Lighthouse: The Dark Being intro

After Cyan's Myst was released in 1994, several game companies started creating similar 1st-person adventures, and Sierra On-Line was one of them.
This is part of the introduction to their 1996 game, Lighthouse. When the game starts, your character is living in a small house on the Oregon coast, next to a lighthouse occupied by a slightly eccentric scientist and his infant daughter. Most of the "intro" is interactive, and it slowly, eerily leads up to the game's opening titles.
The game's music has a beautiful, "organic" sound to it, and I always thought that the intro movie was cool. Too bad that it's a pain to run on Windows XP.
More info on the game here: en.wikipedia.or...

[@lexmark136]

96, sheesh... old enough. I remember playing it as a kid but I got frustrated and gave up on the first map. I went back to it a year later and glad I did. Such a good game.

[@kefanii]

God I loved this game, I'm so glad to see videos of it on KZbin. Somehow my brother and I managed to beat it without a FAQ when we were 10 and 14. I'm convinced this means we're geniuses or the ultimate team.

[@sengork]

Unforgettable experience, traumatised me for life. Must replay.

[@mojo1994]

i remember when i also was like 5-7 years old, my father was playing this on the comp it was pretty cool, when he was gone :D i tried the game. I heard the baby crying and stuff then got hit ,, jeez ! i didn't sleep for like a week lol

[@StephanS]

What a scary game... the mechanical bird was the most terrifying thing i ever saw in a computer game... back then

[@nicoubitch8531]

Oh my ..... when i was 8years old this game scared the shit out of me, specially this music ohhh..... i will never forget this it was way to creppy

[@Scipio219]

I still have the CD's for this game. :)

[@Unlucky_Freak]

I hate how I thought this was the scariest shit I ever seen when I was 5. Wtf man, now this is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen!

[@mrsnosemonkey]

I played this game several years ago and needed a guide to finish the last parts. I had no idea there were multiple endings though. I might have to try to find this game on ebay or something.

[@MrJenssen]

@babyshroom16 Same here, I couldn't have been much older then myself, I'm almost 23 now and it still sends chills down my spine. :P

[@fedexior]

Great game, and also great music!!

[@Phobosinadamant]

I'm 22 now, this and Lost Eden were my childhood, I still play them both sometimes.

[@Akril]

All the good endings are mostly long pieces of dialogue. The Dark Being's motivation is never really explained though. Apparently he's just plain evil.

[@Pawnylol]

This game gave me fucking nightmares. It's awesome!

[@nrdesign1991]

thanks

[@ksalbrecht88]

So I assume you are now 22 years old.... I am 24 & I played this game when I was 8 years old as well. I know EXACTLY how you feel man. I remember being petrified when I saw the dark being snatch the baby & jump through that portal.

[@DragDenDFO]

Thank you for this video! One of my most favourite games.. I played it in about 7 or 8 years, and the most scary thing back then was when I heared Amanda crying after some time in house. I "finished" this game for about 6 times, but never constructed a pistol - either missed one piece, or just didn't match pieces. And I didn't know that there is blueprints of it somewhere. I MUST replay this game!

[@ArcangelZero7]

@babyshroom16 High-octane nightmare fuel. That stupid thing haunted my dreams for a long, long time. (seeing that movie Signs just made it worse...lol!) The creator just managed to find the perfect amount of "creepy" to make something truly terrifying, intended or not. (I think he was supposed to be kindof comical? Toward the end at least.) I think this game is a large reason why I even had nightmares at all. :| I used to have ones about him invading other games.like seeing him in the Sims. :P

[@bankopf]

This is an awesome game. I played it when I was like 12, was scary as hell and had an intriguing touch on it. The score is very well composed and fits the game perfectly, I disliked the last half of the game, mainly the Dark Being's lair, but exploring the lighthouse in the beginning of the game makes up for it ten times over. I only wish they made games like they used to. If you can spot this babe, BUY IT, and enjoy it.

[@mattiasdavis]

The comments make me want to hug everyone! like I've finally found some people who KNOW what it feels like to play a game like this (including other old classics) and carry the experience deep in your soul. I need to play every old game I can find in the desperate hope of finding something as good as this that I missed!!!!

[@kstahmer]

Lighthouse: The Dark Being is underappreciated and undervalued. Critics have attacked its, "vague and obscure puzzles," but for players who want challenging puzzles, Lighthouse is outstanding! Its early, unpatched version was a virtual click fest and that's why Lighthouse received so much negative press; too bad, because Lighthouse is far better than its reviews.

[@BlizzNostalgic]

Thankfully I still have a Windows 98 computer and was able to play this game again. I gotta say, I've never seen harder puzzles in a game. I had to find walkthroughs just to finish it. Still, the the game is awesome. The story is well written and the game is atmospheric to the point where you have to change pants after playing. I wish companies still made games like this.

[@Akril]

A video of the safe solution probably wouldn't be of much help, since the solution varies from game to game (I think). You have to turn the dial right (clockwise) a couple of times, stop it at the first number, then turn it left (counter-clockwise) to the second number, then right to the last number. A lot of the text walkthroughs for the game discuss this in more detail (Note: You don't have to hold the mouse button down as you're turning the dial - something I didn't realise until much later).

[@PopcornCoolie]

I'm refering to DOS box. Some people don't know how to use a command prompt because they grew up in a world in which Windows enters all of the commands for them when they click on Icons. I figure someone may find it useful. The DOS launch isn't Light, it's sier. Many people never figure that out.

