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Looks can be deceiving; I felt this on my own skin too many times. Therefore, I learn something, at least when it comes to video games: never trust the game's appearance; you couldn't possibly know the monster it can hide under its cute facade. Lunarium seemed just like this when I loaded it for the first time: a small, colourful top-down adventure with anime-inspired characters and gorgeous, if a little overly bright, levels.
It didn't take long until this cuteness grabbed me by the collar and slammed me on the ground. Under a cute appearance, a monster of the Souls-like genre was hiding, ready to stand on the line to Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and even Sekiro and say, 'Who's the hardest game here, again?'
Story
If you got the impression that Lunarium is poised to be a perfect game chosen from a large pile of Souls-likes, well, I must disappoint you here. As much as I would like it to be because it really grew on me during my time with it, the reality is sadly much different, and its first real weaknesses are shown exactly in its storytelling.
I know that the story in most Souls-likes is supposed to be cryptic and all, and to understand it, you must either read a bunch of item description texts, journal pages and whatnot, but in Lunarium, the situation is quite different, to put it mildly. First, you're literally thrown into the game's world without knowing anything about it, and where the game should give you a couple of hints and explanations at least, you'll feel like someone who joined watching a movie halfway through, not knowing the plot at all.
As soon as the game starts, you'll keep hearing strange names for places and people, and the game will not bother to give you any explanations of its lore or even what the hell this place you found yourself in is. Trust me, to understand my motive even closely in Lunarium, I had to Google its plot, which is hardly a good storytelling approach in my book.
You play as Ave, a female warrior who joined forces with Lune, a mysterious starfarer, in their endeavour to save Lune's friend and her mentor Lilia and their motherland from the influence of Nihilus, a strange matter that turns people into monsters.
This is as much as I managed to get at the beginning. From that point on, the story will follow those two in their quest to uncover this strange mystery; however, the way the story jumps from one point to the other, the possibility to choose which part of the world to explore first and the inability of the game to recognise which part you already finished will result in a true storytelling mess.
For example, once the game opened up a bit, I decided to follow the main plot and unlock a big door by collecting four different souls tied to four different bosses, which allowed me to open the door and face the game's main objective. I did all that, but I never explored some side areas which the game probably thinks you'll do. Once I beat the main boss of this area, I decided to explore the rest of this world, and to my surprise, I engaged in several conversations with my sidekick Lune, and we talked about how we are going to save that certain person, even though we just put her to the ground.
The second large problem with the story is localisation. The game is made by a small Chinese studio that goes by the same name as their debut title, Lunarium. When I loaded the game for the first time, I kind of freaked out because everything was in Chinese. Luckily, in the upper left corner of the screen was the globe symbol, and there, I could change the language to English. However, not all the text is properly translated in Lunarium. You'll come across many items, letters, conversations, and even side quests written in Chinese, and I, not knowing a single Chinese symbol, could just watch them and admire their beauty.
It wouldn't be a problem at all if the game were voiced. All conversations are shown in written dialogues, and if you don't know what the game requires you to do, it is very hard to go in the right direction. This will likely be addressed in future updates, but as things are right now, it is quite problematic.
Gameplay
Regarding gameplay, Lunarium proudly throws down the gauntlet to all of the hardest Souls-likes, at least when it comes to the difficulty and punishment for being careless in combat. As I said earlier, do not let the looks fool you. This game might look cute, but when it comes to combat, the challenge it poses is truly immense.
The game is designed in a top-down style, which produces one of the most original combat approaches and is most certainly something I haven't experienced up until now in any Souls-like action RPG. Being a top-down-oriented game, you'll face enemies from a single camera angle; however, the enemies won't stay still during fights, and you'll have to adapt. For example, it isn't the same thing when a boss attacks you, and you're facing him straight and when his huge body is obscuring the line of sight. The camera angle can change the entire fight, and to be as effective in the combat, you'll most certainly learn how to manipulate those things to your advantage.
Speaking of combat, the one in Lunarium seems like something simple, but trust me, it is anything but. You'll mostly use the combo of three or four simple melee attacks done with your longsword, which is your main weapon. Apart from that, you'll have a heavy thrust attack, which deals more damage but is a lot slower to execute, and as the game progresses, you'll unlock special moves taken from weapons dropped by defeated bosses.
For defence, you'll be able to dodge, sprint away, block, and parry. Apart from the health bar, enemies have some sort of stagger bar which accumulates as you attack them and more as you parry their attack, but if you leave the enemy alone, it will deplete, which means an aggressive fight (yes, you guessed it correctly, Sekiro). Once the enemy is staggered, you can order Lune to hit it with the arrow from her bow, and this will open it for some serious damage.
Lune can help in the fight too, and during the combos, she will occasionally shoot the arrows. You can also charge her arrow attack, which will deal huge stagger damage and immediately stagger some weaker enemies; however, her arrows are not infinite. To use them, you must charge a special gauge by killing enemies. All in all, the combat is really sophisticated, extremely precise, and hellishly satisfying and, sadly, quite unbalanced.
