Lantern Hollow

Lantern Hollow is a quiet, gorgeous point-and-click adventure that we did not want to end. You play a lamplighter wandering a fog-bound town, lighting lamps and piecing together why the streets emptied. It is entirely offline and surprisingly generous with hints if you get stuck.

The puzzles lean on observation rather than obscure item combinations, which we found refreshing. Most solutions come from noticing something in the art, and the game trusts you to connect the dots. The soundtrack is soft and the pacing gentle, making it a perfect bedtime game.

It is short, maybe four to five hours, and there is not much replay value once the story is told. But those hours are among the most atmospheric we have spent on a phone, and it never once asked us to be online.

What we liked

• Beautiful hand-painted art
• Fair, observation-based puzzles
• Gentle, memorable atmosphere