The Lightkeeper

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Keep the light burning on an island where the last keepers died.

Platforms: PC
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (81% of 1,142 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Darkphobia Games
Released: 2025

What frightens Sent alone to a remote island in 1925, a war veteran haunted by his memories keeps a lighthouse where earlier keepers died in horrific ways; day by day he loses hold of what is real, and something in the dark is waiting for the last keeper.
Content: realistic violence that the maker calls very disturbing, themes of alcohol and drug abuse (maker's content note).

The Lightkeeper is a first-person psychological horror game set in 1925. You are Arthur, a World War I veteran sent alone to keep a lighthouse on a remote island, lighting the beacon and tending the oil while the truth about the previous keepers' deaths comes out and his grip on reality slips.

About The Lightkeeper

The Lightkeeper is a psychological horror game by Darkphobia Games, released on Steam for Windows in September 2025. It is set in the 1920s and, according to the store, its story is inspired by true events.

You play Arthur, a veteran of the First World War who takes a job as a lighthouse keeper to get away from his memories of the war. In 1925, on his first posting, he is sent to a remote island, and because there are not enough men he has to do the job alone. At first everything seems normal.

The work is the heart of the game. You light and put out the beacon at the right times, keep up supplies such as oil, and explore the island around the lighthouse: rocky paths, a keeper's house, cellars and graves on the headland. As the days pass, the horrifying truth about the deaths of the earlier keepers starts to surface, and Arthur's trauma and fragile state of mind make the isolation worse. The fear comes from loneliness, storms and the sense that something in the dark is waiting.

The game uses realistic graphics, sound design built for the oppressive loneliness of the island and cinematic cutscenes. At the end you face three critical choices that decide Arthur's fate, leading to different endings. It suits players who liked the lighthouse routine of No One Lives Under the Lighthouse but want a more realistic, story-led version of it.

How to play The Lightkeeper

Buy and install The Lightkeeper on Steam for Windows.
Settle into the keeper's routine: light the beacon and put it out at the right times.
Keep an eye on resources such as oil so the light never fails.
Explore the island between duties and look into what happened to the keepers before you.
At the end, make the three choices that decide Arthur's fate.

Screenshots

The Lightkeeper screenshot: the lighthouse beam cuts through the rain beside the weathered keeper's house at night

The Lightkeeper screenshot: three wooden grave crosses and a bare tree on a headland, the lighthouse in the distance under storm clouds

The Lightkeeper screenshot: a dim, misty corridor in the keeper's house leading to a closed door

The Lightkeeper screenshot: a dark figure stands in the doorway of a rough stone passage

Tips

Treat the lighthouse duties as your first priority; the game is built around keeping the light.
Check your oil before night falls rather than after.
Explore the island in daylight where you can; it is far harder to read in a storm.
Play with headphones: the sound design carries much of the dread.
Play again and choose differently at the end to see the other endings.