If you’re the type of gamer who still wakes up in a cold sweat thinking about Portal’s Test Chamber 18 or the perspective-shifting wizardry of Superliminal, then Lightersgames has something very special—and potentially very frustrating—for you.

The South Korean indie studio has officially pulled back the curtain on THANKS, LIGHT., a first-person 3D puzzle-platformer that turns the simple act of flicking a flashlight into a reality-warping mechanic. It’s sleek, it’s surreal, and it’s heading to Steam and PlayStation 5 in September 2026.

The Core Hook: Dimension Hopping with a Flashlight
In most games, light is just there to help you see the monsters in the dark. In THANKS, LIGHT, light is the architect. The game centres on a deceptively simple premise:

Illuminate: Shining your light on a 2D silhouette transforms it into a tangible 3D object. A flat drawing of a box on the wall suddenly becomes a heavy cube with mass and collision.

Absorb: Removing light (or “absorbing” it) does the opposite. That massive pillar blocking your path? Hit the switch, and it collapses back into a weightless, two-dimensional shadow.

It’s essentially “Geometry with the gravity off,” forcing you to build your own platforms and pathing by deciding what deserves to exist in 3D and what should remain a shadow.

More Than Just a One-Trick Pony

While the 2D/3D toggle is the star of the show, the developers are layering on additional mechanics across three distinct chapters:

Mirrors: To duplicate objects.

Lenses: To resize shapes (think Superliminal vibes).

Merging: Combining different shapes to create entirely new tools.

A World of “Orderly Oppression”

Visually, the game leans heavily into the Liminal Space aesthetic. You’ll navigate vast, pristine marble halls and brutalist structures designed by an entity known as “The Administrator.”

It starts orderly and clinical, but as you progress, “glitches” begin to appear. The pristine environment starts to fracture, suggesting that this perfect geometric world isn’t as stable as it looks. It’s got that same eerie, “someone is watching me” tension found in The Talos Principle or Control.

Key Details & Release Info

The game has already started making waves in the indie scene, earning a spot in the Tokyo Game Show 2025 “Selected Indie 80” and receiving a nod of approval from former Valve developer Jeep Barnett (who worked on the original Portal).

Techmash Verdict: If you love “Aha!” moments that make you feel like a genius (after making you feel like an idiot for twenty minutes), THANKS, LIGHT. is one to watch.

Ready to test your perception?

You don’t have to wait until September to get your hands on it. A free demo is currently available on Steam, covering the opening chapter and the basic “Illuminate” mechanics.

Find out more here on Steam – https://shorturl.at/kTNPA

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