PC Gamer

I

’ve got eight days to
save as many souls as
I can before the world
ends. ‘Saving’, here,
means doing a quest
to help a soul fulfil their purpose,
letting them move on to the next
world. Right now, one small soul is
demanding the help of Lightning –
the God of Light’s chosen saviour. A
young boy is insisting that he can
beat me in a foot race.

He’s challenged all the locals and he’s
never been bested, but as a grown
woman, literally called Lightning, I’m
fairly confident beating him would be
laughably easy. It’s a simple,
unremarkable timewaster. Except
time is the one thing I don’t have.
Lightning could finish the race
easily, but the quest doesn’t end until
the boy finishes too. I’ll be stuck,
waiting for him to reach the end.
Leaving a small boy to oblivion would
be awful, but how many more souls
could I save in that time?
Time as a resource is something a
few games have dabbled in but
they’re not quite the same. Lightning
Returns is different because there are
only a small handful of main quests.
The bulk of the game’s content is

optional. You can ignore it, let 13 days

pass and watch the world end having

failed to save enough souls. It’s

unlikely you’ll be able to save

everyone, though, so you’re forced to

make some tough choices.

It’s hardly a deftly written RPG,

but Lightning Returns’ ‘time is

precious’ theme hits home in its

design regardless. It also means the

juxtaposition between the epic events

of the main quests and the small-

scale drama of the sidequests isn’t so

jarring. All hold equal weight because

all demand your time.

I can understand why games avoid

this. For plenty this will be a stressful

situation, where instead they might

be looking for a relaxing escape. But

there’s also a lot of Lightning Returns

that does function as pure escapism.

Dressing Lightning up is perfect chill

out time. There are so many outfits,

and you can choose the colours and

accessories and... okay, I’ll stop now.

Yet even that indulgence, hunting

down stylish new accessories and

clothes, becomes part of the ticking

clock. Clearing up a load of quests

then being stuck at night, with

nothing to do ’till morning, means you

feel like you’ve earned some time to

spend on yourself.

WORTH IT

Maybe that all sounds like a chore.

Yet Lightning isn’t filing paperwork.

She’s saving humanity and squaring

up for a fight with God himself. All it

means is that the traditional RPG

filler winds up being as impactful as

the main quests. After the dust has

settled and God lays defeated, with

humanity saved and a new world

waiting, I was glad I’d spent the time

on that trivial race. I did my best and

through the smallest of actions, the

game got me to feel like a real,

wholesome heroine. That’s just as

precious as time itself.

SAM GREER

THIS MONTH

Put off saving the world to

find sunglasses.

ALSO PLAYED

Minit, Overwatch

Figuring out how to spend the time inLIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII

“She’s saving humanity and squaring

up for a fight with God himself ”

LIGHTNING RETURNS’ ‘TIME

IS PRECIOUS’ THEME HITS

HOME IN ITS DESIGN

This angelic tree shows how

many souls you’ve saved.

Cat souls come

first,naturally.

EXTRA LIFE

NOW PLAYING (^) I MOD SPOTLIGHT I HOW TO I DIARY I REINSTALL I WHY I LOVE I M U S T P L A Y