A frustrating, unrewarding game that punishes exploration at much as it requires it.
The puzzles themselves are fairly straightforward but they're locked behind an item that you haven't unlocked so you mentally solve the puzzles within seconds of encountering it (they often give so many clues there's no chance you could mess it up) but have to wait 15 hours until you unlock the item required to actually plug in the solution.
Sometimes a puzzle will make a change in a random area, so your progress will stall for an hour until you find a door that spawned from thin air in a random area after a boss fight.
Exploration requires more consumables than it rewards, so sometimes you'll be grinding low level enemies so you can buy a 400 gold item that is necessary to make progress.
A well designed hard puzzle is one where all the elements are available to you but it requires ingenuity to see how they fit together. This is more like a word search someone won't let you complete until you look under every object in the room to find a pen.
The puzzles themselves are fairly straightforward but they're locked behind an item that you haven't unlocked so you mentally solve the puzzles within seconds of encountering it (they often give so many clues there's no chance you could mess it up) but have to wait 15 hours until you unlock the item required to actually plug in the solution.
Sometimes a puzzle will make a change in a random area, so your progress will stall for an hour until you find a door that spawned from thin air in a random area after a boss fight.
Exploration requires more consumables than it rewards, so sometimes you'll be grinding low level enemies so you can buy a 400 gold item that is necessary to make progress.
A well designed hard puzzle is one where all the elements are available to you but it requires ingenuity to see how they fit together. This is more like a word search someone won't let you complete until you look under every object in the room to find a pen.
Peak
Excellent metroidvania with some incredible (if inscrutable at times) puzzles. Only major weak point is that combat sucks ass. Bonus points for making people Read The Fucking Manual™
I’m going to spoil an early-game puzzle here, without giving you the solution. It’s a little paradox I want to present because it truly embodies La Mulana.
Strength lies at the foot of Futo.
This hint is in an early-game area themed around the history of a family of giants, with their statues dominating each screen you walk through. There are a series of tablets describing their defining characteristics, so you have to find all that information, write it down, and use it to determine who is represented with each carving. Then, there are a few hidden ways to interact with some of them, letting you discern a few which seem identical. If you’re meticulous in your note-taking and experimentation, you can determine the exact statue that represents Futo, walk right up to it, stand at its foot in search of strength, and find…
Nothing. You whip it, use every item you have, poke at everything on the screen… nothing happens. You actually need an item from much later in the game to follow up on this hint, despite your best efforts.
Except, that’s not true. You need to activate a mechanism in the prior area first, then the chest will appear, so if you’ve skipped it, you’ll need to go back.
Wait, that’s not it. It’s that you need to enter that screen from above through a false wall, then whip a normal-looking block at the top to break it, causing a chest to fall at Futo’s feet, which you can then open for your reward.
Actually, that’s wrong. You need to use a weight to activate an invisible mechanism at its feet. Turns out, every giant statue had one of those little invisible mechanisms, so instead of compiling notes and doing research, you could have just lucked out and hit the down button at some point while you were walking around like I did. So, I just went down the line placing a couple weights and got my reward. Zero thought required.
That experience is what it’s like to play La Mulana. You buy the game after hearing how much cleverness is required, how you have to take pages of notes, and how it’s obscure and gratifying. You start your little document, dutifully adding screenshots where necessary, and then find it mostly useless. It occasionally helps, but La Mulana is not a game about testing your intellect or ability to correlate information from different sources. It’s about running into every wall and being sure to whip it a couple times. It’s about killing every enemy on each screen at least once, just in case. It’s about pressing the down button on top of, and to the side of, any suspicious objects. The puzzles and tips are actually, for the most part, straightforward and direct. You can usually read a hint tablet, make a guess at the solution, and be right the first time. However, what you can’t guess is how to even interact with that solution, because it's lovingly crafted to be arbitrary.
That’s why I listed out all those false ideas. I bet if it’s been a long time since someone played La Mulana, they may have gone “ah, of course” at first, because each of those solutions are recurring tropes which apply to the majority of the puzzles across the game. It’s why, after dipping my toe in with a 20-hour guideless hintless expedition, I’m going to shelve it. For all the hype surrounding the confounding puzzles, it requires a shockingly low amount of logical problem solving. Instead, it requires perseverance, and I don’t find that to be a particularly engaging concept on its own. Video games are so comfortable to play that all it takes to persevere is deciding you want to, which means a design like this is forced to do whatever it can to disinterest the player in some capacity. It has to frustrate you, because if it didn’t, there wouldn’t be a game here at all: the central conflict of the player against self wouldn’t exist. La Mulana isn’t bad because of it; it has to be this way.
So, I’m just gonna stop here. I might have continued if the game made me feel smart or skillful, but I don’t want to annoy myself for its own sake, which is what it would boil down to. That core of the experience is probably why my little group has made a ritual of coaxing people (like myself) into streaming it. You don’t get friends to stream normal puzzle games, and you don’t get them to stream simple platformers, but you get them to stream La Mulana. It’s funny to watch people get annoyed, and it gives cathartic schadenfreude to see them fall into traps the same way you did. That leaves your choices for enjoyment being completion of the entire game, laughing at someone, or just saying "fuggit" and doing something else, and personally, I think my chances of success are best with the last option.
Strength lies at the foot of Futo.
This hint is in an early-game area themed around the history of a family of giants, with their statues dominating each screen you walk through. There are a series of tablets describing their defining characteristics, so you have to find all that information, write it down, and use it to determine who is represented with each carving. Then, there are a few hidden ways to interact with some of them, letting you discern a few which seem identical. If you’re meticulous in your note-taking and experimentation, you can determine the exact statue that represents Futo, walk right up to it, stand at its foot in search of strength, and find…
Nothing. You whip it, use every item you have, poke at everything on the screen… nothing happens. You actually need an item from much later in the game to follow up on this hint, despite your best efforts.
Except, that’s not true. You need to activate a mechanism in the prior area first, then the chest will appear, so if you’ve skipped it, you’ll need to go back.
Wait, that’s not it. It’s that you need to enter that screen from above through a false wall, then whip a normal-looking block at the top to break it, causing a chest to fall at Futo’s feet, which you can then open for your reward.
Actually, that’s wrong. You need to use a weight to activate an invisible mechanism at its feet. Turns out, every giant statue had one of those little invisible mechanisms, so instead of compiling notes and doing research, you could have just lucked out and hit the down button at some point while you were walking around like I did. So, I just went down the line placing a couple weights and got my reward. Zero thought required.
That experience is what it’s like to play La Mulana. You buy the game after hearing how much cleverness is required, how you have to take pages of notes, and how it’s obscure and gratifying. You start your little document, dutifully adding screenshots where necessary, and then find it mostly useless. It occasionally helps, but La Mulana is not a game about testing your intellect or ability to correlate information from different sources. It’s about running into every wall and being sure to whip it a couple times. It’s about killing every enemy on each screen at least once, just in case. It’s about pressing the down button on top of, and to the side of, any suspicious objects. The puzzles and tips are actually, for the most part, straightforward and direct. You can usually read a hint tablet, make a guess at the solution, and be right the first time. However, what you can’t guess is how to even interact with that solution, because it's lovingly crafted to be arbitrary.
That’s why I listed out all those false ideas. I bet if it’s been a long time since someone played La Mulana, they may have gone “ah, of course” at first, because each of those solutions are recurring tropes which apply to the majority of the puzzles across the game. It’s why, after dipping my toe in with a 20-hour guideless hintless expedition, I’m going to shelve it. For all the hype surrounding the confounding puzzles, it requires a shockingly low amount of logical problem solving. Instead, it requires perseverance, and I don’t find that to be a particularly engaging concept on its own. Video games are so comfortable to play that all it takes to persevere is deciding you want to, which means a design like this is forced to do whatever it can to disinterest the player in some capacity. It has to frustrate you, because if it didn’t, there wouldn’t be a game here at all: the central conflict of the player against self wouldn’t exist. La Mulana isn’t bad because of it; it has to be this way.
