Spotlightor Interactive released the official launch trailer for their upcoming 3D platformer, Candle Man. The game is due to drop on the Xbox One starting February 1st.

Candleman is an indie title that kind of came out of nowhere. I haven’t heard much about it or seen it much in the news, but Spotlightor’s 3D platformer looks fantastic. The game sees a sentient candle moving through complex environments that mostly dark. Players will use the wick at the top of the candle to exude light via a small flame. You can see what the gameplay is like with the trailer below.

The sound design in the trailer is phenomenal. The soft piano, the ambiance, the whole look of the game has this dream-like atmosphere about it… creepy and surreal.

What really makes the game stand out is using the light on the Candle Man to brighten up and illuminate the way for him to travel.

This results in some interesting outcomes, mainly in how the environment reacts to the small flame providing gamers with visual clarity of their surroundings. This involves platforms unfolding, flowers blossoming, machinery activating.

The mix of 3D and 2.5D traversal also adds to the game’s appeal. But most importantly, the cinematic quality of the presentation is just astounding. You get a really good sense of it from a trailer they released back in October that you can check out below.

More of that top notch sound design really bringing out the ambiance of Candle Man. The switching scenes with the flame lighting up and going out was inventive. The whispers in the background also really help add weight to the game.

Spotlightor’s use of the shaders here is the kind of thing I wish we saw more from games this generation. It’s such a shame that only indies are really experimenting with using graphics technology to not only tell a story but also to explore new gameplay opportunities.

It’s a brilliant looking game that I hope is half as good as the trailers make it look.