LAMBDA end THEORY

미지의 세계에 대해 알아가면서, 이 세계를 구성하는 기둥들 속 적들을 파괴하는 게임 스팀 페이지 설명에도 써져 있듯이 난해하고 미니멀리스틱한 RPG 게임으로, 분명히 스토리 및 텍스트가 중요한 게임 같은데 세계관 빌드업이 그리 깊은 게임은 아니며, 퍼즐 및 전투를 통해 진행되는 게임이지만 이 두 요소가 그리 어렵지는 않은 게임이다. 스토리에 대해서는 이후에 서술하고, 전투의 경우는 턴제 기반 전투 방식이기는 하지만 그렇다고 멍 때리고 공격하는 방식의 전투는 아니다. 주어진 시간 내 공격 버튼을 많이 눌러서 "공격 게이지" 를 채워야 하는데, 이를 모두 채우면 강한 공격이 나가고, 모두 채우지 못하면 평범한 공격이 나간다. 당연히 플레이어가 죽기 전에 적의 체력을 0으로 만들어야 전투에서 이기며, 게임을 진행할수록 플레이어가 강해지기 때문에 적들의 체력 및 공격력이 강해져도 이를 상쇄할 수 있다. 언뜻 보면 버튼을 누르느라 손가락이 빠질 것 같은 불길한 예감의 게임 같을 수 있어도, 게임 내 실제로 전투를 하는 경우는 15번 정도밖에 안 되기 때문에 클리커 게임마냥 손가락을 혹사할 걱정은 전혀 안 해도 된다. 퍼즐의 경우는 별로 참신하지는 않지만, 그래도 난이도가 단순하고 눈치만 빠르면 술술 풀리는 퍼즐들이여서 별로 비난하고 싶은 부분은 없다. 이렇게 전투와 퍼즐 방면 (게임플레이 방면) 에서는 사실상 특별한 점을 별로 못 느낀 게임인데, 그렇다면 실제 게임 내 세계관 부문은 어떨까? 2200원짜리 게임에 별로 큰 기대를 하면 안된다는 점은 잘 알지만, LAMBDA end THEORY 의 이야기는 그리 흥미롭지 않다. SUSTEMA 라는 세상, 이를 구성하는 4개의 기둥, 주인공 LAMBDA 등등 스토리를 구성하는 요소는 있는데 이들에 대해서 플레이어의 흥미를 끄는 특징들이 거의 없으며, 이들에 대한 부연설명을 따로 "박물관" 이라는 특수 공간에서 게임플레이에 녹여들지 못한 상태로 더 해줄 정도로 실제 게임 내 스토리는 뼈대만 있는 수준이다. 엔딩의 경우도 갑작스러우면서도 전개 부문에서는 뻔한 엔딩같다는 생각이 들었으며, 이 때문에 게임이 전달하려는 이야기 및 게임플레이 부문에서 기억에 남을 만한 부문이 없었다. 물론, 위에서도 말했듯이 가격이 저렴하고 1시간 정도의 플레이타임 정도의 게임을 맹비난하고 싶지는 않지만, 게임 자체가 지루한 경험이었기 때문에 딱히 이 게임을 추천하고 싶지도 않다. 결론적으로, 가격 대비 게임 컨텐츠는 적절하지만, 그 컨텐츠가 흥미로웠냐고 물어보면 긍정적인 답변을 할 수 없어서 비추천. 그나마 업적 따기가 매우 쉬운 건 장점이기 때문에, 스팀 프로필에 업적을 전시할 수 있을 정도로 위상이 오르면 업적 100% 달성 게임 카운트를 늘릴 만한 수단으로 구입하는 건 나쁘지 않을 것이다. 여담) 제작자가 프랑스인이라 그런가 원어는 프랑스어인데, 영어로 했을때 딱히 불편한 점은 느끼지 못하였다.

LAMBDA end THEORY is a short, mysterious game. And honestly I don't really want to say much more about it lest I give anything away. Playing through it kind of reminded me of playing through Cave Story way back when. Though mechanically very different both games throw you into things without any explanation or tutorials or even mention of the controls. Your dropped into this world with no idea who you are, where you are, or really idea at all, and it's only over the course of the game that you piece these things together. The music, as i'm sure you heard from the trailer, is also very good and helps set the tone for everything very well. There's so much more I want to say, but given how short the game is I think it's better for you to simply play through it yourself. That being said there are a few things I feel I should mention. Most notably is the combat. To "charge" your "attack" (neither of these things are really explained in detail) you have to rapidly mash a button, either the enter key or A button on a gamepad, so if your somebody who struggles with button mashing that may be something to take note of. From my playthrough the button mashing always seemed to be at a manageable level, but I understand that may not be the case for everyone. If you have a gamepad you can actually alleviate this a bit by using both the gamepad and keyboard inputs at the same time to make things a bit easier, but I think may also be possible to do some sequence breaking by doing this so I would recommend against abusing it. The mashing doesn't seem to be indented as a measure of difficulty, and if you character is able to win the battle they should be able to do so without having to break your arm, but again I know people struggle with this. The only other thing that may be worth mentioning is that the english translation isn't perfect, as I believe the developer's native language is french. However it was never really a big issue, and honestly the grammatical oddities almost added to the mysterious, quirky world that the story was building. There was one particularly cryptic hint that had me reach out for help, but since I don't speak french I can't actually say if that was an issue with the translation or just me not understanding the puzzle.

