Updated October 2026 with current Indian retail prices.
Like games where you solve the puzzle instead of reacting fastest? Whirlight: No Time To Trip is a funny time-travel adventure from a small Italian studio, and on paper it runs on almost any laptop with 8 GB of RAM. Here’s what it is, who made it, and whether it’s worth ₹880.
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A gorgeous, genuinely funny throwback that takes its time.
Whirlight is a comic point-and-click adventure from imaginarylab, a small indie studio in Italy. Their first game was Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town (2020). Whirlight launched on Steam on 14 May 2026 and reached GOG on 27 August 2026, so it’s been out long enough for the reviews to settle.
WatchAt a glance
A time-travel story with an Italian accent
Hector is an eccentric inventor who’s run out of ideas. Then a dream hands him his best one yet: a “light squeezer” that pulls liquid light out of sunlight. He hunts for the parts around his hometown of Verice Bay, a seaside town modelled on Venice, Burano and Verona.
It doesn’t go to plan. Hector has to use the liquid light on himself, and it throws him into the Verice Bay of 1990. That’s where he meets Margaret, a determined artist. Together they work out that the device can travel through time and space, and soon they’re in a near future facing a global disaster. There are 100 locations to get through.
The whole first chapter belongs to Hector. It opens in his grey, gloomy workshop, swings into a strange dream world of floating rocks and giant glowing mushrooms, then drops you into a sunny Verice Bay full of shops and people to poke at. That chapter alone runs about two hours, even when you know the answers, so it’s no surprise some Steam players call the start slow. Margaret arrives as Chapter 2 opens in the Verice Bay of 1990, and from there you swap between the two of them.
Where Hector and Margaret came from
We asked the studio. Ciro Camèra, imaginarylab’s co-founder, told Gaming Nation that both heroes began as nods to two great Italian scientists, and once you know who they are, the names give it away.
Ettore is Italian for Hector. Ettore Majorana was a brilliant theoretical physicist who vanished without a trace in 1938, still one of science’s great unsolved mysteries, which is a fitting namesake for an inventor who ends up lost in time.
Margherita is Italian for Margaret. Margherita Hack was the first woman to run an astronomical observatory in Italy, and was loved for her outspoken, down-to-earth way of explaining the stars.
Italy runs all through Whirlight. Even the hometown, Verice Bay, borrows from Venice, Burano and Verona, so the team wanted its heroes rooted in Italian culture too, before reworking both of them heavily to fit the story. Ciro describes them like this:
- Hector: “an eccentric and somewhat chaotic inventor”
- Margaret: “more determined, sharp and practical”
That clash is what drives the pair through the whole game.
The real places behind Verice Bay. Aerial photos via Wikimedia Commons: Venice by Mariordo (CC BY-SA 4.0), Burano by Abxbay (CC BY-SA 4.0), Verona by Arne Müseler (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). Cropped, shared under the same licences.
Portraits: Ettore Majorana, public domain (Mondadori collection, via Wikimedia Commons). Margherita Hack by Gianmaria Zanotti, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Meet the team behind Whirlight
imaginarylab is a small studio in Italy, founded by Ciro Camèra and Massimo Origano. Ciro leads the 3D art and Massimo the code.
Ciro Camèra
Co-founder and 3D artist
Grew up on graphic adventures and got into 3D dreaming of a Day of the Tentacle sequel. Fifteen years later, he set out to make his own game.
Massimo Origano
Co-founder and software engineer
Keeps the whole game running, and finds the simple fix when the team gets stuck.
Team, roles and portraits: imaginarylab.
Puzzles built on one golden rule
You play as both heroes, and each one brings different abilities. Here’s how it plays:
- You switch between Hector and Margaret to solve puzzles.
- It’s mostly mouse-driven, with keyboard shortcuts and full gamepad support.
- Short mini-games break up the usual pointing and clicking.
“We tried to design the puzzles while keeping what we consider the ‘golden rule’ in mind: they should never be illogical.”
Even when an answer looks strange at first, Ciro says it should end in an “Ah, okay, of course!” moment. Every puzzle went through heavy testing, including on players who’d had no part in making the game.
Most puzzles are classic inventory work: pick things up, combine them, and hand the right item to the right person. Between those come close-ups and set pieces, like a code hidden on a fast food placemat printed as a periodic table, a riddle quiz from a comic book monster, and a Chapter 2 puzzle that needs morning, evening and night. How often you get stuck depends on you, but about one in six English Steam reviews say some puzzles feel illogical, which is why the Soft Hint system added in August matters.
Humour in the Monkey Island mould
imaginarylab doesn’t hide its heroes. Whirlight leans on Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max, and you’ll spot the influence early.
The jokes are everywhere once you start looking. A bar in Verice Bay is called the House of Grape Distillery, and its sign promises “Wine, Whiskey, Scotch, Grappa, No Water”. Look at things and you get lines like “A plastic swordfish. It looks both fun and extremely dangerous.” Our favourite comes near the end of Chapter 1, from a figure in a red devil suit hiding out in the town church: “I should be safe here. Who would look for a devil in a church?” For the voice acting, see what players say further down.
From the ice age to a floating island
Images: imaginarylab. The team builds every scene in 3D, then pre-renders it as a flat 2D picture.
On screen, this is Whirlight’s biggest strength. The docks at sunset, a toy shop stuffed with balloons and tin robots, a candy land of giant lollipops, a jungle village of carved totems, a laser-guarded museum and even a stop in space all look like paintings. Verice Bay also changes with the time of day, so the same streets look different at noon, at dusk and at night.
Will it run on your laptop?