So, I’m just gonna stop here. I might have continued if the game made me feel smart or skillful, but I don’t want to annoy myself for its own sake, which is what it would boil down to. That core of the experience is probably why my little group has made a ritual of coaxing people (like myself) into streaming it. You don’t get friends to stream normal puzzle games, and you don’t get them to stream simple platformers, but you get them to stream La Mulana. It’s funny to watch people get annoyed, and it gives cathartic schadenfreude to see them fall into traps the same way you did. That leaves your choices for enjoyment being completion of the entire game, laughing at someone, or just saying "fuggit" and doing something else, and personally, I think my chances of success are best with the last option.
In retrospect, buying this game was hubris.
This game is best played when you have a diehard fan of the game that is willing to receive thousand of dms from you just to understand what the FUCK a tablet meant. Puzzle games that need you to interpret words and not concepts are bound to be like this, especially if they are as creative as this one. Which is a good thing! It does incredibly interesting thing and I love this game for that. I recommend it, but I won't be that friend.
Holy shit
This is a game I can fully say I respect. The game is about confusing as it gets, the player is tasked with unlocking the secrets of the ruins using glyphs scattered around the many sections, and it does not pull punches, with an un-quiet environment, brain-boggling puzzles, and and difficult gameplay. This game sits among the best as both a puzzle platformer and metroidvania. With this and cave story, I wonder how many hidden gems are tucked away within the Japanese indie scene.
Une pépite méconnue. Un metroidvania exigeant et à la bande son exceptionnelle. Cependant c'est un jeu que je n'ai clairement pas eu la foi de faire sans soluce tellement les énigmes sont au cœur du jeu et tirées par les cheveux.
If you've grown up with games from the 80s, you are familiar with titles like Zelda 2 and Castlevania 2 - needlessly obtuse weird RPGs that feature great exploration among some really horrendous puzzles.
If you wish for a game that does those things well, look no further than La-Mulana.
La-Mulana, aside from being fun to say, is a side-scrolling Metroidvania where you descend into the ruins and search for treasure.
The big thing that sets this game apart are countless stones you come across with hints for progression written on them. They replace various NPCs from aforementioned games that would give you cryptic hints. For example, the first location presents you with some simple stuff, like saying that a courageous man will prevail. Nearby are a spike pit with an unreachable chest. Simple enough, jump onto the spikes, they disappear. Not even worthy enough to spoiler-tag this.
The game grows in scope and complexity very shortly, so if you're not the type to read, think and write, this isn't the game for you. There are no simple puzzle rooms. A hint for a puzzle can be found halfway across the world, and some of them are Fucking Insane. However, that's the charm of this game. It's not shy about its inspirations and isn't afraid of being a dick. Platforming and battle difficulty is quite high, but puzzles are what make it an unforgettable experience. It's one of the few games that actually feel like you're going through an old temple filled with traps, and not just trekking through a bunch of video game levels.
The game will throw everything it has at you, from non-euclidean spaces, hidden doors, and puzzle bosses, to hidden background details that you need to notice. It's filled with surprises. Every boss is so different that some of them feel like playing an entirely different game. Every location has its own gimmicks and an incredible soundtracks. Every single puzzle is memorable.
It's a Metroidvania that keeps surprising you in ways you didn't think were possible. It's not just a game about obtaining double jump to go above a pit, it's a game where getting some items will result in confusion, until suddenly, you remember reading something about using that one thing in front of that one statue. And there are barely ANY games that do that. Too many of them are afraid of you being stuck, while La-Mulana prides itself on it. Just that simple thing made me feel like I was overcoming something unique, and not just going through the motions of solving a Portal Chamber or a Zelda dungeon room.
Unfortunately, sometimes it might be a bit TOO ridiculous. However, I would still recommend experiencing it because there's nothing like it.
Here's a spoiler of a puzzle that gave me hell my first time through as an appetizer: "Simply wandering will not lessen the illusion. Courage will grant thy wish--the courage to jump into the illusion. The courage to search on bended knee for a single fallen item."
So, what the hell is this?
Well, mercifully nearby, there are a bunch of vases you can break. Your usual Zelda-like pots that are all over the place in the game. One of them drops a shuriken. Not uncommon, it's your first sub-weapon, enemies often drop them to replenish your ammo. However, the game usually drops them in fives, and there's ONE there. Not that difficult when spelled out, but when you've been programmed to not care what comes out of the vases, it just doesn't register.
Furthermore, if you haven't played the game, you're thinking, "oh, and then you duck?". Well, no. The game has no "duck" button, as down does something else. HOWEVER, just to fuck with you, down actually works on that single tile, and it drops you through the floor! Like, yeah, it's kinda bullshit, but it's also unforgettable!
Honestly, the closest video game experience that gave me this sort of rush when solving a puzzle was Outer Wilds, and personally, I'd say La-Mulana is better.
If you wish for a game that does those things well, look no further than La-Mulana.
La-Mulana, aside from being fun to say, is a side-scrolling Metroidvania where you descend into the ruins and search for treasure.
The big thing that sets this game apart are countless stones you come across with hints for progression written on them. They replace various NPCs from aforementioned games that would give you cryptic hints. For example, the first location presents you with some simple stuff, like saying that a courageous man will prevail. Nearby are a spike pit with an unreachable chest. Simple enough, jump onto the spikes, they disappear. Not even worthy enough to spoiler-tag this.
The game grows in scope and complexity very shortly, so if you're not the type to read, think and write, this isn't the game for you. There are no simple puzzle rooms. A hint for a puzzle can be found halfway across the world, and some of them are Fucking Insane. However, that's the charm of this game. It's not shy about its inspirations and isn't afraid of being a dick. Platforming and battle difficulty is quite high, but puzzles are what make it an unforgettable experience. It's one of the few games that actually feel like you're going through an old temple filled with traps, and not just trekking through a bunch of video game levels.
The game will throw everything it has at you, from non-euclidean spaces, hidden doors, and puzzle bosses, to hidden background details that you need to notice. It's filled with surprises. Every boss is so different that some of them feel like playing an entirely different game. Every location has its own gimmicks and an incredible soundtracks. Every single puzzle is memorable.
It's a Metroidvania that keeps surprising you in ways you didn't think were possible. It's not just a game about obtaining double jump to go above a pit, it's a game where getting some items will result in confusion, until suddenly, you remember reading something about using that one thing in front of that one statue. And there are barely ANY games that do that. Too many of them are afraid of you being stuck, while La-Mulana prides itself on it. Just that simple thing made me feel like I was overcoming something unique, and not just going through the motions of solving a Portal Chamber or a Zelda dungeon room.
Unfortunately, sometimes it might be a bit TOO ridiculous. However, I would still recommend experiencing it because there's nothing like it.
Here's a spoiler of a puzzle that gave me hell my first time through as an appetizer: "Simply wandering will not lessen the illusion. Courage will grant thy wish--the courage to jump into the illusion. The courage to search on bended knee for a single fallen item."
So, what the hell is this?
Well, mercifully nearby, there are a bunch of vases you can break. Your usual Zelda-like pots that are all over the place in the game. One of them drops a shuriken. Not uncommon, it's your first sub-weapon, enemies often drop them to replenish your ammo. However, the game usually drops them in fives, and there's ONE there. Not that difficult when spelled out, but when you've been programmed to not care what comes out of the vases, it just doesn't register.
Furthermore, if you haven't played the game, you're thinking, "oh, and then you duck?". Well, no. The game has no "duck" button, as down does something else. HOWEVER, just to fuck with you, down actually works on that single tile, and it drops you through the floor! Like, yeah, it's kinda bullshit, but it's also unforgettable!
Honestly, the closest video game experience that gave me this sort of rush when solving a puzzle was Outer Wilds, and personally, I'd say La-Mulana is better.
Spits in your mouth and calls you a bitch for playing
They didn't have to do a Remake but they did and I still loved it
This game is so dang gooooooood! Love the exploration in this game. Great music and challenge as well.
A fun Metroidvania with a great final boss fight.
My biggest issue is that a lot of the puzzles are painfully obscure. Aside from that, I thought the fairy mechanic was badly implemented.
My biggest issue is that a lot of the puzzles are painfully obscure. Aside from that, I thought the fairy mechanic was badly implemented.
manda a la mierda cualquier simbolo de "buen diseño " en cuanto a intuitivo.comodo, Es un mundo entero hecho con el objetivo que o explores, sin camino fijo ni nada, esta bien pensado para que estes atento y te lo tomes enserio, el juego no tiene piedad con tigo ni nadie, no busca crear una aventura de accion si no una de arqueologia, y lo logra.
