Lucah: Born of a Dream

Imagine Yume Nikki, crossed with the Hyper Light Drifter, pumping skills in the spirit of Sundered, and pretentious storyline in the spirit of Evangelion. Yes, in fact, Lucah-a typical teenage-psychological anime, wrapped in a video game format, with an extremely cloying and boring storyline, 75% of which takes a pretentious suicidal maximalism, and the remaining 25%-enhanced tightening of the Christian owl on the globe Happening. Add to this a bunch of non-allowed catscenes (a separate "Thank you" developer for depriving the player of the opportunity to put the game on pause in some particularly tense moments) and primitive graphics, strenuously served as a "chip". Do not fail to kick the disgusting system of "navigation": the map in the game is absolutely useless, and in the semi-chaotic pile of lines often you can get lost and long to look for, where to get the freshest key, or some other story thing. It was forgivable in the same Hyper Light Driver's, as there was a bunch of beautiful landscapes, interesting locations and in general there was something to see. In Lucah The same look is absolutely not on that, and forced walking in circles on monotonous black emptiness it is impossible to explain anything, except as "artificial stretching of game time". And given that to get the true-ending game need to pass two times... Okay, now let's put the whip down, and hold the gingerbread. The game has two very tangible pluses, thanks to which you close your eyes to all of the above. First: Music. Basically, it's a minimalist rhythm-n-Blues and trip-hop, ideally fit into a primitive graphic style and in a general mood. Not all the tracks I liked, and not all seemed to me "to the place", but most of the game music still pleased. The Second, and the main plus: Boevka. The Combat system in the game is so good that it easily plugs into the waist 90% of modern hack'n'slash-games. Very smooth, very tangible, very "savory" and quite diverse. The Player can switch between two types of attacks, each of which can be customize. Having found a new "Mantra" (analogous to weapons in the game), you can combine it with another, while changing not only the type of attack, but also receiving a certain permanent buff on any stat, whether stamina, damage, or increased chance to "break" the enemy shield. Mantras are quite a lot, and you can choose a combination for every taste (though, what to say, in the graphic plan the attacks are almost indistinguishable, and do not go beyond the "blue wave; Green Wave; Big and Small Swing "). In Addition, in the game you can find a bunch of "familiars", which perfectly help both to finish the enemies (especially if the player has run out of stamina just for the final strike), and for treatment, and this case is not limited. Your humble servant for 8 hours of the game found only 5 of them, but there are still a lot of non-left. Enemies in the game are not so simple, and break their spam beats at best unprofitable, and at worst-fraught with a powerful blow to the muzzle. Patient expectation and "roll" toward the enemy at the time of attack stuns him for a while, giving the player the opportunity to inflict maximum damage. The Parry System here is much more merciful than in most of these games, and the number of "safe" frames is quite large, which avoids damage even with too hasty evasion. For the dislike of too close contact there is a relatively ranged Mantra, causing a little less damage, but allowing to "kite" the enemy from afar. Enemies Themselves, not even possessing a diverse design, in the shortest time become almost native, and already know that the "octopus" is better to attack from afar, in order not to get under the sudden AOE-attack, and the "knight" with the shield is a big delay before the blow. Bosses are not too complicated and forgive the player mistakes, but a couple of them can easily arrange a small personal hell. In particular, this refers to the Hollow on NG +, not only that the living and painful biting, so also spavnyuyusususme a huge number of ordinary opponents and familiars. As mentioned earlier, the game has a good and bad endings, which get directly affected by the parameter "corruption" (yes, this is the incomprehensible counter in the upper right corner). I Do not know, whether it is possible to pass the game, not being skorraptivno at the first passage, but almost certainly you have to pass. In this case, Ng + opens some new "chips", eliminates the need for pumping, as well as adds the ability to remove the "damage" at successful outcomes of battles. In Short, Lucah is an ambiguous project, just as good in terms of gameplay and battles, how unbearably dull and hypertrophic-emotional in terms of the plot. Those who want to know what "perfectly implemented combat system in an indie game" is worth trying, but those who are looking for fascinating "schizophrenic" plots and thoughtful "lor"-it is better to stay away. I Really hope that the studio will hire a normal screenwriter and do not stop at the development of their strengths. 6/10