The most impressive thing about Overlight might just be the way in which it manages to build a traditional fantasy game without resorting to cliched wackiness. It lays out a world pulsating with both figurative and literal colour, and though it makes some odd design choices it still represents a haven for those looking to adventure somewhere original.
Overlight’s creators describe it as a “kaleidoscopic” fantasy game, and one look at the rulebook should be enough to tell you the importance it places on colour and light. The traditional seven shades of light are linked to characters’ stats, to the magic system and to the world itself, which is formed of seven vast, floating continents suspended above an endless ocean.
This feeds into an air of mysticism and quasi-spirituality that runs through the entire game – whether that sounds intriguing or silly to your ears will probably determine how you feel about Overlight as a whole. It isn’t afraid to lean on tropes and clichés but makes a conscious effort to stray from the firebreathing dragons, noble knights and crafty wizards of traditional Euro-centric fantasy. Instead, it looks to mountaindwelling monks seeking enlightenment, masked warriors armed with obsidiantipped spears and magic-wielding, crimson-faced apes – anything you’d expect to find on the sleeve of a ‘70s prog-rock album, really.