Sigo con ganas de jugar la secuela, pero quiero estar preparado, Jueguenlo
Sigo con ganas de jugar la secuela, pero quiero estar preparado, Jueguenlo
If you love convoluted puzzles in your metroidvanias then this game is for you
This is a game I've never beaten before, but it has a lot of nastolgia for me, so I will open this review with a bit of backstory on my history with this game. I will hide it here as well as the backstory to this version's release to save some space for those who don't care.
Wayyyyyy back in 2008 (so I would've been 12), I had just discovered DeceasedCrab's Youtube channel, and these magical things called Let's Plays. His playthrough of the original La-Mulana absolutely wowed me back then, with how clever this new video format was, combined with just what a crazy game this was. Now, almost 10 years later, I have FINALLY beaten La-Mulana myself. I played through on hard-mode (activated it as soon as I could, and beat all bosses with it), and finished in a little under 14 hours in game time, but more like 25 or 30 hours according to Steam time. I also used a wireless 360 controller to play it with, which I highly recommend over using the keyboard for simply ergonomic reasons (plus this version was designed explicitly to be played with a controller (It even has rumble support!)).
The original La-Mulana was made as a love letter to MSX-era action RPG's, especially Castlevania (where La-Mulana gets its whipping, sub weapons, and buying items) and Galius Maze (where it gets its idea for all of the puzzles, passive items, and sprawling overworld). There were also a TON of copyrighted references, as a big part of the collectibles in the game were collecting MSX cartriges, and one of the main character's main tools was his MSX which he used to interpret the runes in the ruins (as well as several other puzzle and secret-related things). As a result a LOT of the original game is making maps by hand, taking down notes on tons of NPC dialogue and tablets you find (physically, as at least a clue if not the outright answer to every puzzle is somewhere, just usually not close by), and solving mind-bending puzzles. It was a very old-school level of hard in the puzzle category, as well as having fairly difficult action segments. At its core, it accomplished exactly what it wanted to do, in my opinion.
Some time later, Nigoro (the guys who made it, who'd only made flash games until then) got a green light to do a remake for Wii Ware, which sat in a very sad development limbo for AGES while they got the game super optimized for the Wii. Changing all of the graphics, the graphical style (as the original game was 8-bit, and this was not), change several puzzles to have them make sense/be possible without a keyboard (which the original game used extensively, like Galius Maze did), as well as removing all copyrighted material and references were an undertaking that took much longer than originally planned, but it eventually happened, and everyone rejoiced! You can't buy points for the Wii shop anymore, but that version, with some minor improvements based on player feedback, was ported to PC soon after the Wii release.
NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY, to my experience with the game. It's a 2D platformer action adventure game. I hesitate to call it an Action RPG because there's no actual leveling up, but there's so much other shit that it's like the most RPG-ish action adventure game that isn't an RPG ever.
It really lived up to its name in terms of the puzzle department. I got about halfway through the game before I just totally ran out of ideas on what to do or where to go. I wasn't taking notes at all, and if you're just trying to remember everything, you're gonna be SOL eventually. Especially the Gate of Illusion and everything connected to it, I wouldn't hold it against anyone for using a guide for the rest of the game once you hit that point (as I did). Though the game is huge, there's really not that much that's optional, as you'll have to do just about everything eventually whether its to progress the story or to get an item to make life easier (like the one that makes you immune to bats(!!!)).
My favorite part of the game by far is the bosses though. They're all apparently designed to be beatable with JUST your normal weapons, but I wasn't nearly crazy enough to try to do that (especially on hard mode). The sub-weapons really make life a lot easier, especially the shurikens. You even have a kind of emergency item for super hard bosses in the form of the pistol, which is a very powerful instant-travel-time projectile weapon, however, ammo for it is VERY expensive (however farming money isn't that hard if you know what to do). The bosses are all fucking great, and are very reminiscent of old Castlevania (although more-so Galius Maze) bosses. They're a fantastic upgrade to the old version of La-Mulana's bosses to work in a 60 fps environment, and they look great.
Speaking of looking great, this is a damn pretty game. The graphics are colorful and lush, and each environment really looks different. The OST is fanTASTIC as well, and a very large chunk of it now rests on my mp3 player as a testament to that.
And in case the normal platforming isn't hard enough, there's always the Hell Temple as well if you just hate yourself that much. I miiight go through it, but I don't know. It's pretty freaking hard enough on normal mode XD
Verdict: Recommended. I hesitate to highly recommend a game like this, just because I didn't go into it blind, and pretty much everyone here would be (and the other game I recommend like that seems to get negative attention whenever I mention it on here XD). If you like old school action adventure games, I'd say it's worth a try, especially if you have it from a Humble Bundle (which I think is where my Steam version is from) or can get it cheap on a Steam sale or something. It's pretty damn hard though, so it's not for the feint of heart, or those who are either unwilling to ever use a walkthrough or spend ages taking notes or testing how to solve puzzles. I love this game though, and now I've finally beaten it :D
Note: If you want a game that is much more like a spiritual successor to Galius Maze without all of the fuck-crazy puzzles like La-Mulana, Hydra Castle Labyrinth is a fantastic freeware game you can get online. It didn't have an English translation when I played it years ago, but it's just an action adventure game, and the only text is just telling you what items do, so language skills are totally optional :)
Wayyyyyy back in 2008 (so I would've been 12), I had just discovered DeceasedCrab's Youtube channel, and these magical things called Let's Plays. His playthrough of the original La-Mulana absolutely wowed me back then, with how clever this new video format was, combined with just what a crazy game this was. Now, almost 10 years later, I have FINALLY beaten La-Mulana myself. I played through on hard-mode (activated it as soon as I could, and beat all bosses with it), and finished in a little under 14 hours in game time, but more like 25 or 30 hours according to Steam time. I also used a wireless 360 controller to play it with, which I highly recommend over using the keyboard for simply ergonomic reasons (plus this version was designed explicitly to be played with a controller (It even has rumble support!)).
The original La-Mulana was made as a love letter to MSX-era action RPG's, especially Castlevania (where La-Mulana gets its whipping, sub weapons, and buying items) and Galius Maze (where it gets its idea for all of the puzzles, passive items, and sprawling overworld). There were also a TON of copyrighted references, as a big part of the collectibles in the game were collecting MSX cartriges, and one of the main character's main tools was his MSX which he used to interpret the runes in the ruins (as well as several other puzzle and secret-related things). As a result a LOT of the original game is making maps by hand, taking down notes on tons of NPC dialogue and tablets you find (physically, as at least a clue if not the outright answer to every puzzle is somewhere, just usually not close by), and solving mind-bending puzzles. It was a very old-school level of hard in the puzzle category, as well as having fairly difficult action segments. At its core, it accomplished exactly what it wanted to do, in my opinion.
Some time later, Nigoro (the guys who made it, who'd only made flash games until then) got a green light to do a remake for Wii Ware, which sat in a very sad development limbo for AGES while they got the game super optimized for the Wii. Changing all of the graphics, the graphical style (as the original game was 8-bit, and this was not), change several puzzles to have them make sense/be possible without a keyboard (which the original game used extensively, like Galius Maze did), as well as removing all copyrighted material and references were an undertaking that took much longer than originally planned, but it eventually happened, and everyone rejoiced! You can't buy points for the Wii shop anymore, but that version, with some minor improvements based on player feedback, was ported to PC soon after the Wii release.
NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY, to my experience with the game. It's a 2D platformer action adventure game. I hesitate to call it an Action RPG because there's no actual leveling up, but there's so much other shit that it's like the most RPG-ish action adventure game that isn't an RPG ever.
It really lived up to its name in terms of the puzzle department. I got about halfway through the game before I just totally ran out of ideas on what to do or where to go. I wasn't taking notes at all, and if you're just trying to remember everything, you're gonna be SOL eventually. Especially the Gate of Illusion and everything connected to it, I wouldn't hold it against anyone for using a guide for the rest of the game once you hit that point (as I did). Though the game is huge, there's really not that much that's optional, as you'll have to do just about everything eventually whether its to progress the story or to get an item to make life easier (like the one that makes you immune to bats(!!!)).
