Lorn's Lure Review - Call of the Void

One of my favorite manga of all time is Blame!, a somewhat niche title by the masterful Tsutomu Nihei. The way Nihei crafts his worlds, letting visuals speak more than the very characters in his works, it's something unique to the medium of manga. Most of all, however, it's how he is able to portray scale in Blame! and his various other works that amaze me.

Lorn's Lure wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and chiefly among them is Blame!. It's a mysterious first-person platformer that prefers to show rather than tell, and also perfectly captures the unfathomably large scale of megastructures. Lorn's Lure might have niche appeal, but like Blame!, those who consume its content will absolutely love it.

Lorn's Lure, a Precision Platformer

Armed with nothing but your own body and two climbing pickaxes, your objective is to continue onward. You're being lured by something -- perhaps your own curiosity -- but this megastructure that comprises Lorn's Lure beckons. Descending and ascending incomprehensible obstacles is the fun of Lorn's Lure. You never know what's ahead, even if you see a giant thing in the distance.

Often times, you'll descend (or ascend) via thin rebar and wires jutting out at precarious heights, and you'll have to make plenty of daring jumps, too. In this regard, Lorn's Lure feels like a precision platformer, as finesse is the key. Yet, the platforming in this title, despite being a first-person game, is quite smooth and not in the least bit slippery or difficult to control.

Your standard walking speed is pretty fast, too, but if you want, you can slow down on thin beams so you don't stray over the edge. Nonetheless, this is a game where you need to take as many minuscule footholds as you can get, and you'll be surprised by how generous Lorn's Lure can be despite the unpredictable situations you're put in.

Failure is Part of the Process in Lorn's Lure

Of course, failure is inevitable, but even in failure, Lorn's Lure is gracious and respectful to players. Checkpoints are scattered throughout -- not just a few, but dozens upon dozens of them, even on small perches -- so plummeting to your death isn't a huge issue. By pressing one button, you can immediately restart back to that checkpoint, making most situations manageable.

So yes, you'll find yourself falling to death quite a bit, and if the game detects you've fallen for something like three seconds, it'll usually immediately reset -- these falls aren't survivable, after all. You can sort of finesse your way across what seems like impossible scenarios by abusing the stamina system in Lorn's Lure.

Jumping around and landing on a slightly slanted edge will give you just the reprieve you need to restore some stamina and either latch onto a wall with your pickaxes or make a second jump to the next ledge. Stamina depletes while you climb or do just about anything else besides walking, so maintaining this and making sure it doesn't expire before you land is key.

Your job of getting to the end of these massive levels, well, it gets easier, and it doesn't. Lorn's Lure does an excellent job at giving players new abilities to utilize as time goes on. It's just the right amount of spice to mitigate what could have been a tedious game. Abilities like dash jets, a mid-air dash, allows for the levels to get even more creative as you progress.

Players can "tic-tac" off of walls (essentially, wall jumping) for some stamina and bridge larger gaps, or eventually an improved jump lets you cross yet even larger chasms later on. I can't commend developer Rubeki Games enough for adding new abilities as time goes on, since it introduces new obstacles even when these abilities make things more convenient.

Oh, the Places You'll Go

Let's talk about level design -- Rubeki Games is insanely creative in the way they make vast, open spaces and insurmountable obstacles. In one moment, you'll have the feelings of megalophobia from the sheer scale of the objects you're climbing -- in the next, you might have the overwhelming pressure of claustrophobia bearing down on you.

I already touched on scaling giant walls, either by ascending or descending, but I didn't talk about one level in particular. Early on, gameplay does a bit of a shift and throws players into a complex, seemingly endless series of rocky tunnels. Having to squeeze through tiny holes in a dark environment to move forward, it's an uncomfortable experience.

Lorn's Lure excels at making its player uncomfortable, and it's an experience that you can't find in many games. But besides just the feeling of being in a giant (or cramped) space, you have mysterious, abandoned cities, sunken temples, and gigantic canyons that seem to defy reason.

These levels come to life with exceptional use of lighting, fog, and creativity. More often than not, I'd get done climbing down a gigantic building or network of pipes, look up and be amazed by how far I had come.

Lorn's Lure Review | Final Thoughts

Seeing how big some of these environments are, one might think it's easy to get lost. There were times when, yes, it became very hard to intuit where the game wanted me to go, and that was frustrating. Thankfully, there's a handy hint system in Lorn's Lure that does a solid job most of the time, even if it's not perfect.

Besides that, I took a methodical and slow approach to my platforming, and while the finale to Lorn's Lure is thrilling, it also felt too fast-paced and grueling for its own good. The final gauntlet will definitely test your patience and felt inconsistent with the methodical pace I went through the levels preceding it.

No doubt, Lorn's Lure is an unconventional game. It defies the ordinary, which perfectly complements the mysterious and foreboding nature of the game's looming megastructures and elusive narrative. I have nothing but respect for the way Lorn's Lure portrays itself, and those who play it to the end will most definitely count it as an indie gem.