When it comes to a 2D game library that can be used in both C and C++, perhaps SDL2 can be a good choice. My own game engine is also built entirely on that.
There are very good tutorials out there to get on the move with SDL2, and it's completely free and open source.
Now I've never explored lighting effects, but it has a few quick dialog boxes supported. Of course SDL2 is set up to give you as much power as you want, so you may need to get a few things up yourself to get it fully to your liking.
Of course, when it comes to switching engines, you must really be sure doing that halfway a project is a good idea, as it can bring you a big crapload of work. I have no experience with Godot. All I know about Godot is its existence. I've always tried to be as self-reliant as possible, so I only rely on 3rd party code when I really have to.
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Thanks for the reply! I don't really need that much control, and I want to get this done really fast and efficiently, but thanks for the suggestion! As for switching halfway through a project, it shouldn't be that much. I've manly been working on game design, not game development. I've only really got a basic template, so not a lot of progress :)