My favorite part of the game by far is the bosses though. They're all apparently designed to be beatable with JUST your normal weapons, but I wasn't nearly crazy enough to try to do that (especially on hard mode). The sub-weapons really make life a lot easier, especially the shurikens. You even have a kind of emergency item for super hard bosses in the form of the pistol, which is a very powerful instant-travel-time projectile weapon, however, ammo for it is VERY expensive (however farming money isn't that hard if you know what to do). The bosses are all fucking great, and are very reminiscent of old Castlevania (although more-so Galius Maze) bosses. They're a fantastic upgrade to the old version of La-Mulana's bosses to work in a 60 fps environment, and they look great.
Speaking of looking great, this is a damn pretty game. The graphics are colorful and lush, and each environment really looks different. The OST is fanTASTIC as well, and a very large chunk of it now rests on my mp3 player as a testament to that.
And in case the normal platforming isn't hard enough, there's always the Hell Temple as well if you just hate yourself that much. I miiight go through it, but I don't know. It's pretty freaking hard enough on normal mode XD
Verdict: Recommended. I hesitate to highly recommend a game like this, just because I didn't go into it blind, and pretty much everyone here would be (and the other game I recommend like that seems to get negative attention whenever I mention it on here XD). If you like old school action adventure games, I'd say it's worth a try, especially if you have it from a Humble Bundle (which I think is where my Steam version is from) or can get it cheap on a Steam sale or something. It's pretty damn hard though, so it's not for the feint of heart, or those who are either unwilling to ever use a walkthrough or spend ages taking notes or testing how to solve puzzles. I love this game though, and now I've finally beaten it :D
Note: If you want a game that is much more like a spiritual successor to Galius Maze without all of the fuck-crazy puzzles like La-Mulana, Hydra Castle Labyrinth is a fantastic freeware game you can get online. It didn't have an English translation when I played it years ago, but it's just an action adventure game, and the only text is just telling you what items do, so language skills are totally optional :)
One of my all time favorites. If I could choose any one game to delete from my brain to play with fresh eyes again, it would absolutely be this one. It's an incredibly unique experience that has a lot to offer. I love the feeling it gives you as you explore this vast, dangerous ruins.
one of a kind
~crying~ I don't want be Indiana Jones anymore
text by Bennett
★★★★
“LIKE ALL THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE, NOT FOR KIDS.”
Let’s talk about difficulty in games.
In the early days, games were usually written, drawn, coded and directed by one lone nerd. The nerd usually had around six weeks to produce a game which would suck down a billion coins in video arcades worldwide. The nerd’s goal was onefold: the game had to suck down as many coins as possible.
The obstacle in the path of the nerd’s goal was also onefold. Because of time and manpower constraints, the game would have around twenty minutes worth of unique content, meaning that players could quickly become bored, and take their precious coins elsewhere. Thus there was a problem: videogames could not reach commercial success until the obstacle could be overcome and the goal could be met.
In 1980, Eugene Jarvis solved the problem at Williams when he was programming ‘Defender‘: he made the game amazingly hard, and it went on to suck down more coins than any other game other than Pacman. (Full disclosure: these facts have been dramatized.)
The eighties saw a large number of very difficult games introduced into arcades and even into homes. Of course, on a home console, Jarvis’ elegant solution for attracting coins to the slot was irrelevant; every sale of a cartridge, disk or a tape was – and is – final. But since many of the most popular games were written for the arcades and ported for the home, the difficulty remained.
In the 90s, though, the arcades gradually died, and there was no longer any commercial reason for games to be hard. And gradually, the difficulty went away. The old Prince of Persia gave you no option to save your game, and one hour to finish the entire game. The new Prince of Persia gives you a rewind button. Every PC game lets you save at will, inching through the game by trial and error like a climber on a two-inch safety rope, because they get much lower review scores if they do not. Games today offer step-by-step tutorials, balloon help, and almost never require you to read the manual. It’s not a matter of controversy: modern games are easy.
Every year a survey tells us that the median age of gamers has increased. Last year, the average US gamer was 33. This means that majority of today’s gamers were weaned on games which were exceedingly difficult. But they cannot buy games to test their skills and their patience. They are like Spartan warriors or Vikings who have been forcibly migrated to modern Sweden.
It is no longer a viable commercial proposition to write a game for these hardened champions. The only way that these games can be made is if they are made for free, and distributed for free.
Which brings us to La Mulana, a Japanese freeware indie game in the mold of Castlevania and Metroid. The developers want you to feel as though they have released a sequel to Maze of Galious for your dusty, electrically-unsafe MSX console. From the collectible MSX game cartridges in the game’s dungeons, to the portable MSX laptop which is used to decipher inscriptions and read maps, this game is a 100-hour love letter to the ‘Xbox of 1983’. It runs happily on a Pentium 66, and it’s reasonable to describe it as ‘retro stylee’.
Yet somehow, La Mulana manages to avoid the clunky presentation and gameplay which has aged the real 1980s games so dramatically. Operating without real 8-bit constraints, the developers have made an 8-bit game with modern ambition. It makes me want to throw away my next-gen devices, but at the same time it is richer and more satisfying than any game I could find for an emulator. La Mulana is deeper and more complicated than any other game with 16-colour graphics, though it is never inaccessible or obtuse. It is exceedingly difficult without ever feeling arbitrary.
Did I just say difficult? La Mulana, unlike almost every other recent game of merit, is more than difficult. It is the kind of difficult which is no longer present outside of Japanese arcades.
Let me paint a picture. Your character is Professor Lemeza Kosugi, but let’s call him ‘Indiana Jones’ for short. Dr. Jones has come to a room which is pitch black. Somewhere in the room, there is a torch which can be lit with his newly-acquired flare gun, but he only has seven flares, and the torch will only stay lit for around five seconds. This is nowhere near long enough to traverse the platforms and spike traps which line the room. But he cannot simply step through the room flailing his whip like a coward. For if he accidentally whips a sacred monument in the darkness, an angry god will strike him with lightning. Dr. Jones will have to memorise the room!
In La Mulana, you cannot save your game until you get enough money to buy a save card. Even then, you can’t save without returning to the beginning of the game. You’ll certainly get stuck. You may have to call your friends to ask them how to solve a particular puzzle, or overcome a particular boss. You’ll need to read the (html) manual from cover to cover. You’ll want to write the game to a floppy disk so you can wrench it out of the drive and throw it across the room and stomp on it.
It is such a refreshment. For the last few years, most games I’ve played have given me a feeling of inevitability – as though I will certainly reach the end, even if I play like a brain-dead cabbage with Lou Gehrig’s disease. It can feel like reading a repetitive book. By contrast, La Mulana makes it feel like you are changing the outcome through your actions. You can fail, even to the point where you might give up. Since it is possible to fail, it becomes possible to succeed.
Satoru Iwata recently described the appeal of Zelda thus:
“Whenever I solve a difficult puzzle in Zelda, it always makes me think “I might be pretty smart!”
When I cleared the first boss in La Mulana, I knew I was smart. This feeling totally eclipsed my feelings of guilt for having forsaken my work, my dinner, and my personal hygiene for the preceding 48 hours.
Yes, there are other hard games out there. There are other games where it is possible to fail. But not many of them are platformers, and not many of them have La Mulana’s quality. La Mulana is not ‘good for an indie game’ or ‘good for a freeware title’. It’s the best game I’ve played in a year. You get the feeling that the history of video games went awry about 20 years ago, and that La Mulana somehow came to us through a wormhole from a beautiful parallel universe.
★★★★
“LIKE ALL THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE, NOT FOR KIDS.”
Let’s talk about difficulty in games.
In the early days, games were usually written, drawn, coded and directed by one lone nerd. The nerd usually had around six weeks to produce a game which would suck down a billion coins in video arcades worldwide. The nerd’s goal was onefold: the game had to suck down as many coins as possible.
The obstacle in the path of the nerd’s goal was also onefold. Because of time and manpower constraints, the game would have around twenty minutes worth of unique content, meaning that players could quickly become bored, and take their precious coins elsewhere. Thus there was a problem: videogames could not reach commercial success until the obstacle could be overcome and the goal could be met.
In 1980, Eugene Jarvis solved the problem at Williams when he was programming ‘Defender‘: he made the game amazingly hard, and it went on to suck down more coins than any other game other than Pacman. (Full disclosure: these facts have been dramatized.)
