+ One of the most original and captivating puzzle games I've ever played.
+ The things the game asks of you are constantly changing and even when an answer seems difficult, once you have the solution there is always satisfaction in finding it. Not once did I feel annoyed or confused by a puzzle solution.
+ Incredible sense of audio-visual style.

- The one button control scheme is incredibly irritating and doesn't seem at all justified.

Lorelei is a wet dream for puzzle-lovers. Its atmosphere and aesthetic are perfectly designed, its many, many puzzles are terrific, and it's narrative is bizarre and gripping.

Its control scheme could use some improvements though - it is playable with just directional input and one button, which is accessible but introduces a lot of inconveniences. I also have some nitpicks on the UI - it's really easy to miss critical hints because you didn't realize a particular note had multiple pages. A notebook/writing tool is a must for this game.

Full review here (Dutch): https://www.budgetgaming.nl/columns/columns-568.html

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is definitely not for everyone. However, players who love unraveling a good mystery and can really immerse themselves in it will adore this game. Some minor flaws in the gameplay prevent the game from being the top puzzle game it could have been, but this shouldn't spoil the fun. For fans of challenging brainteasers, this game offers an engaging experience with complex and intriguing puzzles that should not be overlooked.

I'm only an hour into this, but I feel very comfortable rating this an excellent puzzle game that I'm deeply invested in completing.

I lost interest in and never finished The Witness because of how disconnected and abstract the puzzles felt from the world. But I'm already very intrigued by the many questions that have been posed. Who am I? Why have I been summoned to this hotel in the middle of the woods? Why is some eccentric rich guy tasking me with solving puzzles in order to reach him?

My one minor complaint is the lack of a dedicated back button. It's very annoying that I have to constantly scroll up to hit the "X" button in a menu or force a bad solve in a puzzle screen in order to go back.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is best described as a Resident Evil game that's a fully puzzle game.

Throughout the game you explore a mysterious mansion, solve puzzles, collect objects, open shortcuts, etc. The game is extremely stylish, and laying out puzzles in the game world makes them feel so much more rewarding.

I wouldn't describe it as a hard game. I believe if you write down things and remember your notes which you always have access to from the game, you'll solve most of it with no problem. However, every puzzle feels unique. There's nothing that I can point at that feels like a repeat, and thanks to that there are likely going to be places where you will be stumped, since our brains are all wired differently.

For me, Bug Report 2 was probably the biggest obstacle. However, at the beginning this format also works againts the game a little bit. When you don't yet know how the puzzles work, it's easy to get stuck due to a simple mistake and start "solving" things that are impossible, thinking that you have enough pieces, while you have two out of three.

I do wish the game wasn't as insistent on underlining important information in its notes, because that makes some things really easy, and even by the end of the game you'll be finding long pages with something like "TUESDAY" underlined.

That said, I loved my time with Lorelei. Beaten the game in 13 hours, which is a lot more than I would expect from an exploratory puzzle game.

As you would probably expect from my description, there is a story, and this might be the biggest meta puzzle that connects everything you know. Frankly, I'm still not sure about some things that happened. Because of this I can't say the story grabbed me, as throughout the game it was just weird and I couldn't connect with anyone, but it's so stylish and abstract that it was still fun interacting with it.

It's a unique haunting experience that I won't soon forget, and if you like puzzles or want something strange, this is the game for you.

Beautiful puzzler game, what is art in capitalism? how it affects us? How it creates our reality?

It's not just cool art direction and an interesting story, the level design and the puzzles are all used to tell it in an interesting way.

Loves numbers and mazes a little bit too much!

