Lorn's Lure

I played this game when it first came out - and I reeeeaally owe it a review. There is no game out there that I have played that conveys the sheer magnitude and danger of large environments as well as this game. Every environment demands a different facette of your skills to be mastered, every nook could harbor a secret, and every time you play a level is different. Secrets are insane in this game. Literally insane. The first level alone has a secret so out of the way that it took me about five hours to come across it. New Game + also allows for some game-breaking shenanigans, like getting waaaaaaaaaaaay out of the bounds of what the level should be - and for 100%, the game also expects you to go searching. I never got every secret and when I played it, noone online had either... but I am sure this has changed now. Levels also feel very different. Each and everyone of them I associate a specific feeling with, and I think as a level designer, Rubeki is fantastic. All in all, wonderful game, no negative aspects of it ever subtracted from my enjoyment of it. Looking forward to what this crazy solo-dev is cooking up next!

Ok so. I just finished LL and I'd say that I have mixed feelings on it, as it would seem do most others judging by the reviews and I think I know why that is, in short for 90% of its play time LL's is a slow paced, atmospheric, exploration focused, platformer and then for that last 10% which is mostly the second half of the last level it becomes a FAST paced, challenging platformer. Now this posies a problem as if you liked the body of the game then you'll probably hate the ending, and if your the type to like the ending then you'll probably never make it there (unless your a stubborn bastard like me) which has resulted in a number of negative reviews, as the game ends on a low note for most. I got LL on a recommendation form a friend and for the most part I disliked it, with the exception of the ending (notably the reverse of most reviews) which I'd say is my own fault for not understanding what LL is. At its heart LL's is a game about exploration not platforming (until the very end anyway) and if you know that going in you'll have a good time (just make sure that you pick the difficulty that turns off timed sections, there's only two) but if you go in expecting a mechanically challenging platformer you'll mostly be disappointed. so onto the gameplay, I'll go by chapter. Chapter 1. The basics, here you get introduced to the main gameplay loop, namely, figuring out where your going, then figuring out how you can get there with out dying, then try your path until you succeed or realise your pathing was wrong, repeat. to help with this you are given the climbing picks (which I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hated) they are slow (a cardinal sin) and slightly jank, how they work is there are some surfaces which when perfectly vertical you can grab onto and then use stamina to climb around on, unless you've been falling for more then like half a second then you just die so good luck saving a fall with these. Chapter 2. Visually I'd say this is the best chapter its also where you get the wall jump (called tit-tac) now normally in a platformer getting a wall jump is the start of the good ♥♥♥♥, the tight, precise, mechanically challenging, complex platforming, the Crème de la crème. so how does LL do in this regard? . . . well . . . not well, I'll start with how you can use tit-tac which is in two ways, the first is to let you fall slightly further without dying by slightly braking your momentum, though just like your climbing picks you can't do this if you're falling too fast which massively limits tit-tac's utility, the other way is normal wall jumping, so how does tit-tac feel to use, in a word when it works, good, it's responsive, it give you a lot of control, speed, Hight, and can be chained with itself or other ability's, when it works. . . WHEN IT WORKS, because that's the problem with tit-tac it's an incredibly finicky wall jump that half the time works flawlessly and the other half make me want to bash my head in with a brick, having said that I wouldn't be as angry at tit-tac if it didn't feel so good when it dose deicide to work. I'd say I'm more upset about the unrealised potential of tit-tac then any actual problem with it, made worse by the fact that the levels never really explore tit-tac's full potential, then again that might be for the best as trying to use tit-tac for complex platforming would quickly get frustrating given the level of inconsistency in when it choses to work. Chapter 3. Do you like mazes? how about three dimensional mazes? how about not being able to see anything? also I hope you don't have claustrophobe. so chapter 3's gimmick is that you can't see ♥♥♥♥ but you get glow sticks to throw about to your harts content, I don't have much to say about that, what I do have something to say about is the underground segment also known as WHERE THE ♥♥♥♥ AM I AND WHERE THE ♥♥♥♥ DO I GO, this one is pretty self explanatory. there's also a [spoiler]small timed section here[/spoiler] witch I found quite fun. Chapter 4, It's pretty I guess, your jump gets a upgrade. Chapter 5. There's some good stuff in this chapter platforming wise, and you get a air dash which is fine I don't have any real problems with it, maybe it could have been a little bit stronger but then it might have overshadowed the rest of your kit. Chapter 6. There's some interesting platforming in this chapter, other wise it's unremarkable. Chapter 7. Ok so in this chapter you [spoiler]lose your climbing picks (I was over joyed when this happened) and then have to platform about with out those clunky thing which I think marked an improvement in the gameplay as the picks weren't there to slow it down[/spoiler]. I also think this chapter has the best platforming in the game as your mainly going up not down which means your not constantly braking your ankles i.e. dying to fall damage. Chapter 8. Ah chapter eight the part where most people get angry at LL, and for good reason, see for the last seven chapters LL has been a slow and methodical experience, almost like a puzzle game and then out of nowhere it becomes a high octan precision platformer, the only indication that something like this might be in the game that I could find is this statement in the "about this game" section at the bottom of the steam store page "Fast and slow paced. Take in the sights as you traverse, and sometimes play as fast as a speed runner!", that and I guess you could count the semi fast paced gameplay in the trailer as hinting at it. All of that to say that chapter eight bait and switch's the player about the very type of game there playing at the very last moment leveeing many with a bad taste in their mouths.(oh and you get a grappling hook) Pros Atmosphere. Sense of scale. The ending. Cons Broken ankles. (I was dying form fall damage constantly because I kept trying to go fast) Slow gameplay. (you have to go slow or you will brake your ankles) The ending. Overall I'd say I didn't enjoy LL and shouldn't have bought it, but that's my fault for not doing my do diligence not the games. To conclude LL is a slow paced atmospheric exploration focused platformer, until it isn't, and if that sounds interesting to you, and you go in knowing that then I think you'll have a grate time with it.

