Hey, another Limbo clone, what is it this time? A plot revolving around this kid and her pet cat, while riding a bot against an army of giant robots who kidnaps her village people and her sister. Actually, saying that, sounds like a cool early 2000s Disney animated film concept I'd be super into.
What's even greater, is the involvement of Takeshi Furukawa, the composer behind The Last Guardian, and it wasn't that he added a richer experience by soundtrack alone. The developers based their inspirations from Ico, creating emotional connections with the player and playable characters on the screen. Included the Ghibli-esque charm found witin.
The puzzles are creatively designed just for the purpose of evoking that connection, with different variations as the game progresses. They aren't that difficult, but I hardly found that to be the issue, as they don't feel misplaced. For a small sized game, it is quite an endearing experience.
Just as both Illu and Lana, two sisters from a peaceful village playing games till they reach a hill and witness a terrible new beginning. Machines from the sky, drops before the Earth and then began abducting as many people as possible. Illu gives herself up to protect Lana, while she escapes and goes to find the machines that took her sister.
As she steps out of the land she knew, and into a different part of the world, Lana uncovers a lot of things, from the machine drones still looking out for any remaining humans, to monsters lurking about in her path. First encounter is one where she had to hide under the bush, and then run while it looks away, it does chase, and comes really close before I press jump to grab the other ledge.
Lana comes down, and then finds that creature who fell, dead. She had to move it adjacent to this biological mechanism which protrudes a black lever, long as the body stays there, she can use the lever as a ledge to climb, before climbing herself out there.
This wasn't exactly a puzzle, but it was a set piece moment that also indicate how the coming puzzles will be close call ones. And this is where I meet the indelible, the brightest spot of the game, Mui. This otherworldly cat changes the gameplay entirely, half the controls are dedicated to controlling him.
Mui can be told to stop somewhere or follow me, he can be told to climb somewhere high, which he can for a feline, and interact with objects. He is the other half of the main game design, where both him and Lana work together against all odds. He has this cute voice letting me know if he can follow or not.
There's no dialogue spoken in English, and no way to translate the made up language. So the overarching story is read through the environments, the inhabitants in it, cutscenes, and the character expressions. There's also the OST that creates this sense of the grand scale adventure while helping to emotionally immerse myself in certain scenes. The intricate, engaging puzzle solving, that requires me to have both the level design awareness and a bit of brain power, does a lot to create empathy for both Lana and her cat.
The whole premise reminds me of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind or some particular Star Wars tale. Exploring through this linear 2D platformer just never felt exhausting or even a tinge of boredom because the world around me changes from lush forest, to caves, decrepit old buildings, desert occupied by machines and so on.
Like, the color grade and lining manages to ooze some life into these places. Even if it's minimalism, having Mui interact with another organism, just lighting up the cave changes the scene immediately. This and the amazing level design as well.
The environment itself provides some backstory, as well as helping to do the game's job of evoking certain emotions based on a few particular situations. Especially when both Mui and Lana reacts to them.
I get that this won't break grounds, heck it might even be derivative. But very few captures the whimsy, and wanderlust that this game does. Accompanied by an amazing composer, and character design. This adventure packs quite the emotional punch.
There's a lot of mystery to unravel as well, I won't spoil much but there were areas that became exposition for the world's backstory, through various visual showcases like cave drawings and 3D projectors about advance civilizations that came before them. There is one other challenge that this platformer has, and that is finding hidden shrines, which also illuminates more about the world itself.
Few nitpicks I have, has to do with controls, they can get pretty finicky. Thanks to the lack of deadzones for the analog. I would drop from ledges several times because of accidentally going the opposite direction.
For the most part, this was a solid experience. I have not found Illu yet, but after another 2 hours, I hopefully do. Not a lengthy game, and that was doable for what it offers for the price. Now after this, I might try out Last Guardian later on.
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