An intricate puzzle box of a game, paying homage to silent French films, a touch of Lynch & early 2000’s Resident Evil-esque survival horrors

The game plays like a non linear escape room - freeing you to explore the hotel and follow multiple puzzle chains independently of each other

Eventually these chains coalesce into a singular narrative - one I’m still not 100% sure of

Despite a number of claims about the controls (namely a lack of a dedicated back and menu button) - this didn’t ever impact my enjoyment. Rather, it encouraged a more methodical and engaged approach to exploring and puzzle solving

The puzzles themselves do tend to lean a little heavy on numerical locks, but the feeling of satisfaction when you connect a document in your inventory to a puzzle rooms away is so rewarding

The game doesn’t overstay its welcome and is a unique and hypnotic trip into a black and white world of art, mazes and memories

about halfway through at the time of this review

this is incredible...games that can make my wholly dumb ass feel smart are something i deeply cherish and appreciate...the puzzles in this game are fucking amazing (except for a couple of the shortcut logic puzzles which is why I dinged my score)

this has been my drink coffee and chip away at a game...my morning crossword...and ive already filled up like ten pages in a notebook that is increasingly looking more and more like a conspiracy board

this dev always surprises me...im excited to see how it ends

Absolutely brilliant. A game that knows exactly what it wants to be, and nails it. A tribute to the quiet moments of survival horror, and an exploration of the tension between art and profit.

The puzzles are pitched just right - not usually any tougher than you'd find in an escape room, but sturdy enough to trip you up from time to time. (I needed two hints to finish the game, and both were because I missed the bleeding obvious. One of those times was me struggling to unlock a door after forgetting I had the key.) Any repetition in the find-code-to-unlock-door structure is counteracted by a huge amount of variety and creativity in how the puzzle pieces are presented to you. The standout puzzles are those that tip the hat to a very particular survival horror game while riffing on the "haunted media" genre of creepypasta - they might ultimately just boil down to note-taking exercises, but they're too much fun for me to care.

The story is the greatest puzzle. The ending reveals risk being trite, but get away with it with fair foreshadowing, excellent presentation, and sheer vibes. There's just enough left unexplained, just enough that could be taken a different way, to give you a sense of a much greater horror under the surface. What happened in Sulawesi?

This is the closest I'll get to playing an actual horror game. I don't think it's supposed to be that scary, but I did hit the ceiling once or twice.

good game but ended up being a mixed bag. the puzzles are very creative and satisfying but some turn repetitive. the narrative felt non present for a long stretch of the early game which is a shame bc the writing and presentation of the story is strong and it lets you puzzle the narrative together, however the ending knocks over a lot of that. its a commonly hated trope so i assume other ppl will likely feel the same. theres a lot of subtext here tho so maybe im missing sth.
lastly the controls are awfully inconvenient, especially for menuing which is a big part of the game. theres a stylistic reason for this but its just such a nuisance.
i sound overly negative here but the puzzles can be very good, i was just expecting more out of the story.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a phenomenal experience from start to finish! My playthrough clocked in at around 13 hours, and I had a great time the whole way through. The puzzles were incredibly satisfying to solve. The game recommends you use a physical notebook to write things down, and while my notebook ended up looking like the scrawls of a madman, having something simple to look through on the fly was really useful. None of the puzzles are too difficult, but there was so much variety and always another puzzle to be solved if one was giving me trouble. The controls are extremely simple, with just directional inputs and an action button (though a back button would have been nice). This game just oozes style. I loved the fixed camera angles and the game goes a lot of places (both physically and story-wise) that I was not expecting. Enhancing the experience was the incredible soundtrack, and some of those songs will definitely be joining my playlist. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a gorgeous puzzle game that I would recommend to anyone who is in to games where you have to think, but it still manages to be an approachable, wonderful experience.

"Would you agree that true art has the power to be terrorism?"

I was reluctant, going into this. My only prior experience with Simogo is with Sayonara Wild Hearts, which ultimately became quite honestly my favorite indie game ever made. But if a soundtrack-driven arcade title from the team could drive me to that love, could they do the same for a puzzle game?
Shockingly enough... Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a video game unlike anything I've ever experienced before.

Do you remember the maze?

