![]() Unfortunately, for me, it seems that my muscle memory for this type of game is not what it once was, because you see, the difficulty of Lumo is not with the puzzles, which are all fairly straightforward, it is with the style itself. It’s clear this game was made with people like me, who grew up on these types of games, in mind. There are things to collect along the way such as coins, ducks to rescue and lots of secrets, a few with nods to 80s gaming such as cassette tapes and references to retro magazines. The assumption is that you must get back to your own world by exploring, but that is never explicitly stated. Your avatar is a squat little boy or girl dressed in what appears to be a wizard’s hat and robes, but other than a short intro where your character is transported to the world of Lumo at the beginning there is no other means of narrative. Thankfully in Adventure mode you can find maps that will help you to navigate around a little easier, although its presentation is a little confusing at first with no key to clarify what the icons in various rooms mean. Each room within a zone provides a logical connection to the one previous, but it is quite easy to get lost. ![]() Lumo is lovely looking, with a chunky, simplistic style. Picking the correct one is crucial in order to be able to continue deep into the game as the rooms becoming increasingly more complicated and difficult to navigate with insta-death looming with the likes of electrified floors, moving platforms, fiery barriers, and other obstacles. It’s worth spending some time trying each of the three options so that you settle on the one that feels the most intuitive to you. Next up, you can set your preferred control scheme, which is a useful tool. “Pretend like it’s 1985” the text on the screen cheerily announces. When you begin you are presented with a couple of options for how you would like to play: Adventure mode which allows you infinite re-spawns, a map and the ability to save your game and “Old School” where you have limited re-spawns, no map, and cannot save your progress. Exploring from room to room you will have to solve puzzles and find items to help you progress: a key for a locked door a wrench for a piece of machinery some soap to clean dirty water! Locating these items will require you to back-track and try different doors to see what is behind them and where they will lead to. Along the way it utilises mechanics from other games of that era, the most striking of which for me was Marble Madness a game I loved when I was younger.ĭripping with nostalgia, you are transported to a strange world with interlocking rooms, portals and secret passages with the task of finding your way out. The loading screen harkens back to the heady days of the Spectrum (without the half hour gamble on whether the game would actually load or not) and continues into a delightful little isometric puzzle adventure game reminiscent of Knight Lore, Solstice, Head over heels, and others of that ilk. Right from the start of Lumo it is clear that developer Gareth Noyce has created a love-letter to games from the past.
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