The eighties saw a large number of very difficult games introduced into arcades and even into homes. Of course, on a home console, Jarvis’ elegant solution for attracting coins to the slot was irrelevant; every sale of a cartridge, disk or a tape was – and is – final. But since many of the most popular games were written for the arcades and ported for the home, the difficulty remained.
In the 90s, though, the arcades gradually died, and there was no longer any commercial reason for games to be hard. And gradually, the difficulty went away. The old Prince of Persia gave you no option to save your game, and one hour to finish the entire game. The new Prince of Persia gives you a rewind button. Every PC game lets you save at will, inching through the game by trial and error like a climber on a two-inch safety rope, because they get much lower review scores if they do not. Games today offer step-by-step tutorials, balloon help, and almost never require you to read the manual. It’s not a matter of controversy: modern games are easy.
Every year a survey tells us that the median age of gamers has increased. Last year, the average US gamer was 33. This means that majority of today’s gamers were weaned on games which were exceedingly difficult. But they cannot buy games to test their skills and their patience. They are like Spartan warriors or Vikings who have been forcibly migrated to modern Sweden.
It is no longer a viable commercial proposition to write a game for these hardened champions. The only way that these games can be made is if they are made for free, and distributed for free.
Which brings us to La Mulana, a Japanese freeware indie game in the mold of Castlevania and Metroid. The developers want you to feel as though they have released a sequel to Maze of Galious for your dusty, electrically-unsafe MSX console. From the collectible MSX game cartridges in the game’s dungeons, to the portable MSX laptop which is used to decipher inscriptions and read maps, this game is a 100-hour love letter to the ‘Xbox of 1983’. It runs happily on a Pentium 66, and it’s reasonable to describe it as ‘retro stylee’.
Yet somehow, La Mulana manages to avoid the clunky presentation and gameplay which has aged the real 1980s games so dramatically. Operating without real 8-bit constraints, the developers have made an 8-bit game with modern ambition. It makes me want to throw away my next-gen devices, but at the same time it is richer and more satisfying than any game I could find for an emulator. La Mulana is deeper and more complicated than any other game with 16-colour graphics, though it is never inaccessible or obtuse. It is exceedingly difficult without ever feeling arbitrary.
Did I just say difficult? La Mulana, unlike almost every other recent game of merit, is more than difficult. It is the kind of difficult which is no longer present outside of Japanese arcades.
Let me paint a picture. Your character is Professor Lemeza Kosugi, but let’s call him ‘Indiana Jones’ for short. Dr. Jones has come to a room which is pitch black. Somewhere in the room, there is a torch which can be lit with his newly-acquired flare gun, but he only has seven flares, and the torch will only stay lit for around five seconds. This is nowhere near long enough to traverse the platforms and spike traps which line the room. But he cannot simply step through the room flailing his whip like a coward. For if he accidentally whips a sacred monument in the darkness, an angry god will strike him with lightning. Dr. Jones will have to memorise the room!
In La Mulana, you cannot save your game until you get enough money to buy a save card. Even then, you can’t save without returning to the beginning of the game. You’ll certainly get stuck. You may have to call your friends to ask them how to solve a particular puzzle, or overcome a particular boss. You’ll need to read the (html) manual from cover to cover. You’ll want to write the game to a floppy disk so you can wrench it out of the drive and throw it across the room and stomp on it.
It is such a refreshment. For the last few years, most games I’ve played have given me a feeling of inevitability – as though I will certainly reach the end, even if I play like a brain-dead cabbage with Lou Gehrig’s disease. It can feel like reading a repetitive book. By contrast, La Mulana makes it feel like you are changing the outcome through your actions. You can fail, even to the point where you might give up. Since it is possible to fail, it becomes possible to succeed.
Satoru Iwata recently described the appeal of Zelda thus:
“Whenever I solve a difficult puzzle in Zelda, it always makes me think “I might be pretty smart!”
When I cleared the first boss in La Mulana, I knew I was smart. This feeling totally eclipsed my feelings of guilt for having forsaken my work, my dinner, and my personal hygiene for the preceding 48 hours.
Yes, there are other hard games out there. There are other games where it is possible to fail. But not many of them are platformers, and not many of them have La Mulana’s quality. La Mulana is not ‘good for an indie game’ or ‘good for a freeware title’. It’s the best game I’ve played in a year. You get the feeling that the history of video games went awry about 20 years ago, and that La Mulana somehow came to us through a wormhole from a beautiful parallel universe.
La-Mulana is probably the worst game I’ve ever loved, even if I ended up hating it when all was said and done. This game had me absolutely and utterly hooked to the point of an unhealthy obsession for upwards of 70 hours, and while I wouldn’t call the bulk of its game design “good” under normal circumstances, I think it delivers a truly one-of-a-kind experience that is thus far unrivaled within the genre. I played this game something like 90-95% blind and finished it in just over 90 hours, and while it had elements that really worked for me, on the whole I can’t call it a good game. That’s a shame, because there are some nuggets of real brilliance shining through.
There are two main elements of gameplay here: combat and exploration, with the latter including some basic platforming as well as solving “””puzzles”””. I put that in three sets of quotes because 99% of what might be referred to as “puzzles” aren’t really puzzles at all, but rather riddles - they have a single, specific, one-step answer that is obscured behind environmental as well as textual hints, much as one might find in a 3D Zelda game, only much more difficult. These riddles are mostly effective at what they set out to do - require you to experiment and try various solutions based on the hints given, to be rewarded with progress and power-ups upon finding the correct solution.
The trouble with this approach, as always, is that it’s very easy to spoil a game like this. I will admit that coming across quite a few of the spoilers I found is my fault; for a long time I did not think I would be interested in playing this game seriously, so I freely watched video essays and read comment sections not realizing the depth to which such things can ruin a game like this. Here we come to the first critical flaw of La-Mulana - it leans heavily on the experience it tries to deliver, but that is an experience that can be completely destroyed before the player even picks up the game.
Somehow, though, what I just described isn’t La-Mulana’s biggest flaw. No, the biggest flaw here is the amount of what I can only describe as “bullshit riddles”, the solution to which is hinted at extremely poorly, or not at all in the case of the entrance to the game’s “challenge zone” of sorts. Very frequently, progress through the game will be entirely blockaded by a riddle whose solution is so poorly explained or hinted at that the only reasonable method by which someone playing blind could discover it is through sheer trial-and-error.
I can’t provide direct examples without ruining the experience for anyone reading this review, but frequently the game would provide a hint that could very reasonably be interpreted as telling you to perform any of 4 or 5 different actions in countless different places, and the only way to discern the solution was to try all of them or look it up. This is a very cheap and lazy way of creating an “a-ha!” moment when the player finally discovers the solution, but instead of rewarding intelligence, skill, or critical thinking, it realistically just rewards patience. After a point, exploration frequently devolves into a cycle of “smack/hug every wall and spam the item button in every spot” as the easiest method of making progress, which sucks a lot of the appeal out of the experience.
Some of the riddles in this game are genuinely good, though. It’s a shame that there aren’t more riddles like the one required to obtain the flail whip or the one required to progress through the second endless corridor, because these riddles are genuinely brilliant and reward, above all else, thorough exploration and creative thinking. I have issues with these riddles, but on the whole the way they ask the player to process information from across the game world in a novel way is highly compelling. I would even classify the riddle to obtain the flail whip as a puzzle. When I successfully solved it on my first attempt by putting together all of the pieces I had found throughout the game until that point, it was an incredible rush, unlike almost anything I had felt in an adventure game prior to this.
Sadly, as the game nears its conclusion, some of its attempts at larger-scale puzzles like this start to really fall apart. Two of the last riddles in the game are hinted at so poorly that even having been spoiled on part of the solution, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to solve them without an unreasonable amount of trial-and-error unless I just looked up the solution. For one of these, the solution itself is genuinely brilliant, and actually employs real puzzle-like elements, but the only hint was so ludicrously unhelpful that I genuinely do not believe anyone could have possibly found it without either hours of trial and error or some kind of hint.
To my only very slight shame, I ended up using google for part of this puzzle, because by that point, I was beyond ready to be done. See, despite the brilliance of some of the game’s riddles, the issues I described earlier had really begun to weigh on my experience, and my resentment towards the game was building to a degree that I realized wouldn’t be sustainable. I can’t say I really regret it, because by that point I had lost a lot of my respect for the game, and my experience would absolutely have been worse had I continued attempting to solve it blind, but I resent the fact that it got to that point at all.