Many will throw in comparisons to Silent Hill or even Signalis, but this is quite different in a way that there exists a sense of terror without action itself. To cut it short, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is one massive escape room; a colossal set of placed pieces that can take roughly 10-15 hours to solve, especially with a notebook by your side. (Shoutout to Simogo and Annapurna for offering a companion notebook on their official store, which I filled out thoroughly during my playthrough.)
The red-splattered monochrome art direction, with text exclusively printed atop a black screen in a silent film effect, is an incredible aesthetic, alongside the game's satisfying audio design and haptic feedback. One moment I'm in fear of suited men with neon maze heads chasing me, another moment I'm faced with a pointed gun testing my memory and threatening me with a "GAME OVER", and in another moment, my heart was filled with joy, hearing Linnea Olsen from Sayonara Wild Hearts returning for some more tracks. I often saved my game progress too, for the sole purpose of hearing the superb little noises replicated by the computer. And to not spoil much, the experience offers more than just the traditional third-person, fixed-camera adventure game design, most of even which fit understandably well narratively, once the full picture comes into focus.
But even alongside all of that, what I found absolutely phenomenal about this puzzle game is its attention-to-detail. I didn't run into a single puzzle that felt too tedious or too simple; most of the solutions facing me directly in front of my LASER eyes, mocking me with some of their hypnotic designs. You can tell everything from hand-crafted, with many puzzles involving full assets that are interactive to allow for many possibilities. Even smaller unnecessary details just felt right in the world here; not just a set of tampons taking up a slot in your inventory with no use other than just to be there, but an optional coffee cup that allows the player to temporarily move at a quicker pace. Nearly every object I encountered along my way, even the most minuscule memories collected, had purpose, and that's quite a spectacle for a small indie title of this scope.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE MAZE?

I was also quite grateful for the accessibility and quality-of-life features here, as well. Although a notebook will absolutely help you organize your thoughts easier, the game is totally playable without one; nearly every piece interacted with will be automatically be logged with your LASER eyes, allowing you to access anything with some simple keystrokes. Speaking of which though, and I know a handful aren't too fond of this, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is playable with a single stick and single button. (I, myself, found it satisfying to play with just my right hand; my thumb on the stick and a finger on the trigger button.) The only thing being sacrificed with this choice is some swiftness in menu navigation, lacking any form of input to move backwards. While I was baffled by this choice as well, I immediately recalled Sayonara Wild Hearts utilizing a similar simplistic control scheme, and therefore it grew on me.

ĐØ ɎØɄ ⱤɆ₥Ɇ₥฿ɆⱤ ₮ⱧɆ ₥₳ⱫɆ?

I almost didn't give Lorelei and the Laser Eyes a perfect score, to be honest. Within its opening hours, I became overwhelmed by the hundreds of pieces thrown my way, often times losing my path and fearing that I may never truly see this mystery to its end. But as I progressed, unlocking the unsettling truths of the artistry presented to you and ultimately finding a domino effect of pieces falling in place, I couldn't help but feel a sense of euphoria from the rewards reaped within, lined and graced with hypnotic setpieces, great audio design, and a haunting aesthetic. Needless to say, Simogo is now 2-0 in my book.


D̵̢̥͙̰͚̻͉̥̘̠̬͇͕̠̂͗͂̾̔̽̇́͘̚͠͝O̶̳͐͊̊̈́ ̷̮͕͙̪̮̄̔̅̌̊͝Ỳ̸̱̺̒O̸̝̪̓͠U̵̧̗̩̜̥̬̖̝͊̊̇͝ ̸̫̮̲̰̯̌̄̅̊̔̃͗̂͘R̵͔͕̫̰̻̝̻͖͉͔̦͈̆͐̄͂̒̕͠͠E̴̡̛̖͚̥̦̯͌̀̔̓͋̇̅̀̄̃̍͘M̷̛͚͚͖͐̊͗̈́̔̆̅̍́͐É̶̘̹͗͗̅ͅM̴̢̗͔͕̕͝B̵̛̭̻̬̩͕̟̲̰̄̓̄̔͊̈́̌͠E̴̡͔̗̺͖͇̯͚̺̜̜͈̬̙̜̎͛̄̂̏̀̕̚R̷̢̢̡̝̲̬͉̭͚͖͖̙̅̂̕͝ ̶̢̛̬̯̣̠̲̅̌͊͆̊̑̇͊̊͂̄̿̆͝T̶̡͙͓̲̦̳̭̞͑̌̑̅̓͐͂̎H̷̭̫͔̯͉͔͖̝̗̫̖̖͉͔̤̒Ē̸̠̋̾̾̂̎͛ ̵̳͈͔͚̊̌̃͗M̴̳͎͆͌̉͛̍̏͘Á̸̧̧͔͓̹̞͙̟͍͓̿̇͜ͅẐ̷̡͎͖̤̲̥̹͇̜̥̳̟͖̭̈̅̓̃́̅͑͜͠Ē̸͇̜̭̗͉̝͚̜̠͜?̶̨̧͇̙̭͚̺̳̻̟̪͇̆͑̆̈̅̂͗̿̋͑̊́̓͛͠ͅ


