Most people have had a rubbish job at some point. The Green Light takes that universal experience and asks an important question: what if your awful boss, a haunted office, a creepy radio voice and every horror cliché from the last twenty years all turned up for the same night shift?
The result is a psychological horror game that lasts less than an hour, yet somehow manages to feel both rushed and strangely drawn out at the same time. You play as Fred, an office worker trapped late at work during a blackout, who soon finds himself chasing a mysterious green light from a distant lighthouse. It sounds intriguing on paper. Sadly, what follows feels less like a carefully crafted horror story and more like someone flicking through a horror film checklist with remarkable efficiency.
Gaming Heaven
To give credit where it’s due, The Green Light does create a decent atmosphere at times. The dark office, deserted streets and isolated coastal locations can be genuinely unsettling, especially when you’re wandering about wondering what fresh misery awaits poor Fred around the next corner.
There are a handful of effective scares too. Most are easy to spot from a mile off, but one or two managed to catch me out. The game also deserves some praise for maintaining a brisk pace. It never wastes time, largely because it hasn’t got any time to waste.
Gaming Hell
Unfortunately, almost everything else feels half-baked. The story throws ideas at the wall without giving them enough room to breathe, resulting in a narrative that becomes increasingly muddled as it progresses.
The horror relies heavily on predictable jump scares and familiar genre tricks. It often feels less like psychological horror and more like a haunted house attraction at the local fair.
Technical issues don’t help matters either. The audio mix is all over the shop, with certain moments blasting through the speakers like someone’s dropped a bin lorry through your living room ceiling.
And then there’s the length. You’ll likely see the credits in under an hour, leaving you with more questions than answers, and not in a clever way.
Final Judgement
The Green Light has flashes of atmosphere and a few decent scares, but they’re buried beneath a rushed story, uneven presentation and a collection of horror clichés that have been around longer than some PS5 owners. It’s not the worst horror game you’ll play, but it certainly won’t be keeping many players awake at night.
