LOCIS

[i]LOCIS[/i] (pronounced [‘lɔt͡ʃis], coming from Latin plural dative or ablative for [i]locus, loci[/i]) is a procedural survival horror game. This means that it’s not divided into levels, but areas which can spawn randomly. That’s one of its most particular issues, probably unique if you consider the only survival horror genre in videogames. As a beta tester, I’ve followed the evolution of [i]LOCIS[/i] and I’ve seen so many features added to the game. [list][*][/list] When you’re going to start a run you can choose among three different difficulty levels: [i]Explorer[/i], [i]Nightmare[/i] and [i]Hardcore[/i] (this one can be unlocked only by surviving in both an [i]Explorer[/i] and a [i]Nightmare[/i] difficulty run). So, the aim of [i]LOCIS[/i] is not to last many hours with a long single player campaign: you can beat the game in [i]Explorer[/i] difficulty in less than 20 minutes but still have many other contents (like special areas and parts of the story) to discover. [list][*][/list] Also, [i]LOCIS[/i] is meant to be played multiple times to learn how enemies and traps work. Because of that, even a loss could be useful to learn from your mistakes and gain experience. It’s a kind of trial and error mechanism, as we have seen in many games very different from [i]LOCIS[/i] (like [i]Cuphead[/i] and even parodies like [i]Cat Mario[/i]). The main consequence of playing a “trial and error” game is that you can’t expect to win on your first attempt, and [i]LOCIS[/i] is not an exception: it’s very hard to win immediately, even on [i]Explorer[/i] and [i]Nightmare[/i] difficulty. If you accept that, it’ll be less frustrating when you’ll lose your first runs without knowing the reason. [list][*][/list] During the last months many features, areas and enemies have been implemented in the game. Since the first alphas, [i]LOCIS[/i] has become more vast and detailed. Pixelization is one of its trademarks, but it can be reduced until almost zero in the options. Still about the graphics, it’s clear that this game’s purpose is not something like a photorealistic reproduction of reality. [i]LOCIS[/i] bets on a retro graphics and multi-thematic locations, objects and characters. [list][*][/list] If you accept all of these elements (which are not mistakes but parts of the game consciously estabilished by devs to make the game more challenging), you could be ready to take the [i]LOCIS[/i] challenge and you could enjoy, appreciate and maybe love this game. [i]LOCIS[/i] is still in early access and many features are coming up next. To summarize: [list][*][/list] PROs: [list] [*]-Original game concept;[*]-Multi-thematic areas, textures and models;[*]-Complex plot that you can discover by reading the sheets you find… or you can simply ignore them and enjoy the gameplay;[*]-Random spawns into this procedural game, which means that every run is almost completely unpredictable and different from the others;[*]-Many references, secrets and random rare events to find and discover. [/list] CONs (but you might not see them as cons, it depends on you): [list] [*]-It’s possible to reduce pixelization, but someone might still not appreciate this graphics style (by the way, you can see it in the trailers and images);[*]-The more you learn, the more you win; this is a good issue for someone and negative for someone else;[*]-Some runs could be long and the game doesn’t allow you to save during them: it’s a bad idea to play [i]LOCIS[/i] if you have ten free minutes, unless you don’t care about finishing your run;[*]-Because of the procedural imprinting in the game, there might (sometimes) exist a luck factor; but about that, I noticed that this element has been progressively reduced and I don’t remember a run I lost only because of bad luck in the last two or three builds. [/list] [list][*][/list] In conclusion, [i]LOCIS[/i] has some positive and negative elements, which (especially the negative ones) depend on your tastes. They aren’t defects, they are game features consciously implemented by the devs, and without them [i]LOCIS[/i] wouldn’t probably be [i]LOCIS[/i], but an anonymous and neglectable videogame like many others. Personally, I didn’t find many mistakes or negligences and I found a deep care and attention for every aspect (also considering that there are only two devs). [list][*][/list] There is probably no single game which can satisfy every type of player, and [i]LOCIS[/i] is not an exception. By the way, within its genre, [i]LOCIS[/i] makes a very good impression and has still a big potential to express.[list][*][/list]EDIT: Also (my mistake), I forgot to mention the very good soundtrack with some references to [i]Silent Hill[/i]. Music and sound effects give an important contribute in order to create the right atmosphere for [i]LOCIS[/i].