Clearly with its scope, I can't recommend this experience to everyone. (In fact, I say this as someone who didn't use any guides for help at all, mainly because most journalists aren't covering the game and there are barely any solutions online anywhere.) But for those searching for the next masterfully-designed, notebook-recommended brain-fucker, please do yourself a favor and visit the Hotel Letztes Jahre today.

Truth recovery: 96.5%

Wow wow wow, this is a very good puzzle mansion with a very strong art and story direction. While I am still coming to grips to the story, most puzzles are difficult and obscure enough to feel rewarding to solve. Thankfully it does not rely on obscurity too much; instead, it tends to use known information and references as clues and solution making this feel more knowledge-based specially specially in the later puzzles. Encouraging the player to keep a pen-and-paper close in hand with its own handbook is awesome and pretty good advice with the need to make cross references. Even with a guide, some puzzle solutions are randomized to let players understand the problem is very much appreciated. In terms of difficulty, this is on the more difficult yet fair spectrum but it is not just its puzzles that make this standout.

The mystery and aesthetics accentuate the experience even further. Specially, the fixed/tracking camera and monochromatic visuals with strong red colors just looks good as a film enthusiast. Of course, it has more with its various diagetic console and games providing a wide tapestry of references. Also, the reference to other games such as Sayonara Wild Hearts just make me smile. Going back to the story, It is not simply the what, who and why but when as events and characters occur non-linearly. While not a fan of the limited save, I do like how it meshes with a little risk and tension specifically from the stalker and prevent guessing in the trivia section. Overall, the variety and context make this like no other.

As for criticisms, the most tangible ones are the lack of a sprint and menu/cancel button. Having to unlock and refresh sprint may be novel but I feel it was monotonous and uninteresting. The lack of a menu/cancel button feels jarring as pressing any button accidentally opens the menu and cannot be closed quickly without iterating through the items. An one button game feels strange as a gimmick considering most controllers and consoles have 4 buttons available and seems to be another unnecessary restriction. Both these issues just hamper the immersion and takes some needless time to get used to without any reward which just baffles me.

As a knowledge-based puzzle game, I do criticize this for a lack of a hint system. Creatively, I respect the choice for not including it and taking the risk of a niche title; however, I do wish it had a system to check if a puzzle could be solvable with known information at least as I tried several times to solve a puzzle and moved on figuring out later I wasted my time. I think this can be done with the entries in the photographic memory and perhaps spending some limited currency as well. Again, I do like the difficulty and obscurity but I think a middle ground can be created for a better experience.

My last minor issue is the inventory system. I just wish it can be sorted, customized or discarded as it tends to clutter up and make it harder to use more relevant items. Why keys are not discarded on use is beyond me. Also, the item descriptions are rarely used for the puzzles so there is much less reason why to keep them and can be saved instead in the photographic memory section if really needed. Honestly though, I would do away with the inventory since it is not a strong part of is appeal or experience specially with most items being used once. I can admit it does give the protagonist some nuance but not worth it.

This is a niche game requiring patience and determination to get through. This is a contender for my personal game of the year if not simply a game of its year and I strongly recommend this for players willing to undertake the mental challenge.

7/10

Another complex, multifaceted, and enigmatic videogame. The second this year.

As Indika, the core of the game is how it mixes narrative themes, modes, and a self-reflexive meta-commentary on games. Its world is inspired by Resnais and Lynch, it's both ambiguous and funny, different realities meet and clash in a same space.

It's an inner journey of self-redescovery only on a surface level. Many (and more interesting) things move beneath.

I must think about it. For now, so far 2024 looks a great year for games :o