Every hit from the enemies, even those quite weak ones, will sometimes deplete a third, and sometimes a half, of your health, and given that you'll usually be ganged up on by the enemies in Lunarium, expect loads of frustration. Bosses, on the other hand, are a different story. They hit really hard, yes, but as soon as you learn their moveset, you'll be destroying them left and right. You can easily be killed by any boss in just two or three hits, and with a couple of heals on you, you can survive no more than a dozen of those hits, so every single boss fight is a pure learning experience.
Apart from great combat, the world design is something to be praised in Lunarium too. The interconnectivity of the world is insane. Hidden cracks that connect two different areas, deployable ladders, finding a correct angle to break obstacles- everything and then some waits for you in this amazingly crafted world. Exploring it was never boring to me, and truth be told, I enjoyed those segments much more than the combat, for which I have only words of praise.
Technical Rough Edges of Lunarium
The gameplay, in essence, is a mixture of fun, enjoyment, and, unfortunately, bug infestation, which deserves a special mention in this review. As much as Lunarium can be fun, that much it can be messy, all thanks to the fact that this game is still a work in progress rather than the finished product ready to be shipped.
I'll mention some of the bugs, and you can make your own assessment on whether this game, at least in this state, is worthy of your attention or not. For example, I was exploring one area after jumping inside from higher ground. The game will not let you return the same way you came in because there is no jumping mechanic or anything alike. To exit this area, you must use the charged arrow attack performed by Lune, and to do that, you need to have at least one energy gauge filled. You can fill this gauge by killing enemies, and the game gives you a couple of them here.
However, I spent those charges fighting the enemies, and when I wanted to leave, I couldn't because I was missing an energy charge, and returning the way I came was not an option. Also, the game doesn't give you the item to return to the latest bench. To leave this area, I had to quit to the main menu and reload the recent save. This was the solution, yes, but a terrible design, nonetheless.
On one occasion, the game decided to treat me with invincibility. Yes, you read correctly. For a considerable chunk of the game, enemies were unable to hurt me. This god mode was fun, I must admit, but what is the challenge in that? To fix it, I needed to restart the game completely.
I already mentioned untranslated texts and dialogues; however, I didn't mention that those locked me out of progressing for a really long time because I didn't know where to go. The solution was written down, but sadly in Chinese. I stumbled upon a solution by mere chance. Also, the game hard-locked me from progression once because I chose to explore the area further instead of following the game's prompt to leave, which forced me to restart the entire progress up to that moment. Luckily, I wasn't that far in the game.
All those bugs and imperfections are real, and some of them, while being fun and cute, can be a real problem. The developers need to take care of them as soon as the game is out because in this state, the game is a total mess.
Visuals, Performance, and Sounds
Visually, Lunarium is a cute-looking game, but no more than that. The art style direction is obviously inspired by anime, with characters designed in this fashion. Of course, the characters you can see inside the dialogue prompts; the real figures showcased in the top-down perspective are much smaller and much less detailed.
The colour palette choice is an interesting one, to put it bluntly. The entire game looks somehow overly bright, with white colour taking over the show. Animations, on the other hand, are created masterfully and support the game's precision in combat perfectly. The sword slashes and stabs, the prompts for the enemy attacks, everything is accompanied by a proper animation, which, for this level of production, is really commendable.
The performance is perfect, which is to be expected because Lunarium isn't a graphically demanding game. Apart from the resolution slider, no other graphic settings are present; however, I was quite surprised that the game fully supports the ultra-widescreen aspect ratio. Good job, Lunarium Game Studio.
Even though the game isn't voiced, it doesn't mean the sound design is less good; on the contrary, the soundtrack and the environmental sounds are designed perfectly here. The soundtrack while exploring and inside combat shifts all the time; however, the lack of variety is something you'll notice immediately. I won't say it's a bad thing because the songs that accompany everything in the game are amazing, but they will grow repetitive over time.
Conclusion
Lunarium is a small Souls-like I desperately wanted to love and recommend to everyone who appreciates this kind of challenging game. The combat, the level design, the minimalistic approach, and the amount of rage-inducing challenge are something I will always love about this game.
Still, I need to look the truth in the eyes and say that Lunarium, as much as I wanted it to be among the best in the genre, is a game full of bugs and rough edges that will render it totally unplayable, and until those problems are solved, I can't recommend this at full price in its current state, but keep it on your wishlist. Lunarium is pure potential wrapped up in the festival of bugs. Wait for it to get fixed, and you'll get one of the most original Souls-likes you've ever played.
Once Lunarium gets a proper update, I'll return to this review and revisit the score.
The Good
Original top-down Souls-like combat- Genuinely punishing, satisfying difficulty
- Excellent interconnected world design
- Strong animation work
- Perfect performance, ultra-widescreen support
- Great soundtrack and sound design
The Bad
Confusing, poorly explained story- Incomplete English localisation
- Frequent, sometimes progress-breaking bugs
- Unbalanced enemy damage
- Repetitive music over time
