Who's Lila?

I am 45 now. Probably one of the oldest people playing this game. I have a son. He's 14, I think. We don't spend much time together anymore. He's usually with his friends, or staring at videos of people staring at other videos. He bought this game one winter. Or someone bought it for him. That's not important. For the first few days he barely left his room. I was worried. I asked what the game was about. He said, "You make faces." That didn't explain anything. So I bought it too. At first I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do. Every expression felt wrong. My son came over, watched me for a minute, then said, "No, he wouldn't smile there." Somehow, he understood. We played in silence for a while. It's strange how much you can say to someone without speaking when you're both trying to convince a face to become someone else. We've been spending more time together since then. Sometimes outside the house. Sometimes we just sit in the kitchen and look at each other for a second longer than usual. It's funny. I thought this game was about pretending to be someone else. Instead, it reminded me that the hardest face to make is your own.

"It's very bold of you to assume that some 'you' actually exists." Four years ago, a YouTube video titled "The Best Mystery You Can't Solve" introduced me to Who's Lila?. Immediately, I fell for psychological reactance—that undeniable urge to do exactly what you're told you cannot do. It took me until 2026 to finally feel ready. I booted the game at 8:00 AM, a notepad open on my desk, determined to prove that damn video wrong. I was amazed to find that in the very first minute, the game hands you the answer to Who's Lila?... and you completely deny it. And there, my friends, I met one of my favorite games of all time. Most horror games threaten your survival, but Who's Lila? threatens your concept of self. You are cast not as a traditional protagonist, but as an observer desperately trying to puppet a human being. The core mechanic—manually dragging facial muscles to force a smile, fake empathy, or simulate grief—is a stroke of terrifying genius. It turns the most basic act of human interaction into an agonizing, alien performance. It forces you to ask: What exactly is a 'Who'? WHO are you? How do you even start answering that? With a name? We soon find the physical body in which Lila exists, but we still can't describe WHO Lila is. This isn't just a game; it's an interactive piece of weird fiction, echoing the labyrinthine paranoia of Borges and the psychological decay of classic cosmic horror. It burrows into your psyche, weaponizing philosophy to make a deeply unsettling point: "To you people are a fictitious creation - a number of expectations generated from their actions. A phantom existing exclusively in your head... And the funny thing is - your own personality is too." Obsession is the true currency here. The game lures your curiosity out and makes you a slave to the big question. Even as you accumulate an obscene amount of clues, you cannot satisfy yourself. And when you finally start to accept this reality, it's too late. The game has you in a headlock. You find yourself simply staring at the screen, or facing the flickering light of a lamppost late in the night, too exhausted to answer, "Who are you?" In a runtime of barely five hours, it achieves a psychological depth that most art forms spend decades chasing. Do not play this to win. Play this to realize how fragile the concept of "you" truly is. And, as always, I dare you to answer me exactly: Who is Lila?

"Who's Lila?" is one of the most profound and philosophical experiments, not just in gaming, but all of media. This game was made by Russian indie developer/s and expertly blends the point & click genre with the visual novel genre to create something very unique. The game itself should be enjoyed blind, without spoilers. To be honest it is hard to spoil as this game is such a mindf$k I haven't experienced since "Doki Doki Literature Club (2017)" or "Control (2019)". I like how the game keeps you engaged and on the edge with its atmosphere, sound design and suspenseful writing which is amplified by the face-control mechanic. The ARG aspect was very neat, really liked it. In my opinion, the Daemon DLC/app should have played a bigger role, as 3/4 of the game it was just hanging around. While the multiple endings are crucial to the story, reaching some of them became a tad too tedious for me, as players are expected to display very specific emotions under stressful time limit. Even with easy-mode turned on, a single mistake might mean replaying an entire section. I have at least 4-5 wasted runs that amounted to nothing, and guides online don't help at all. I won't go into the philosophy of the game as that would be critical spoilers but to fully understand the game, there are actually 7 hour long videos online explaining this game! Even more if you start reading up on all the philosophy of the mind stuff. I personally don't get this stuff and consider most of it as pretentious but since SCP's "There Is No Antimemetics Division" this type of psychological horror is far scarier than Lovecraftian eldritch horror. Overall, this is a must play for anyone who values mystery and experiences. Who's Lila is more than just a game.

几年前通关的时候我就写不出测评，现在依然写不出，不知如何用语言描述我的感受，也许根本没有语言能够准确描述。好特别啊，好震撼人心，让我坐在电脑前感觉一切都消失了，除了游戏文本听不到其他任何东西，让我想知道一定要知道必须要知道

One of the strangest, creepiest, and most unique games out there.

This game cemented itself as one of my favourite of all time. Interesting main mechanic with a little bit of everything else sprinkled in... Though, please do note it uses generative AI for most of the faces... despite this I still think the passion that went into it outweighs the negatives of this, I do wish we could get an AI-free version with new faces though

当你在凝视深渊的时候，深渊也在凝视着你 对莱拉的观测是局部碎片化的，因为观测这个行为本身就是在形成莱拉 挺喜欢这个主题的，整体情节也恰到好处的惊悚，就是游戏性太差，每个结局都要从头来过，太累人了 6/10

If you like puzzles and psychological horror this game is for you. It's so satisfying to figure things out!

Very cool, super fun, super engaging. but man I get it I also watched twin peaks haha