I do want to pause and briefly discuss the combat - there isn’t a ton to say, because the systems themselves are very basic, but the game does get a fair amount of mileage out of those systems by employing micropositioning and a strong variety of normal enemies that threaten space in meaningfully different ways and are often combined well. It reminded me of a watered-down but still good version of something like Castlevania 1 or 3. Unfortunately a lot of its boss design is really subpar, with bosses that can be easily dispatched with little effort or which have huge windows of invulnerability which destroy their pacing, but there are a few genuinely great fights in the game.
That being said, even the best encounters are marred by what are legitimately some of the worst hitboxes I have ever seen in a 2D game. Some of the bosses’ weakpoints are so poorly visualized that I couldn’t believe they made it past QA, and a number of the attacks in the game, even some from normal enemies, have hitboxes that extend well beyond their animations, making it extremely unclear how to avoid them without yet more trial-and-error in a game already slathered in it.
Where La-Mulana shines, though, and the reason it had me hooked for 70 some odd hours, is that it delivers on the fantasy of being an archeologist exploring ancient mystical ruins better than just about any other game in existence. La-Mulana is a game that requires you to take notes and make your own maps, because the in-game maps are stunningly unhelpful and just about every text tablet is relevant to a riddle at some point even if it ends up being 20 hours down the road, and when all that note-taking and map-making pays off, it can be incredibly satisfying.
The need to know what this key was for, what this tablet meant, what’s behind that door, what happens if I do that thing in that spot, is what kept me going for so long, and it was extraordinarily effective. This game has a sense of mystery that nothing else can really compare to, and I respect the way it commits to making almost every single element meaningful to a greater whole. It’s a shame that the game bogs itself down with so much needless obfuscation and trial-and-error, because this element of the game really did work for me.
I have a few stray thoughts before I wrap up this review. The music in this game is largely really good, although I could very much have done with a few more lower-energy tracks, as the constant uptempo action themes started to grate on me after a while. Tracks like Wonder of the Wonder, Sabbat, and Mother Will Be Awakened were a refreshing change of pace, and I wish there were more tracks like them. The visual style of the game is solid, but it didn’t really blow me away or anything, it just looked pretty nice throughout. I really dislike the game’s handling of consumables like money, weights, and ammo, as well as the health system. Teleporting back to the surface all the time to restock and heal up got really tedious, really fast. The level design was solid on the whole, and certain riddles utilized it in pretty neat ways, but I thought the overall world design was messy and ultimately inconsequential due to the game’s generous fast travel system.
On the whole, while I enjoyed most of my time with La Mulana, I would not call it a good game on balance, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever replay it in full. Knowing the solutions to all of the riddles really sucks a lot of the intrigue out of the experience, and not having the mystery to keep me going might make it hard to motivate myself through a replay. Still, I’m glad I played it, even if it came at the cost of my social life for a time, and even in spite of the abysmal lows the game sunk to in the end.
There are two main elements of gameplay here: combat and exploration, with the latter including some basic platforming as well as solving “””puzzles”””. I put that in three sets of quotes because 99% of what might be referred to as “puzzles” aren’t really puzzles at all, but rather riddles - they have a single, specific, one-step answer that is obscured behind environmental as well as textual hints, much as one might find in a 3D Zelda game, only much more difficult. These riddles are mostly effective at what they set out to do - require you to experiment and try various solutions based on the hints given, to be rewarded with progress and power-ups upon finding the correct solution.
The trouble with this approach, as always, is that it’s very easy to spoil a game like this. I will admit that coming across quite a few of the spoilers I found is my fault; for a long time I did not think I would be interested in playing this game seriously, so I freely watched video essays and read comment sections not realizing the depth to which such things can ruin a game like this. Here we come to the first critical flaw of La-Mulana - it leans heavily on the experience it tries to deliver, but that is an experience that can be completely destroyed before the player even picks up the game.
Somehow, though, what I just described isn’t La-Mulana’s biggest flaw. No, the biggest flaw here is the amount of what I can only describe as “bullshit riddles”, the solution to which is hinted at extremely poorly, or not at all in the case of the entrance to the game’s “challenge zone” of sorts. Very frequently, progress through the game will be entirely blockaded by a riddle whose solution is so poorly explained or hinted at that the only reasonable method by which someone playing blind could discover it is through sheer trial-and-error.
I can’t provide direct examples without ruining the experience for anyone reading this review, but frequently the game would provide a hint that could very reasonably be interpreted as telling you to perform any of 4 or 5 different actions in countless different places, and the only way to discern the solution was to try all of them or look it up. This is a very cheap and lazy way of creating an “a-ha!” moment when the player finally discovers the solution, but instead of rewarding intelligence, skill, or critical thinking, it realistically just rewards patience. After a point, exploration frequently devolves into a cycle of “smack/hug every wall and spam the item button in every spot” as the easiest method of making progress, which sucks a lot of the appeal out of the experience.
Some of the riddles in this game are genuinely good, though. It’s a shame that there aren’t more riddles like the one required to obtain the flail whip or the one required to progress through the second endless corridor, because these riddles are genuinely brilliant and reward, above all else, thorough exploration and creative thinking. I have issues with these riddles, but on the whole the way they ask the player to process information from across the game world in a novel way is highly compelling. I would even classify the riddle to obtain the flail whip as a puzzle. When I successfully solved it on my first attempt by putting together all of the pieces I had found throughout the game until that point, it was an incredible rush, unlike almost anything I had felt in an adventure game prior to this.
Sadly, as the game nears its conclusion, some of its attempts at larger-scale puzzles like this start to really fall apart. Two of the last riddles in the game are hinted at so poorly that even having been spoiled on part of the solution, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to solve them without an unreasonable amount of trial-and-error unless I just looked up the solution. For one of these, the solution itself is genuinely brilliant, and actually employs real puzzle-like elements, but the only hint was so ludicrously unhelpful that I genuinely do not believe anyone could have possibly found it without either hours of trial and error or some kind of hint.
To my only very slight shame, I ended up using google for part of this puzzle, because by that point, I was beyond ready to be done. See, despite the brilliance of some of the game’s riddles, the issues I described earlier had really begun to weigh on my experience, and my resentment towards the game was building to a degree that I realized wouldn’t be sustainable. I can’t say I really regret it, because by that point I had lost a lot of my respect for the game, and my experience would absolutely have been worse had I continued attempting to solve it blind, but I resent the fact that it got to that point at all.
I do want to pause and briefly discuss the combat - there isn’t a ton to say, because the systems themselves are very basic, but the game does get a fair amount of mileage out of those systems by employing micropositioning and a strong variety of normal enemies that threaten space in meaningfully different ways and are often combined well. It reminded me of a watered-down but still good version of something like Castlevania 1 or 3. Unfortunately a lot of its boss design is really subpar, with bosses that can be easily dispatched with little effort or which have huge windows of invulnerability which destroy their pacing, but there are a few genuinely great fights in the game.
That being said, even the best encounters are marred by what are legitimately some of the worst hitboxes I have ever seen in a 2D game. Some of the bosses’ weakpoints are so poorly visualized that I couldn’t believe they made it past QA, and a number of the attacks in the game, even some from normal enemies, have hitboxes that extend well beyond their animations, making it extremely unclear how to avoid them without yet more trial-and-error in a game already slathered in it.
Where La-Mulana shines, though, and the reason it had me hooked for 70 some odd hours, is that it delivers on the fantasy of being an archeologist exploring ancient mystical ruins better than just about any other game in existence. La-Mulana is a game that requires you to take notes and make your own maps, because the in-game maps are stunningly unhelpful and just about every text tablet is relevant to a riddle at some point even if it ends up being 20 hours down the road, and when all that note-taking and map-making pays off, it can be incredibly satisfying.
The need to know what this key was for, what this tablet meant, what’s behind that door, what happens if I do that thing in that spot, is what kept me going for so long, and it was extraordinarily effective. This game has a sense of mystery that nothing else can really compare to, and I respect the way it commits to making almost every single element meaningful to a greater whole. It’s a shame that the game bogs itself down with so much needless obfuscation and trial-and-error, because this element of the game really did work for me.