[h1][b]Intro:[/b][/h1] LOCIS is a first-person procedural horror that mixes elements of psychological horror as a Silent Hill can be, together with the procedurality of a rogue-like like Isaac, all with retro pixel graphics and a decidedly interesting artistic and musical direction. One thing that must also be considered, before the review, is that this game is developed at zero budget (so it says in the store page description). [h1][b]Gameplay and Structure:[/b][/h1] Before talking about the game modes, I would like to deepen a little bit about the functioning of the game itself, after doing about ten hours (many of them played offline) and reading some guides on the game (the hub was very useful to me in this) I understood how the game thinks and how it creates the gaming experience. So, the game creates this corridor which is procedural and infinite (although it could end in certain situations that I will say later), the hallway will usually be decorated with simple decorations, from paintings to posters to torches (also depends on the area we are in) and each room will have a shape and objects inside it whenever random, inside the objects it will also be possible to find useful items such as keys or flames (these are used to give life to the player, since over time it decreases and must be recharged regularly to do not die). Beyond rooms and decorations, the game spawn those who, reading from a piece of paper in game, are called "Connectors", dark hallways that will act as warps for other areas and special areas. In this regard, I think it is better to differentiate them: - Large connectors: These are real branches that the hallway can take, which will only take us to a new area - Door Connectors: These are connectors that you will find behind doors in the hallway, they do the same thing as large connectors. - Silver Connectors: These are doors blocked by chains and a silver padlock, if we use keys it will be possible to open them and they will lead us to Special Areas, or more or less large maps that in addition to providing new insights into lore and containing rare events , they are very useful for recharging your life as you will find a 100% flame inside them. - Gold Connectors: These are doors blocked by chains and a gold padlock, if we use keys it will be possible to open them and they will lead us into a "Scroll Temple", or a sacred temple where we can find 3 different types of powerups that will give a hand during the run ... but from my runs I have noticed that they are very rare to find, as both the keys and the golden doors are hard to find. - Light Connector: it's the door of the end game, it can be found at the end of a hallway, a white light comes out outside, and when the player enters this connector the run will end leading to one of the 3 available endings (in the case of Classic mode). To conclude with the gameplay and structure, each area of ​​the game (and also some special areas) have always different dangers, monsters and npc that have distinct patterns, for example in the starting area (the Apartments) it will be possible to run a lot and play more "brainless", but to balance there will be a monster that could make some very difficult requests, sometimes perhaps impossible at higher difficulties (which I haven't tested well yet) so the best tactic will be to get out of that area before the Textman (this is the name of the monster) ask us something too difficult to do. Another example could be the Visceral area, practically the opposite of Apartments, in Visceral the player will have to run as little as possible as he may find Acid traps, strange larvae that spit Acid from the roof (if the player runs under them ) and a monster that will go well timed to pass safely to the other side ... each Area has different game rules and this is a huge strength of this game in my opinion! [h1][b]Gamemodes and Contents:[/b][/h1] The game is divided into 3 macro modes: [b]- Classic:[/b] The "story mode" of the game, where after a brief introduction, we will follow the journey of an unnamed entity that wanders this dark world (LOCIS) created as a great test to be overcome to ascend to the light or die eaten by 'darkness. Ubel, the divinity who created LOCIS, will judge us at the end of our run, and we will be able to obtain different endings (based on the actions that the player has performed throughout his playthrough). I found the main plot very interesting and full of goodies that can only be understood by analyzing well every piece of paper that will be found in the nightmare, I also appreciated many secondary plots of people who, like our protagonist, found themselves inside LOCIS before us having experiences of all kinds. [b]- Arcade:[/b] This mode is very interesting, it's basically like Classic mode but without the LORE. In fact, its focus is to collect points and record better and better times, a kind of "arcade cabinet" mode ... the most interesting thing in my opinion about this mode is the possibility of being able to compete with other players around the world, in fact once unlocked (after having won at least one run in any difficulty), every time we win our scores will be recorded in the leaderboard which is located in the Extra menu. A very addicting mode! [b]- Trip:[/b] Undoubtedly the strangest and most out of the box mode, in this mode all the Areas of the game are mixed together, and even the Special Areas have substantial changes and will result as glitched or much more creepy ... to increase the strangeness you will be able to find pills that will always give different effects to the visual creating a real TRIP haha! The mode is unlocked by winning the game by visiting at least 8 or more Areas. The gamemodes listed above are divided into 3 difficulties: [b]- Explorer:[/b] This is the most balanced difficulty in my opinion, it's perfect both for the player who is just starting (I did my first runs in this difficulty) and for the more experienced player, life slowly decreases giving time to the player to think more and be able to explore precisely. I also noticed that the damage of monsters and dangers is lower in this difficulty. [b]- Nightmare:[/b] Here things get more difficult, already from the name you understand ahaha, in this difficulty life will drop very quickly and the monsters and dangers do very high damage, I have won this mode a few times, it's very challenging! [b]- Hardcore:[/b] The only difficulty that I have not yet concluded, the runs seem to last forever and to complicate things more is the fact of not seeing the hud and consequently we do not understand at what point our life is, this is very anxious! My current goal is to be able to win it at least 1 time. [u]I'm quite aware, however, that I still have many things to discover, as my 10 hours (while doing the review) are not enough to describe 100% of this game.[/u] [h1][b]Conclusions:[/b][/h1] I loved LOCIS, and I hated LOCIS, its strong point is precisely this love/hate relationship, a game where it will often happen to get angry, but also to feel satisfaction... it is an absolutely unique game, a small pearl of ' author, I think it should get more attention from players (some of whom unfortunately seem not to have played this title thoroughly, immediately labeling it as a lackluster game with no content). The game has a lot of potential still not fully expressed, the thing that makes me happy is that these developers seem to listen a lot to the community and above all they always release new updates that add Areas, Features and Special Areas. [u]I highly recommend the purchase, even more so if it is discounted.[/u] [h1]8/10 [/h1]

