Puzzle fans, get your thinking caps ready. Game Source Entertainment (GSE) has officially announced that THANKS, LIGHT., a brilliant 3D portal-like puzzle-platformer, is locked in for a global release on PlayStation®5 and Steam in September 2026.

Developed by the talented South Korean indie studio Lightersgames, this title is already turning heads in the indie community, having earned accolades at Korea’s INDIECRAFT event and a coveted spot in the Selected Indie 80 showcase at the Tokyo Game Show.

If you’ve spent the last few years searching for a game to fill the Portal, Superliminal, or The Talos Principle shape in your heart, this might just be your next obsession.

The Mechanic: Shift Between 2D and 3D

At its core, THANKS, LIGHT. plays with a deceptively simple yet mind-melting mechanic: the manipulation of light, shadow, and substance. Wielding a flashlight, you explore a surreal, menacing, and beautifully minimalist complex where your perception dictates reality.

• Shine the Light to Create 3D Mass: Pointing your light at a 2D silhouette transforms it into a tangible, physical 3D object. A flat line on the wall suddenly unfolds into a staircase or a towering pillar with mass, weight, and collision.
• Absorb the Light to Flatten Reality: By absorbing the light, you switch physics off. A rolling boulder instantly loses its volume and freezes as a flat 2D shadow. A wall that blocked your path suddenly becomes a flat surface you can bypass entirely.

As you dive deeper into its 3-chapter, 60+ stage campaign, the rules escalate. You’ll soon find yourself juggling mirrors that duplicate objects, lenses that resize structures, and merging mechanics that fuse entirely different forms together.

“Like Portal and The Talos Principle, this game features solid puzzle mechanics that enable interaction with distant objects.” > — Jeep Barnett, Former Valve Portal Developer

A World That Watches You Solve It

The game takes place in an eerie, liminal space built by an enigmatic entity known as the “Administrator.” The aesthetic flows beautifully from pristine marble museums to corporate offices that repeat just a little too often, eventually fracturing into a glitch-laced, black-and-white space where reality leaks through the walls.

Worse yet? You aren’t entirely alone. There are things hiding in the shadows, and the architecture itself feels alive, watching your every move.

Play the Demo Right Now

Can’t wait until September 2026? You don’t have to. Lightersgames recently rolled out a major content expansion for their free playable Steam demo. The updated demo includes a first look at Chapter 3, freshly optimised gameplay, and an immersive new soundtrack to get you entirely lost in the atmosphere.

Head over to Steam, add it to your wishlist, and start training your brain for the full release this autumn.

Game Details

• Title: THANKS, LIGHT.
• Developer: Lightersgames
• Publisher: Game Source Entertainment (GSE)
• Platforms: PlayStation®5, PC (Steam)
• Release Date: September 2026
• Genre: 3D Puzzle-Platformer / First-Person Adventure

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