History Main / WhoForgotTheLights

Contrast HollywoodDarkness (using a blue tint to emulate darkness) and BackThatLightUp (different coloring based on what device you're playing the game on). Also not to be confused with "Who turned out the lights?", a common [[OtherStockPhrases stock phrase]] / gag in which a character calls this out after having their head covered by a bucket or something. For the sister trope dealing with a shortage of color saturation, see RealIsBrown. In futuristic ScienceFiction games, often overlaps with TheFutureIsNoir.

Contrast HollywoodDarkness, which is when the darkness is dark in name only. Also not to be confused with "Who turned out the lights?", a common [[OtherStockPhrases stock phrase]] / gag in which a character calls this out after having their head covered by a bucket or something. For the sister trope dealing with a shortage of color saturation, see RealIsBrown. In futuristic ScienceFiction games, often overlaps with TheFutureIsNoir.

!!Videogame examples:

** ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': The UsefulNotes/PlayStation version deliberately has much darker lighting than the PC original, and when coupled with the eerie ambient soundtrack by Aubrey Hodges, it invokes a SurvivalHorror atmosphere.

* The original design of the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance had a very dark screen. The problem was made worse, at the initial release of the system, because early development units had a brighter screen than retail units, so the colors were calibrated to be darker than intended. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'' and the port of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' are commonly-held examples of games that are noticeably more playable on a backlit GBA SP or DS. ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' had the option to turn off sector lighting (no darkness and shadows, everything is fullbright), which was like having a permanent [[NuclearCandle Light Amplification Goggles]] powerup -- which was removed from the GBA edition for being redundant.
* This was once a common problem for Mac ports of PC games due to different gamma values. (As of OS X 10.6, the Mac has adopted standard Windows gamma as its default.) The [[UsefulNotes/GameEngine Unreal Engine]] in particular was subject to this, due to a gamma-correction feature that only worked properly on [=PCs=]. This platform difference could even spawn a GuideDangIt: when the Mac game ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' was ported to Windows, many PC monitors were so much darker, that vital scenery objects were swallowed by darkness.

* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'' does it, though it's worse on some monitors than others. Thankfully, this game came with a gamma adjustment control, which when increased improved visibility but made the moody lighting almost impossible to see. No such luck for players on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, however. Even though you do have flares, they do not last very long. It got so bad that on Tomb Raider Forums, someone posted screenshots of a [[UrbanLegendOfZelda hoax]] nighttime version of the Croft Manor level; in reality, this was just the regular Croft Manor with the gamma turned to the bottom.

** As [[DarknessEqualsDeath monsters spawn at lower light levels]], the creator (Notch) wanted to encourage players not to simply blindly wander through the night or through dark tunnels and to place torches as often as possible. A side effect of this is a generally scary atmosphere, especially outside Peaceful mode. There are (glitch) instances where the lighting for various covered blocks fails to take full effect and make the space within at a light level of 0. This can be fixed by placing or removing a block next to the affected area, causing a chunk update.

* The first ''[[Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick Riddick]]'' game, ''VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay,'' throws you into some very dark situations before Riddick receives his SuperSenses. The worst of these occurs in Pope Joe's den, where you're asked to [[FetchQuest retrieve a radio]] in a [[JustForPun pitch black]] [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer sewer]] while armed with a [[TenSecondFlashlight dying flashlight]]. Also, the sewer is populated with howling mutants.

* ''VideoGame/FindingNemo'' suffers from this ''depending from the console you play on'', due to how each system handle the game's lighting engine, with the general conclusion being that the Gamecube version has no idea how to properly render the environment. Regardless of which version you play, the stages "Mask Search", "Minefield", and "Whale Chase" are unnecessarily dark to the point where ''you can only see your character model''.

** The GameMod "Darkness Falls" for the second game is this trope taken to its logical extreme [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools for those that don't think the game is scary enough]]. All ambient lights are heavily muted, to the point where places with lamps seem to be in the middle of a brownout and those without are ''pitch freaking black'', but the survivors' torches illuminate as normal, and in fact reach a lot farther than in vanilla. Suddenly, a gunlight on your SniperRifle is not so pointless anymore.[[labelnote:why would it be?]]Normally the light beam doesn't reach far enough to illuminate distant targets, so all it does is brighten up areas closer than the zombie you're aiming at, which distracts the shooter and throws aiming off.[[/labelnote]]

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' does as well; the idea isn't to ensure that it's bright enough, but that it's only just barely bright enough. They also recommend playing at night with the lights off, both to ensure visibility and maximum scariness. Oddly enough, the game also has your character's vision realistically adjust to the darkness. The same applies to the spiritual prequel, the ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' trilogy.