Alright, so, I was browsing through my games today and happened across this game again. While I was having a gander at it, I noticed the devs responded to my original review. So if the devs see this, hi, I saw you there, a few months late. So anyways, now that the game's out, what can I say about it that I couldn't before? Well, the base game mode is the same thing as before. So just look at the original review below if you'd like to read about that. The Arcade game mode is a game mode where instead of collecting papers, you collect coins instead. It's also times. It's also the same thing as the original mode. Except there's somewhat of a goal this time, so it's a marginally better game mode. Unfortunately, I don't care for this game enough to really put enough time in to win at it and get my score on the leaderboard. Lastly there's Trip mode, which I did play back in the day. I decided to give it another try, and well, it's the same thing. Except the randomness is cranked up an extra few notches and you can take pills to completely ruin your experience, so play at your own risk if you decide to play it. I'd like to clarify my statement about there being "virtually no replay value". The way I see replay value isn't simply the presence of things to see that you didn't see before, but both the quantity and quality of the things that you haven't seen. The reason why you'd play a game like Undertale more than once, for example, is that there's multiple different endings depending on how you progress through the game, and they're all very different. In the case of Locis, you can play this game for hours and sure, you'll access rooms you didn't access before, but the actual quality of the experience isn't improved for seeing it. I'm not mad, I'm just somewhat disappointed, because I genuinely like the concept, I just feel that with it being as simplistic as it is, that it really lacks that oomph that should keep you coming back. The different game modes are nice, but you see the same assortment of things in each different mode, which blends them together. So yeah, sorry that it took like a half a year to get around to replaying it, but there you go, my take on the game as a whole. --Original Review Below-- As cool as an idea as this is, it just doesn't really work as well in practice as it does on paper. Sometimes runs are short, sometimes they're long, sometimes you get stuck in the same area for a half-hour waiting for an exit to appear. There just isn't enough variety in rooms, level layout, traps, or beasties to make repeated playthroughs all that exciting. There's a bunch of side areas that you MIGHT see, if you get lucky, and while I did see a few of them they weren't interesting enough to shake things up. Especially not with how rare they are. It's worth a run or two... not the several hundred they seem to expect you to play. On the plus side, the first couple runs can be kinda neat, as you figure out how the game plays, but after you've figured out how to deal with the different obstacles they really do just become hindrances. Cool idea, not the best execution, virtually no replay value.

LOCIS is a horror game lacking in variety and intrigue, beyond the first hour of learning the game there is really nothing more to see. You walk through endless corridors that all look the same with nothing happening for 10 minutes until you interact with a 'Monster' which can range from small inconvenience to instant death, making the game feel random and unfair at times. There are notes scattered through out the game that could build intrigue and give clues to secrets, but I have found they lead to nothing except another different looking room among the endless corridors. LOCIS has a good start, but not enough in the game to be considered finished. I applaud the developers for what they were able to make with little budget and two person work team, but I can't say I enjoyed the experience. Edit: After playing another hour, I realize the game play itself isn't captivating. Not only is the game simply a series of doors along a hallway randomly generated, the rooms in said hallway lack variation to keep it interesting. Different areas are simply hallways with minor variations, making encountering new areas not even exciting more of a name change, the only areas with intrigue were either way to short (being a 5 second walk) or being a literal singular room. The only idea I found quite interesting was the Wayfarers. A group of beggars that you can give part of your soul to to gain a key, or you may leave them to their own devices and they die, letting you gain more soul. Other then that I find the experience boring and slow, to the point where playing is an actual chore. As I said before, This game needs more, there are notes that lead to nothing, doors that lead to nothing, characters that lead to nothing, and most of all game play that leads to a boring experience. Edit but Again: Finished the game, everything I said still stands, except the ending is very underwhelming.

