Recensioni di Lorn's Lure

it is sometimes frustrating

I'll try to put my thoughts down for this game. I never do, so forgive me if it appears messy or something like that. I'll divide my ideas in three sections: gameplay; ambiance; storyline. Summarizing my vibes of the game into a sentence: far from perfection, close to greatness Gameplay: I want to grab that owl and pluck his glitchy feathers one by one. Apart from that, the concept is incredible and the game runs smoothly like a massive metal pipe used as a slide over the desert. Climbing is fun, understanding your path is fun, I think I'll try getting back to it to collect all the crystal. What's NOT fun are timed events that require perfection. So, my vibe is that this game is trying to pull me in two directions at the same time: think carefully about your next move and be precise, while also try to look around you and find your path. I lost myself many times while trying to find my way since the H button positions a lure (eheh, pun) mostly on a very far region and then it's up to me... though, the right path is only one and I don't have any signal to help me out. [spoiler]I think the best example of this is in chapter 6, while trying to reach the tower, in the section with the strong wind and the rock and sand bridge: I moved to the left and proceeded climbing to the left of the rock, though the right path was on the right! So I'd advise either to put more lures OR to increase the number of checkpoints and possible paths. Exploring shouldn't be punished in a game like this! Final note: I haven't yet completed the game. The last part with the "checkerboard spiral", as I saw someone call it online, is way too difficult with such little checkpoints. Also it took me a loooong while figuring out how to get out of the chamber right before it.[/spoiler] Mark: 7/10 Ambiance: that is absolutely stunning. The complexity of the design and the incredible feats I have to manage with Lorn leave me in awe. You are drawn in in this game that grabs your psiche and becomes almost addictive. I am not kidding. I took a break last night from stuff I was doing and went on playing, and I noticed only one hour and an half later that my hands were hurting and time flyed by. The details and the structure truly make you immerse in this game, such that when you manage to complete a difficult feat, or fight your fear of a very dark and damp place, you get a rush of excitement that makes you desire to go on and on and on. It's like climbing a real mountain. God I love this. Mark: 9.5/10 Storyline: there's a 0.5 points missing from the previous section, because ambience is intertwined with storyline here. All the story of Lorn's Lure feels passive. You get almost no information from direct observation, but you get a lot of ideas from looking around you. And what you see makes your skin crawl. [spoiler]Now, the game itself is Lovercraftian in nature. That is surely understandable. What I disliked, though, that in order to be truly Lovecraftian the descent into madness must be GRADUAL... and there's where we encounter a massive problem. Chapter 1 is compelling, chapter 2 is dreadful, chapter 3 is spooky, chapter 4 leaves you in wonder but also makes you feel that something's wrong, chapter 5 is dystopic, chapter 6 is sad but wonderful, chapter 7 is horrific and chapter 8 is the depth of the wrongness. This is not a linear descent into madness: it's more like a slide, ending into a climb that slides again and then drops you down. Details are here and there: but it's not enough. You lose yourself in the beauty of what surrounds you, neglecting the bugs that crawl under your metal skin, until it's too late. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that the game grabs you and drags in a direction, then slaps you and drags into another, before kicking you in the guts and showing true horror. If the gambeplay is addictive and the ambience drags me in, the storyline repels me sometimes. The weirdest part is: Lorn is shown in very little cutscenes, but when he's shown he's mostly... unaffected, carefree? I would really love to see him in a small cutscene struggling with what he sees around him, or maybe pose himself some questions about what he sees around him, instead of hearing his thoughts only in the final chapter.[/spoiler] My personal advice, in a situation where I could freely arrange the chapters, would be to put chapter 4, 3, 7 and 8 in this order at the end. [spoiler]Cave systems with claustrophobic ambience and ghosts? Definitely fit for the prologue of a infohazard-affected town.[/spoiler] Mark: 4/10 Mean final mark: 7/10. I definitely advise this game, even from the many issues that affect it. I await with great expectations a new game from this author, because I know you have the ability to do even better. Good job!