[@didanick]

Just a side note: to get ligtWin to work on xp: Replace the SIERW5 executable in the lightwin directory with the SIERW executable on the cd. (I dont know if this replacement file exists on the origional cd, since I have the re-release edition of the game for sierra classics. Still worth a try though ;))

[@crazyfool333]

@babyshroom16 same. im 20 now but when i played it about 11/12 years ago with my dad i was so scared by the game that i couldnt get past more than the 1st 30 minutes as i was to scared to continue investigating the game. it was absolutely terrifying! *sob*

[@RetroWaveDave84]

This is a fun game-if you are into the kind of game that requires thought instead of action. There is no actual fighting in the game, its more about just solving riddles through clues to help you throughout the game. I enjoyed it.

[@Feidippes]

Omg! I was so scared when I was something about 5yrs old and my big bro' played this game :S I almost cried everytime he played it. But now I would like to play it but it wont work on our new computer only on the very old1 and we dotn have it anymore :(((

[@Doomsdayman]

i know you must get that crane from in the ship not the place where the skull is then goo too the skull acent and move left you will see a save move a pice of wood there and then left again then place the crane on the hole then open the safe

[@Akril]

@babyshroom16 Wow...I guess it's a good thing I didn't play this game when I was a kid! :)

[@ikeano29]

@grayfox665 when you are installing the file for the game, right click on the file and select properties then select compatibility mode and then select windows 95 or 98 and check all the colours etc. 256 or something like that. run as administrator and install it.

[@Akril]

@DragDenDFO This game is so open that there are dozens of ways to progress through it as well as several ways to complete it. I don't remember where the diagram of the weapon is, but the various pieces of the weapon can be hard to find.

[@Akril]

@NumOneJoeJonasLuver I looked at a few walkthroughs for the game and couldn't find the word "diamond" in any of them, but I'm assuming that you're talking about the small gem-shaped piece. That piece is inside the puzzle box in the lighthouse.

[@Akril]

I used DOSbox's video capture utility to record the in-game "footage", but I used VDMplayer and SnagIt to capture the full-screen movie that plays afterwards, since it was too resource-demanding to be captured with DOSbox (the video and sound would skip).

[@PopcornCoolie]

The launcher is sier. And you must mount the optical disk drive or the game won't work. Mount D D:\ -t cdrom (ENTER) Mount C C:\Game directory (ENTER) C: (ENTER) sier (ENTER)

[@HygreN]

the game just cant install on my XP computer? can someone pls help me i tryed with dosbox but cant get it to work ? can someone help me ty allot! good upload!

[@nicolasvmnicolasvm]

@babyshroom16 Me too! exactly the same thing happened to me, when i was like 8y old i played this game, and now i still think about it

[@BashyMcBashBash]

I didn't like this game... Just wasn't fun >__> However, I still enjoy the classics like Indiana Jones and Maniac Mansion...

[@manuelkazanjian]

im 17 now and i played it when i was 7...it creeped me the fuck out when i would here amanda cry...cause i know he took her

[@Akril]

Thanks, but I'm afraid I don't make videos by request. It took me a while just to rip and edit this video of the intro.

[@Taranel007]

Creeped me out too when I was little but mostly played in the after noon and with my older sister around.

[@Akril]

Yeah...at least there are some ambitious teams of people on the Internet trying to create games like these.

[@Doomsdayman]

i am stuck with that thing that you will need too pickup with the crane in the dark beaing fortress

[@nrdesign1991]

yay! i just know the german intro.. but: IS it possible to run the game under WinXP without DOSBox?

[@nrdesign1991]

What exactly did you do at this damn wreck? i just could move a piece of wood, nothing else :(

[@Akril]

Why don't you try searching for a Lighthouse: The Dark Being walkthrough on Google instead?

[@Akril]

Try Googling "Sierra Lighthouse Windows XP." That should take you to a page with instructions on how to install it.

[@Feidippes]

dude plz make new videos of this plz plz plz! I want to see more videos of this so much!

[@Akril]

I don't think so. I've tried to run it with VDMSound in WinXP, but with limited success.

[@Werelion2367]

I think its funny like 3 people on this page could not finish the game because a glitch

[@grayfox665]

what do you have to do to run it in compatility mode i've never done it before

[@CROWcolin2]

I pissed my pants literally when i was 7 and played this with my bro XD

[@cherry36961]

i miss that game i play was 7 years in windows 98! :p best game ever!

[@Doomsdayman]

i am gonne make a playtrouh when i am done with it i am olmost

[@Akril]

You're welcome! Which ending, though? There are several. ;)

[@KenGLaP]

That's great! Lighthouse is one of my very favorite games.

[@ikeano29]

@grayfox665 did you try running it in compatility mode?

[@nrdesign1991]

Which software did you use for recording this video?

[@andreasakritas]

I hated the fact that the game will let you progress without having everything you need to....progress. So you would need to load an earlier game IF YOU EVER REALIZED that you cannot progress because you forgot something. If not, you are lost forever wondering what went wrong :D

[@Akril]

Well, that's early Sierra adventure games for you -- although I'm not sure if it's possible to get stuck like that in Lighthouse. There are multiple ways of getting from one point to another, and I never ran into a "walking dead" situation when I played the game.

[@Doomsdayman]

no i have a game that soo hard too beat god

[@okankocak]

Than you so much my pal... Really...

[@MrSyNRG]

Those 3D graphics though

[@Phil0609]

@babyshroom16 OMG!!! ME too it was so bad my mother took me to a Psychiatrist

[@Doomsdayman]

FAVORTIE AVANTURE GAME

[@Doomsdayman]

FAVORTIE AVANTURE GAME

[@ThinkingAtheos]

Remake pls

[@grayfox665]

Plz i need help does anyone know how to get this to run on windows xp? i've been trying for 4 weeks now

[@didanick]

Thanks, mate.

[@mattiasdavis]

awesome! XD

[@gogsi02]

Great game!!

[@BlackIce131]

Spooky.