Очень атмосферная, годная игрушка

Great game, just has a real sluggish mid game. The best is definitely teased early, and kept for second to last.

So damn good, the sense of scale and exploration is immaculate. The maps are all super large-scale and open yet have a really good sense of linear progression (even without using the guide tool). Last level has a ridiculous spike in difficulty but after coming back to it I really enjoyed it. [spoiler] (Would have preferred if there were some more chase sequences throughout the game or at least a little more time to use the grapple hook before the last level.) [/spoiler]

Muy recomendado juego de escalada-parkour-plataformas con estética PS1. Es un juego con una dirección muy buena, navegar mega estructuras es lo máximo. Lo bueno: A pesar de ser dificil, tiene checkpoints en casi todos los saltos que des, asi que nunca es frustrante en el 99% de los casos. También, por más que la dirección que uno debe tomar es algo ambigua, permite mucha libertad de llegar al punto "como quieras". El plataformeo y los controles se sienten bastante bien en la mayoria de las cosas que vas a tener que hacer. Lo malo: Los 2 últimos niveles. El anteúltimo se siente muchísimo menos inspirado, con un mapa que no tiene mucho sentido (especialmente comparando con los otros 6 niveles, que todo lo que uno usa de plataforma tiene cierta lógica... acá pasan a ser "hueco random en la pared", "cubo que sobresale porque si" y no una tuberia o caño como antes). El último nivel es una carrera a contrarreloj y esta vez si creo que puede ser bastante frustrante porque los checkpoints y las cosas que pasan podrian estar BASTANTE menos dificiles (debí repetir mas veces el ultimo nivel que en el resto combinado). La trama es la típica historia críptica sin tanto rodeo, se entiende lo suficiente. El "nivel" del agua basta y sobra para que uno compre el juego. Me encantó!

im so sad that i put this off for so long. might be the best game ive played this year