Gioco molto immersivo, sia gli ambienti, che le musiche creano un'atmosfera che si immedesima al massimo con lo spirito del gioco. Ho particolarmente apprezzato le numerose testimonianze e gli eventi rari, diversi per ogni run. Il punto forte del gioco, infatti, penso che sia la randomicità delle partite, ed i diversi approcci di gioco, a seconda della zona, per evitare trappole e nemici. Il sistema del karma del personaggio e le varie interazioni possibili con gli NPC, rendono ancora più avvincente lo spirito del gameplay, spingendoti in ogni run ad indagare, sulle diverse testimonianze e nelle stanze speciali, per comprendere a pieno la lore del gioco. Consigliatissimo, ben sviluppato. P.S.Il tempo di gioco indicato da steam non corrisponde a quello effettivo, garantisco di averci giocato per molte più ore

I bought this game attracted by its premises, I thought: wow, a horror but procedural? I absolutely have to try it!! My first runs had me a little disappointed, but after about 2 hours I started to understand most of the mechanics (including dangers and monsters) and it really started to intrigue me a lot. The premises did not lie, the game is procedurally generated at each run, and while it still has limitations, I absolutely want to support these independent developers (which I think I understand are only 2 people). I really hope in this project, it looks very promising! RECOMMENDED!

Questo gioco è semplicemente spettacolare! di grafica è semplice ed è stile retrò,però ha molto da offrire,ha un sacco di contenuti e mette costante ansia mentre che lo si gioca.Le musice in sottofondo e i sound inquietanti danno davvero un atmosfera tetra e angosciante al gioco ,con molti riferimenti a silent hill e a LSD dream emulator ,sono davvero contento e soddisfatto di aver comprato il gioco e di aver supportato gli sviluppatori, lo consiglio caldamente a chiunque ami il genere survival horror stile retrò

I'm a beta tester and I played the game since the first releases. LOCIS is like a purgatory, a world where the good and the evil are one thing. Player will catapulted in LOCIS without much explanations and suddenly it will be like being in a dream, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say like being in a nightmare. Time is an enemy, but it won't be the only one. Player will be faced with numerous dangers and monstrous entities, so it will not be easy to survive. I found a lot of variety, and even as a veteran, when you're sure you're ready for anything, it doesn't take much to find yourself dying or lifeless. Player will be in a potentially infinite hallway that is generate randomly while it is being walked, therefore each run in the game will be different, even today I happen to be surprised in front of a secret random event that has never been triggered before. Along the hallway there are explorable rooms in which useful objects such as keys could be hidden. Moreover it will not always be the same, the player may be able to change area (through the connectors, or "dark doors") and find much different things compared to those he know. There are about ten explorable areas in the actual version, the 0.7 (other will be added in future), and each of these has its own peculiarities. It will be needed to adapt the style of play depending on area. There are many secret maps, reachable only in certain circumstances, the more you explore the more you know, the more you know the easier it will be to explore. I found the achievements system very compelling, it is nice to challenge yourself and set new records as you get better. A little advice for beginners, don't ignore the messages left from other entities, they may contain very precious information.

This game was very interesting to play. This game it's not like the majority of indie horror games that you can find here in the Steam store, Indie horror games are not very appreciated, due to the way they are made, without any care and attention to detail, realized with Graphic engines that use pre-packaged assets. Why you should try it: LOCIS is a very well thought-out game, despite the weight of the game files, it's a very rich in content, despite being still early acces. The graphics is retro style and reminiscent of the old ps1 titles like Silent Hill, even the soundtrack it's very well done and effective, very apt with the game, it gives that sort of restlessness and sense of mistery to the player. The game is divided into different areas, generated randomly, the game develops horizontally, you have to go through long and infinite corridors in whick there are many doors on the sides, locked and that can be opened, they contain interacting objects and furniture inside them. Inside them there are notes that are left by travelers of LOCIS, many are notes of mad peoples that have only meaningless or frustrating phrases, while other notes are very useful to understand what are the dangers of the area. In the rooms you can also find two types of keys and blue flames. The game has the basis for being a multiplayer game. I am sure that developers are creating a version in which a worldwide (or regional) Scoreboard is added, to allow speedrunner players to compete each other all over the world. To developers: The game is very interesting, I think adding more areas, items, animations, NPCs and interactions can make it much more explorable and interesting to play. I noticed that it takes a lot of runs to see the whole game. Adding a scoreboard in my opinion will be a good way to engage players more in the game.

This is not just a game, this is a constant struggle with yourself. If you want to test your anxieties, your patience and your courage, LOCIS is the right choice. Every run you will be surprised and your efforts will pay off. This is a must buy!