciated by fans of narrative walking simulators.

Story-driven, first-person adventure puzzler that falls flat

WILL: Follow The Light isn’t the most memorable game I’ve played, and I found parts of the game pretty tedious. But there are plenty of great factors to be found here, both in atmosphere and presentation, in the eight hours or so you’ll have with the game. For those on Xbox, you’ll be pleased to hear that the Xbox Play Anywhere functionality is available for this one. So if you’d like to play it on the fly, you can do so on console, handheld and PC. It’s a great first outing from Tomorrowhead Studios, and if you’d like to pick up a copy for Xbox Series X/S, you can do so HERE

The light we followed as Will ultimately turned out to be a will-o'-the-wisp. Will: Follow the Light has some good ideas, and the gameplay variety in particular is not lacking. I could happily have spent an entire game sailing in the way it is implemented here. But aside from its strong opening and a few recurring motifs that run throughout the game, the narrative leaves much to be desired on almost every level. Above all, the emotional core simply fails to land because the storytelling and presentation lack the necessary craftsmanship. Everything is in part there, but much like the town at the beginning, the remains of a solid story can only be glimpsed beneath a landslide.

WILL: Follow The Light is an ambitious game that had all the makings of an indie gem. However, its excellent yacht-sailing simulation and breathtaking wilderness visuals are dragged down by an underdeveloped story, frustratingly repetitive puzzles, poor voice acting, technical issues, and unattractive character models.

Ultimately, Will: Follow the Light has good ideas and great puzzles, but suffers from pacing issues, unrewarding exploration, and a structure that makes much of the experience more tedious than engaging.