Hollow Lanterns

Hollow Lanterns is quiet and a little haunting. You play a lamplighter returning to a town everyone left, relighting lamps and piecing together what happened through notes, objects, and the odd dream sequence.

It's a tap-to-move, tap-to-examine adventure, and the pacing is deliberate. Puzzles are logical — you'll rarely get stuck for the wrong reasons — and they're woven into the story instead of sitting there as abstract locks.

The hand-painted backgrounds and sparse sound design do a lot of heavy lifting. I finished it in two sittings and then sat there for a minute afterward, which is about the highest compliment I can give a mobile game.

What we liked

• Atmospheric hand-painted world
• Puzzles tied into the story
• A memorable, melancholy ending