MinimumWhat Steam says you need
- Graphics
- Intel HD Graphics 4400Built into 4th gen Intel Core laptops (2013) and newer
- Memory
- 8 GB RAM
- Processor
- 2 GHz
- Storage
- 12 GB free
- System
- Windows 10
RecommendedSteam’s suggested spec
- Graphics
- NVIDIA GTX 660A desktop graphics card from 2012
- Memory
- 8 GB RAM
- Processor
- 2 GHz
- Storage
- 12 GB free
- System
- Windows 10
On paper, most Windows laptops from the last ten years with 8 GB of RAM should cope. That includes ones with only integrated graphics, meaning the graphics built into the processor (see our list of games that run without a graphics card). There’s no Mac version on Steam or GOG.
We don’t have our own FPS numbers for it yet, but two things help. Whirlight is Steam Deck Verified, and the Deck is a low-power handheld, which is a good sign for modest laptops. And the free demo on Steam is the best test of all: if the demo runs well on your laptop, the full game should too.
How long it takes to finish
imaginarylab puts it at 12 to 14 hours. Steam players back that up: among those who reviewed it after at least 5 hours, the median was 15.5 hours, and most had played between 10 and 23.
Played straight through by someone who already knows every answer, it runs about 8 hours 15 minutes. Chapter 3 alone takes more than 4 hours. Playing it blind, expect something closer to the studio’s 12 to 14 hours, or the 15.5 hours Steam players report.
What players and critics say
Our verdict leans on these too, so here is what people who have already finished Whirlight think. We read all 76 English-language Steam reviews and the 14 critic reviews collected on OpenCritic (checked 14 October 2026).
What players love
- The looks. About half of the English reviews praise the art, and two call it the best looking or most beautiful point-and-click in years.
- The jokes. Over a quarter mention the humour, and players keep spotting film and game references and hidden Easter eggs.
- The voices. Fourteen reviews bring up the voice acting, and only one has a complaint, about Hector’s voice.
- The LucasArts feeling. Sixteen compare it with Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and other 90s classics.
- The size. Many expected a short indie. One player thought the end was close and was only finishing act one.
What players complain about
- Some puzzles. About one in six English reviews say certain puzzles feel illogical or come down to trial and error. A few reached for a walkthrough.
- A slow start. Several say the first hours drag before the story takes off.
- Backtracking. Getting around Verice Bay takes time, and the morning, evening and night puzzle in Chapter 2 tested people.
- The English script. Two reviews, one from a player with 90 hours, found the dialogue stiff and some jokes lost in translation.
- A darker turn. One player stopped when the story reached a demon-worshipping cult after Chapter 2. Worth knowing if younger kids are playing.
What the studio fixed after launch
- 23 May: save slots raised from 12 to 30.
- 3 June: a quick time-of-day switch in Chapter 2, so far less backtracking, and faster repeated animations.
- 26 June: the tutorial now explains double-click, and minigame click areas got easier.
- 30 June: Steam Deck Verified.
- 1 August: a Soft Hint system in the in-game Journal, plus Brazilian Portuguese and Turkish.
So some early complaints, like having no hints at all, no longer apply. Source: imaginarylab’s Steam update notes.
Critics are more split
- SECTOR.sk, 9/10: a great variation on Back to the Future.
- JsemGamer, 89%: one of the strongest comedy adventures of recent years.
- RageQuit.GR, 84%: long, clever and funny, with a few tough puzzles.
- WayTooManyGames, 7.5/10: everything a point-and-click should be.
- COGconnected, 70/100: a hardcore homage to the genre.
- Jump Dash Roll, 5/10: competent, but little beyond nostalgia.
Scores and verdicts via OpenCritic, where the average is 71 from 14 reviews.
Put together: if you love LucasArts-style comedy adventures and don’t mind getting stuck now and then, players rank this among the best of recent years. If you want quick, strictly logical puzzles, play the free demo first.
Our verdict
If you grew up on Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle, or you just like a slow, funny puzzle story, Whirlight is easy to recommend. It looks wonderful, it’s huge for ₹880, and players love it. Be ready for a slow first chapter, plenty of walking around town and the odd puzzle that needs a hint. Not sure? Play the free demo on your own laptop first.
Score based on full gameplay footage and player reviews.
What we liked
- Some of the best looking scenes in any point-and-click
- Huge and varied: an ice age, a fairground, a candy land, a jungle, even space
- Silly signs and one-liners hidden all over Verice Bay
What we didn’t like
- A slow opening: Hector plays alone for the whole first chapter
- Lots of walking back and forth across Verice Bay
- A few puzzles lean on codes and riddles, so keep the hints handy
₹880 on Steam · 92% positive of 136 Steam reviews · Metacritic 79 · 12 to 14 hours
Played Whirlight? Tell the developers
Loved a puzzle, found a bug, or have a question for the team? Send it here and we’ll pass it on to imaginarylab, the studio behind the game.
Thanks, it’s on its way!
We’ll pass your message on to imaginarylab.
Frequently asked questions
Who made Whirlight?
imaginarylab, a small indie studio from Italy. Its first game was Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town.
Is Whirlight on Mac or mobile?
No. Steam and GOG both list Windows only. Switch, PlayStation and Xbox versions have been announced, with no confirmed date yet.
Is there a hint system?
Yes. Since Patch 04 on 1 August 2026, soft hints in the in-game Journal give you a nudge without handing over the answer.
Does it work on Steam Deck?
Yes. It has been Steam Deck Verified since 30 June 2026.
Does it have Hindi?
No. It supports 12 languages, with full English voice acting.
Can I play with a controller?
Yes, Steam lists full controller support.
Is there a demo?
Yes, free on Steam.