I have a few stray thoughts before I wrap up this review. The music in this game is largely really good, although I could very much have done with a few more lower-energy tracks, as the constant uptempo action themes started to grate on me after a while. Tracks like Wonder of the Wonder, Sabbat, and Mother Will Be Awakened were a refreshing change of pace, and I wish there were more tracks like them. The visual style of the game is solid, but it didn’t really blow me away or anything, it just looked pretty nice throughout. I really dislike the game’s handling of consumables like money, weights, and ammo, as well as the health system. Teleporting back to the surface all the time to restock and heal up got really tedious, really fast. The level design was solid on the whole, and certain riddles utilized it in pretty neat ways, but I thought the overall world design was messy and ultimately inconsequential due to the game’s generous fast travel system.
On the whole, while I enjoyed most of my time with La Mulana, I would not call it a good game on balance, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever replay it in full. Knowing the solutions to all of the riddles really sucks a lot of the intrigue out of the experience, and not having the mystery to keep me going might make it hard to motivate myself through a replay. Still, I’m glad I played it, even if it came at the cost of my social life for a time, and even in spite of the abysmal lows the game sunk to in the end.
As cool as this game is, i dont think i have the patience for it
Loved this game when I first played it even though I used a guide, think I grew out of it but it's still amazing
La Mulana is an old school style of PC platformer that has you exploring ancient ruins and solving fiendish puzzles as Professor Lemeza. This is no ordinary metroidvania puzzle game however and Lemeza is less Indiana Jones and more Howard Carter. This is an incredibly detailed, lore heavy, obtuse archaeology-themed investigation game.
Every significant object, it's location, it's decoration, its surroundings, and so forth will need to be noted and catalogued. Write down associated text. Are there symbols? Are there statues or murals in the background art nearby? Sketch or screenshot them. Draw maps out and annotate them with what is where and how areas interconnect. What does Elder Xelpud have to say? Take a note.
Hopefully you're getting the picture by now. More than that you also have to consider that related puzzle pieces are not always near to each other, the translations are not entirely reliable, and the game is gigantic. Then when you do solve a puzzle you will be rewarded with tough as nails boss fights and it only gets harder from there.
La Mulana is a work of art made for a very select audience to appreciate. It's challenging in everything it does and makes no effort to be more accessible, there's just the environment and the task of engaging with it. The community have created spoiler free guides to get people started, but it's an arduous journey. A shame it's as impressive as it is impenetrable.
Every significant object, it's location, it's decoration, its surroundings, and so forth will need to be noted and catalogued. Write down associated text. Are there symbols? Are there statues or murals in the background art nearby? Sketch or screenshot them. Draw maps out and annotate them with what is where and how areas interconnect. What does Elder Xelpud have to say? Take a note.
Hopefully you're getting the picture by now. More than that you also have to consider that related puzzle pieces are not always near to each other, the translations are not entirely reliable, and the game is gigantic. Then when you do solve a puzzle you will be rewarded with tough as nails boss fights and it only gets harder from there.
La Mulana is a work of art made for a very select audience to appreciate. It's challenging in everything it does and makes no effort to be more accessible, there's just the environment and the task of engaging with it. The community have created spoiler free guides to get people started, but it's an arduous journey. A shame it's as impressive as it is impenetrable.
Remake of the original msx one, this game does everything well, maybe too well in fact since its puzzles are some of the most devilish ever designed. Dark Souls is La-Mulana of RPG hack'n'slashes.
🚫 ONLY A SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW IS AVAILABLE. READ MISC SECTION ON WHY 🚫
La-Mulana may not be for everyone but this Metroidvania-style game is rich in challenging puzzles and bosses, with an interesting plot and a very welcoming audiovisual environment. Its puzzles might not be the most accessible ones, but those willing to put some effort and patience into this work will be duly rewarded with a marvelous piece of gaming on the Nintendo Switch.
👉 opencritic SUMMARY
La-Mulana knows how to be tough and demanding but dedicated players will find a game that has an interesting plot, a marvelous visual environment that's inspired on the 16-bit era, an exquisite soundtrack and very engaging puzzles. Not all players will be lured, due to some puzzles leading to frustrating moments but fans of Metroidvania-type games have a real gem here for the Nintendo Switch catalogue.
👉 metacritic SUMMARY
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M I S C
◻️ ⚠️ Review originally written for FNintendo (defunct website) and published on April 22nd, 2020. Full review is currently unavailable. Expect restored written piece translated into English.
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◻️ 🙋♂️ Also tap here to find more reviews of mine
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◻️ ✍️ in European Portuguese (Main body of text translated into English with A.I.)
◻️ 📜 Review Number 35
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ F I N
La-Mulana may not be for everyone but this Metroidvania-style game is rich in challenging puzzles and bosses, with an interesting plot and a very welcoming audiovisual environment. Its puzzles might not be the most accessible ones, but those willing to put some effort and patience into this work will be duly rewarded with a marvelous piece of gaming on the Nintendo Switch.
👉 opencritic SUMMARY
La-Mulana knows how to be tough and demanding but dedicated players will find a game that has an interesting plot, a marvelous visual environment that's inspired on the 16-bit era, an exquisite soundtrack and very engaging puzzles. Not all players will be lured, due to some puzzles leading to frustrating moments but fans of Metroidvania-type games have a real gem here for the Nintendo Switch catalogue.
👉 metacritic SUMMARY
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M I S C
◻️ ⚠️ Review originally written for FNintendo (defunct website) and published on April 22nd, 2020. Full review is currently unavailable. Expect restored written piece translated into English.
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◻️ ✍️ in European Portuguese (Main body of text translated into English with A.I.)
◻️ 📜 Review Number 35
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ F I N
GREETINGS, this is a copypasta from my Steam review
Do you love exploration?
Tight platformers?
Jolting down points of interest in a notebook or on a notepad file as you come by them?
Then La-Mulana is the game for you.
Elaborate? Sure, buddy:
You are professor Lemeza, some archaeologist dude that wishes to explore the ruins of La-Mulana. The gameplay is rather simple, a basic platformer where you swing your weapon to fight enemies and use various items to interact with the environment. Beneath this deception of a simple game lies a dark truth: the true gameplay is the puzzles that you find in the ruins.
Many clues on how to solve various puzzles are scattered throughout the ruins either as environmental clues or on various stone tablets that you have to read, making you either note down everything to make sense of it all, or have you constantly back and forth between zones.
There's plenty of traps and blockers throughout the ruins to slow down your exploration, ranging from simple pitfalls to instakill traps, watch your step!
Some might find this annoying but personally I think this is great; there's a specific kind of feeling when you finally connect all the clues and solve a puzzle!
While often times the solution to a puzzle is weird; the game has strict rules, an alphabet and numbering system and it abides by it fully, along with specific environmental vistas and mechanics tied to them, making all puzzles "difficult to figure out" at worst if you really take your time. Unfortunately for me I had no such patience, I found myself often using outside pointers in order to progress as I was stuck wandering back and forth throughout the ruins.
At first the game starts rather simple but it becomes so vast it honestly kinda blew my mind. What I expected to last me max 10h turned into a 40h+ playthrough. Wouldn't surprise me if someone playing this completely blind would take more than 100h to complete the playthrough.
The graphics are neat, I've seen that this is a remake of an older version and the graphical improvement is great. The environments are all unique with various mythological influences though at some times they feel a bit too busy (looking at you Chamber of Birth). Enemies are all varied in design and I don't think there's one same enemy such as recolors, which is a neat thing.
The music is not bad! I didn't think it was something that impressive at first but it gets better and better as you progress with the game. Some boss themes are absolutely banging and live in my head rent free.
This game is definitely one of my top experiences in gaming, and one that I would never forget, such an unique piece of game. I recommend this game to anyone that likes metroidvanias, as this is definitely a game I would consider a "classic" in my book.
Do you love exploration?
Tight platformers?
Jolting down points of interest in a notebook or on a notepad file as you come by them?
Then La-Mulana is the game for you.
Elaborate? Sure, buddy:
You are professor Lemeza, some archaeologist dude that wishes to explore the ruins of La-Mulana. The gameplay is rather simple, a basic platformer where you swing your weapon to fight enemies and use various items to interact with the environment. Beneath this deception of a simple game lies a dark truth: the true gameplay is the puzzles that you find in the ruins.