Nice and short pseudo-RPG. Four worlds consisting of around ten screens each, with most screens having either enemies, NPCs or basic puzzles. Combat happens automatically and can be influenced by mashing a button, which is not good for accessibility and ends up hurting your wrist without bringing too much to the gameplay ; fortunately, you don't have to mash as fast as you can and there aren't too many of these battles. I wasn't fan of the system, although finding power upgrades and getting stronger always felt nice. Exploration is done by walking to places and interacting with either NPCs or items in order to get a power up and a key for each zone, before fighting a boss. The puzzles that lead you to these items are good! They're very "simple" in that they can even be "wait five seconds here", but they can be a bit tricky and there's a good Steam guide to help with them. And that's about it! [b]LAMBDA end THEORY[/b] is less than an hour long, looks nice, doesn't have much to say, but makes up for it with a cryptic and interesting atmosphere. Pixleaves also developed a prequel for the game called Me && MORY which might give the background a bit more heft. I recommend giving the game a try - we need more short, experimental indie games like this one supporting those that already exist is the best way to foster a healthy ecosystem.

This is a cryptic puzzle adventure game with a minimalist 8bit style and light RPG systems. I think it succeed on what it aims to achieve as it’s very focused on that goal, so if you’re in that specific type of experience (a very cryptic one) you should not be disappointed. The chiptune music in particular is very good, it participates along with the visuals to bring life to this intriguing “digital world”.

LAMBDA end THEORY is very cryptic and it does it well. The game is quite charming with its retro-ish graphics and music style. You will feel right at home if you have been playing games on the Game Boy console (which this game seems to be paying an homage to). I also like the fact that the overall universe and ambiance are shaped around IT, such as programing terms, data, binaries, etc. Enjoy! < Review > - The story is intriguing and mysterious as expected with some interesting twists! - The gameplay itself is straightforward, but easy to learn. - Battles are simple and automated, but you can do some critical hits by charging your attack while smashing the corresponding button. This does give them more life and involvement from the player. - The musics are very charming and definitely give a nice throwback to the Game Boy era. - The pillars / dungeons have their own theme with some references on IT stuffs. < Suggestions > - The battle system has some issues with its interface. I have troubles to stay focus on the battle interface and the characters while fighting. I think it would be nice to change the battle interface to have the Life Points displayed as a gauge on corresponding character and having the attack charge % shown over the player sprite with a button icon for Quality of Life features. - I would love to have a different sprite for each pillars in SUSTEMA. Since each of them have a different theme. - I think that our character movements should be the same everywhere. Sometimes, the character moves automatically into the next map like in SUSTEMA, sometimes we have to move "outside" the screen to proceed forward which is a bit weird. It was a bit disturbing for me, but that changing its behavior like SUSTEMA would be a nice Quality of Life feature.

J'étais impatient que le jeu sorte, je suis content d'avoir enfin pu faire la version finale !

Although I can't say I'd recommend Lambda end Theory, it definitely has some cool elements! This game is definitely as advertised: very mysterious and cryptic. It's got a super unique atmosphere, and the world building is intriguing. The puzzles are very hit-and-miss though, some being pretty fun, based logic or word-association, whereas others are monotonous, or hampered by confusing wording (in the English version at least). The combat system also adds to the monotony. It's turn-based, but you have to mash the A button to deal more damage. It gets old pretty quick, would have been nice if it was either faster so it didn't overstay its welcome, or had some tactical/puzzle elements to make it more interesting. It also didn't help that enemies respawn as soon as you leave their room, so there are a lot of repeat battles that make figuring puzzles out a lot slower. To players: if you're interested in giving it a try anyway to experience the atmosphere and world building, I'd recommend looking up a walkthrough if you get stuck! That'll make you have a much better time. To the developer: I encourage you to keep trying to make cool atmospheric games like this! The environments, music, characters and dialog all contribute to that atmosphere, and are clearly your strong points, so I would double down on those elements, and de-emphasize weaker elements like combat.