Bulb Boy review - is it really a horror?
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Bulb Boy is a game about horrifying monsters. It's just a shame that that includes the game's point-and-click puzzles.

Tim Burton-esque

Let's start with the good stuff - Bulb Boy looks like it was ripped right out of the Tim Burton cartoon scrapheap. Much like in Burton's work it's grim and horrific in places, but it never feels uncomfortably so - even when things seriously heat up later in the game.

It's a shame that everything's just a little too dark, though, as that detracts from the serious work put into the visuals. You simply can't make them out a lot of the time, and that's a shame.

The audio is a right treat, however, thanks to some scene-setting music and the gibberish noises you hear when characters speak. That's a nice workaround from hiring expensive voice actors to record every line.

Puzzle-aaarrghh

The problem with Bulb Boy is in the puzzles, which hearken back to the obtuse and obscure nonsense we though we'd left behind in the mid 90s.

Sure, these bizarre conundrums can lead to some eureka moments where you smack yourself on the head because the solution was right in front of you the whole time, but for the most part you'll be smacking yourself on the head in pure frustration.

And that pervading darkness doesn't just obscure the game's funky Burton-esque visuals. It also hides parts of the screen that you need to see clearly to solve a puzzle.

It's also not made very clear that you can scroll up to see the top part of the screen. There are elements essential for solving puzzles up there, so it's a bit of an oversight on the developer's part.

Should I play it?

Due to some archaic puzzle design, Bulb Boy isn't a point and click adventure for 2016. But if you were hankering for the old days of obscure puzzles and swiping across the screen to find something to click (or, I suppose, tap) on, you might find something to enjoy.

Bulb Boy review - is it really a horror?

If you like your puzzles obscure and archaic, and your visuals inspired by Burton, Bulb Boy might be the point and click adventure for you
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Emily Sowden
Emily Sowden
Emily is Pocket Gamer's News Editor and writes about all kinds of game-related things. She needs coffee to function and begrudgingly loves her Switch more than she lets on.