Many clues on how to solve various puzzles are scattered throughout the ruins either as environmental clues or on various stone tablets that you have to read, making you either note down everything to make sense of it all, or have you constantly back and forth between zones.
There's plenty of traps and blockers throughout the ruins to slow down your exploration, ranging from simple pitfalls to instakill traps, watch your step!
Some might find this annoying but personally I think this is great; there's a specific kind of feeling when you finally connect all the clues and solve a puzzle!
While often times the solution to a puzzle is weird; the game has strict rules, an alphabet and numbering system and it abides by it fully, along with specific environmental vistas and mechanics tied to them, making all puzzles "difficult to figure out" at worst if you really take your time. Unfortunately for me I had no such patience, I found myself often using outside pointers in order to progress as I was stuck wandering back and forth throughout the ruins.
At first the game starts rather simple but it becomes so vast it honestly kinda blew my mind. What I expected to last me max 10h turned into a 40h+ playthrough. Wouldn't surprise me if someone playing this completely blind would take more than 100h to complete the playthrough.
The graphics are neat, I've seen that this is a remake of an older version and the graphical improvement is great. The environments are all unique with various mythological influences though at some times they feel a bit too busy (looking at you Chamber of Birth). Enemies are all varied in design and I don't think there's one same enemy such as recolors, which is a neat thing.
The music is not bad! I didn't think it was something that impressive at first but it gets better and better as you progress with the game. Some boss themes are absolutely banging and live in my head rent free.
This game is definitely one of my top experiences in gaming, and one that I would never forget, such an unique piece of game. I recommend this game to anyone that likes metroidvanias, as this is definitely a game I would consider a "classic" in my book.
La-Mulana is a terribly frustrating game that feels like an exercise in reaching the limits of unclear and obtuse design while maintaining a consistent internal logic. It wants to feel unfair while always having a solid justification for doing so. It's an interesting style exercise that makes the game near unplayable at times but also makes it extremely memorable.
It could be described as an early "note-taking adventure game". Titles in that genre usually try to make the player feel clever for inferring solutions to puzzles organically, which requires a very precise design to convey the right clues at the right time. Clues should lead to one another and then to rewarding discoveries, forming a graph structure that the player has fun untangling.
The La-Mulana developers seem to have tried to maximize how complex this graph of clues can be without leaving any disconnected, unfair puzzles, always leaving the tiniest breadcrumbs toward a solution. No matter how difficult a leap in logic can be, you can always connect it to a hint in the world. While you're unlikely to beat the game without outside help, even restoring to a walkthrough can be enjoyable, as trying to reverse engineer the intented path and the designer's intentions can be intellectually challenging.
It makes for a game that's often more fun to think about than it is to play. Writing down notes, collecting information and trying to piece it everything together is satisfying. The game's music and gameplay feedback are solid enough to make the play time engaging, but it's so easy to waste hours while hunting for the next crumb of progress. The platforming and combat do their job as palette cleansers between the puzzles, without standing out much.
There are times where the game disappoints later on, as the search space for puzzles increases dramatically (I found the addition of a second type of breakable wall to be too much myself). There's a few more puzzle ideas which are repeated a few too many time and loose their surprise value. The game almost crumbles under it's own weight by the end, a lock-and-key scenarios grow in complexity with the size of the map. You have to accept that you will either give up in the back half and use outside hints, or spend triple digits hours before the end.
Even so, the game manages to be successful in it's goals even if it "defeats" you, and is interesting to play even with a walk-through open. Failing to beat a game can still be an interesting experience worth having, as long as you accept that defeat as a positive experience. I think that partially explain why this game has a large fan base who experienced it mainly through old let's plays.
Solving a puzzle usually leads to a release of tension and a feeling of satisfaction. La-Mulana loves to toy with that emotion by making rewards so tiny and obtuse that they themselves become a bigger puzzle. You often get excited for finding a clever solution, only to have your excitement cut short when your reward is more confusing than the puzzle you just solved. It's a playfully sadistic game.
It feels struggling to open a package with your fingernails, and being devastated to find a smaller, more tightly packed box inside. And that feeling lasts until the last few hours of the game. There isn't a point where it feels "solved", you only get to feel like you cracked open the puzzle box once you hit the credits, or maybe later even. It never feels like you've cracked the whole thing open. You eventually come to see the game as a single entity, your antagonist to defeat, and the game's story manage to perfectly capture that with a clever late game twist. The "La-Mulana" temple as a whole is revealed to be the entity your are chasing after and need to defeat.
The puzzle box qualities of the level design make up for otherwise unsatisfying progression items. You may not get many interesting character upgrades, but it feels like the game world around you progresses and evolves as an indication of your progress. Destroyed walls, activated mechanisms and water flow all remind you of your progress. It's very satisfying and interesting, and helps sell this idea of the game world as a living being.
Even after a full playthrough, having given up and used tools about 6/8 bosses in, I struggle to piece every last detail together, and I appreciate the game as something I may return to years in the future for a refresher.
It could be described as an early "note-taking adventure game". Titles in that genre usually try to make the player feel clever for inferring solutions to puzzles organically, which requires a very precise design to convey the right clues at the right time. Clues should lead to one another and then to rewarding discoveries, forming a graph structure that the player has fun untangling.
The La-Mulana developers seem to have tried to maximize how complex this graph of clues can be without leaving any disconnected, unfair puzzles, always leaving the tiniest breadcrumbs toward a solution. No matter how difficult a leap in logic can be, you can always connect it to a hint in the world. While you're unlikely to beat the game without outside help, even restoring to a walkthrough can be enjoyable, as trying to reverse engineer the intented path and the designer's intentions can be intellectually challenging.
It makes for a game that's often more fun to think about than it is to play. Writing down notes, collecting information and trying to piece it everything together is satisfying. The game's music and gameplay feedback are solid enough to make the play time engaging, but it's so easy to waste hours while hunting for the next crumb of progress. The platforming and combat do their job as palette cleansers between the puzzles, without standing out much.
There are times where the game disappoints later on, as the search space for puzzles increases dramatically (I found the addition of a second type of breakable wall to be too much myself). There's a few more puzzle ideas which are repeated a few too many time and loose their surprise value. The game almost crumbles under it's own weight by the end, a lock-and-key scenarios grow in complexity with the size of the map. You have to accept that you will either give up in the back half and use outside hints, or spend triple digits hours before the end.
Even so, the game manages to be successful in it's goals even if it "defeats" you, and is interesting to play even with a walk-through open. Failing to beat a game can still be an interesting experience worth having, as long as you accept that defeat as a positive experience. I think that partially explain why this game has a large fan base who experienced it mainly through old let's plays.
Solving a puzzle usually leads to a release of tension and a feeling of satisfaction. La-Mulana loves to toy with that emotion by making rewards so tiny and obtuse that they themselves become a bigger puzzle. You often get excited for finding a clever solution, only to have your excitement cut short when your reward is more confusing than the puzzle you just solved. It's a playfully sadistic game.
It feels struggling to open a package with your fingernails, and being devastated to find a smaller, more tightly packed box inside. And that feeling lasts until the last few hours of the game. There isn't a point where it feels "solved", you only get to feel like you cracked open the puzzle box once you hit the credits, or maybe later even. It never feels like you've cracked the whole thing open. You eventually come to see the game as a single entity, your antagonist to defeat, and the game's story manage to perfectly capture that with a clever late game twist. The "La-Mulana" temple as a whole is revealed to be the entity your are chasing after and need to defeat.
The puzzle box qualities of the level design make up for otherwise unsatisfying progression items. You may not get many interesting character upgrades, but it feels like the game world around you progresses and evolves as an indication of your progress. Destroyed walls, activated mechanisms and water flow all remind you of your progress. It's very satisfying and interesting, and helps sell this idea of the game world as a living being.
Even after a full playthrough, having given up and used tools about 6/8 bosses in, I struggle to piece every last detail together, and I appreciate the game as something I may return to years in the future for a refresher.
Tried playing this without a guide and found it to be a boring overly-cryptic slog. Tried playing this with a guide and it remained a boring slog except that I know what I'm supposed to do now. Sorry, but I no longer have the patience to keep playing stuff I'm not having any kind of fun with, which is a shame because I was digging the music, the story seemed interesting too.