Lightmatter on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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A first-person puzzler where shadows kill you. Watch your step or be swallowed by the darkness.

Lightmatter is a logic, indie and adventure game developed by Tunnel Vision Games and published by Aspyr.
Released on January 15th 2020 is available only on Windows in 10 languages: English, Danish, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Portuguese - Brazil.

It has received 2,720 reviews of which 2,488 were positive and 232 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.8 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam, but you can find it for 2.33€ on Instant Gaming.

The Steam community has classified Lightmatter into these genres:

Logic Indie Adventure Puzzle First-Person Sci-fi 3D Atmospheric Science Dark Comedy Dynamic Narration Narration Futuristic Dark Puzzle-Platformer Lore-Rich FPS Difficult Controller Old School

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Lightmatter through various videos and screenshots.

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i3 4170 / AMD A8-7600
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 660 / AMD R9 270
Storage: 6 GB available space

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Feb. 2025

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and especially appreciated all the references to Portal. The game is well done and each level is fun. There are a few issues with it: 1. It cuts off the top and bottom of the screen in widescreen monitors. It's not that big of a deal, except when you are trying to figure out which level you are on (as that is in the top right corner) or when you are trying to select items in the menus. For example, the graphics menu has a FOV option, but I could never see that as it was cut off. I only realized it when I was trying to reselect the last level to play and couldn't scroll down to it as it also was cut off. I had to change my screen resolution to a really crappy 1028x720 just to get the menus to scroll down far enough. Then reset the resolution once I got into the level I wanted. 2. This was not a big deal to me, but the very ending turns from a puzzle game to a parkour/platforming game. I actually enjoyed this part, but if you are not into that, I'm sure it would be frustrating. Overall the game was lovely and I would recommend it. It took me about 10 hours to 100%.

Jan. 2025

The masochist in me really enjoyed being insulted constantly for being dumb & slow while solving various light based puzzles. Also a PSA for future players: There's a chance your jump(space) button might stop working if you use Shift+Tab to access Steam overlay. Just press Shift again while ingame and it should fix the problem. Considering the game being 5 years old while writing this review, I don't have any hopes this being fixed by developers.

Jan. 2025

It tries too hard to mimic Portal and Stanley Parable's humor and fails miserably. The comments from Virgil become absolutely annoying throughout the entire game. Other than that, the puzzles are okay, and the price is low. So, thumbs up only if you find it on discount. 5/10.

Dec. 2024

Puzzle game in the vein of Portal in which you are trying to escape a scientific facility after a disaster. The research done in the facility dealt with harnessing a substance called "lightmatter", which creates light and endless energy. But since the disaster, the shadows have become deadly - step into an area outside of the light and you'll be dissolved. To escape, you need to find a way that is illuminated, or otherwise light it up first. There are portable lamps for this purpose, and over time, more mechanisms are added. All the puzzles are logical and you should be able to figure them out without a guide. It gets harder in the later sections though, and you may have to ponder those puzzles for a while. And sometimes, it's not so much about thinking hard but thinking fast when you run and jump through areas with moving shadows. If you fail and your character dies, luckily, consequences aren't dire: You get to restart seconds before that death and lose practically no progress. Graphics are simplified. Maybe they could have been made to look more "latest 3D effects", but on the other hand, their simple look helps to sharply emphasize the contrast between light and darkness, useful for unambiguous navigation. The game was made by a small Danish team, and for what it is - indie, not a triple A game, not something meant to occupy you for tens of hours - it does its job pretty well. Recommended.

Dec. 2024

Not bad. The puzzles are a little bit on the easy side if you're used to puzzle-platformers, BUT following in the footsteps of Portal, the voice acting is extremely well done. The story is pretty good, too! However, the game is pretty short. On a first playthrough, with me literally going as slow as possible, I still finished it in about 4-5 hours. I have more time only because I went back through to listen to Developer Commentary (yep, it's available, but don't activate it on first playthrough since it spoils some puzzles and disables all other audio while they're talking). With only a couple of exceptions, most of the puzzles can be completed in less than a minute, and there's only a few dozen puzzles here. That said, it means the game doesn't overstay its welcome. $20 is a bit steep for a game that could easily be over in one sitting, but it's a good game. Worth it at full price, but I recommend picking it up on sale.

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Last Updates

Steam data	12 April 2025 10:12
SteamSpy data	11 April 2025 06:56
Steam price	15 April 2025 04:28
Steam reviews	13 April 2025 07:55

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Lightmatter, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Lightmatter
SteamCharts - Analysis of Lightmatter concurrent players on Steam
ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Lightmatter compatibility