Lunacid

Incredible masterpiece of an rpg

Lots to talk about with this game! Ultimately it's a recommend from me, but not without a few qualifiers. First the positives: this game is gorgeous, the vibes are immaculate, the sound design is some of the best in the business and the music consists either of pitch perfect ambience or straight up synth bangers. Aesthetically, this game nails literally everything it sets out to do, no notes. There were a number of sights, moments, levels, locations, tracks that left me feeling genuine chills and they worked purely on visual and sound design alone, and that is an achievement worth celebrating. There is a specificity of aesthetic here that is really worth lauding, I want more games that look and sound and feel like this so much! It's easy to say "it sounds like a PS1 game", but I don't necessarily think that's true, rather it sounds like what I remember PS1 games sounding like in my rose-tinted mindscape, which is a difficult as hell trick to pull of. This is the easiest thing about the game to recommend; existing in Lunacid feels great. Being in its spaces is a wonderful experience, they're weird, they're bleak, they're gothic, they're beautiful. Places always feel a little spooky, even after you learn them by heart. I can honestly talk about the aesthetics of this game for ages, I love it, from the castles, to the crypts, to the blasted landscapes, to the voids. Now, for the awkward bits. I don't want to call the story "bad" per se, it's clearly going for an obfuscatory and cryptic vibe and it's hard to say it's a problem that it succeeds in this regard, but it's also hard for me to judge its successes because a lot of it felt, well, obfuscated. At some point my character's mission went from "escape a well" to "wake a sleeping ancient fish" and I feel like I can't pinpoint the moment where that happened, or why I wound up with that goal in the first place. The lore and background information is pretty fun to parse, I liked reading the journals, putting the threads together, crossing my Ts, dotting my Is, but a lot of its thematic elements are a little scattered in how they're presented. Lunacid appears to operate on a meta-level, or at least it attempts to; on some level it's kind of a "game about games", but what exactly it wants to say through that lens felt a little... uncharacteristically obvious, I guess? The extra endings do get pretty weird, which is fun in itself, (I'm willing to let a sort of thematic bluntness slide if you get a little freaky with it), but none of them really tickled my fancy in the way other meta-games like Undertale or Nier or Spec Ops the Line's storytelling did. It sort of wraps itself up with a kind of statement on the nature of gaming which just felt sort of unearned. Speaking of unearned, a lot of the characters are pretty flat. They have nice designs (in fact, all the enemy designs, even normal skeletons, are great), but that's about all they have. Very little to speak on there. I would say overall the story is both vital for upholding the vibes and ambience of the game, but missteps in key parts. It's easy to see why the game has the story it does, and it would be a lesser game without its weird details and obfuscatory attitude, but it could afford to be tighter overall, especially in its conclusions and characterisation. The gameplay also has issues, though I think I'm more apologetic about these than most. Combat's pretty dull and straightforward, you shoot spells, you swing swords. Most enemies go down quick, although later enemies and the bosses are kind of bullet-spongey. I don't hate this so much, though the bullet spongey bosses irritated me. I think making the combat too finicky or awkward would bring down the vibe, there are absolutely games that kneecap their pacing and emotional depth by adding way to much mechanical nuance, but there is such a thing as over-correcting, and this game's fights are VERY straightforward. Point and shoot, stabby stabby. Match elemental weaknnesses to enemies and presto, fight's done. This will doubtless be boring to some people, and while I didn't hate it, part of me does wonder if it would be a better game with a more involved mode of RPG combat. The exploration elements fair better. Like i said earlier, it's a fun game to just walk around in, fun to find nooks, crannies, and every area has at least one big surprise in it that caught me off guard. Some spells have surprising utility, which is fun to discover, and maxing out certain stats to maximise utility brings a sort of hilarious mobility to the game. I always like it when a game lets you kind of a little bit break it, it feels like cheating, but fun! It's uncomplicated, but it doesn't have to be complicated, the exploration is an excuse to see weird places and find weird stuff, so I think it's easier to forgive the simplicity of it. Also, the fake wall opening sound effect is literally perfect. Dopamine shot straight to my brain. Overall, I think Lunacid will stay with me for a long time, its vibes are just that immaculate, and I can forgive a lot of its shortcomings just for succeeding in that regard. That said, it has some key shortcomings: if straightforward combat, and a simultaneously textually cryptic but thematically very blunt story sound offputting to you, maybe skip this one.

I really like this game. Something about the environment design just feels really good. The music is eclectic. The weapons are interesting. If you want something that feels like a old-school dungeon crawler, give this a go!

This game is phenomenal. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but for me it's more than exceptional, the atmosphere, secrets, theme, everything is exactly what i want in an indie dungeon crawler. If you want something with great ambience and fun yet rewarding secrets, PLAY THIS GAME.

muito bom. amei a vibe onirica. nostalgia.sonhos.

Definitely interesting experience.

Favourite game of the year so far

Amazing old school adventure/rpg. The combat and mechanics are very simple, but where the game truly shines is the atmosphere and exploration. The game uses its limitations to its advantage by creating a heavy and oppressing ambient, partnered with some great level design this game had me scared and anxious most of the time. It has no map so its pretty mentally draining to create a mental map and notes of the secret passages. The npcs felt a little out of place but didnt harm the overall experience. The best rendition of the Kingsfield series ive ever seen, a must play if you are a fan of the old Fromsoft games. Dont bother getting ending E, is kind of a waste of time.