This game was supposed to be adult take on occult and Lovecraftian horror. However, it just focuses on shocking and never explores more interesting aspects. Gameplay is just plain bad. Horror is nonexistent. Graphics are really mediocre. Voice acting is just so so bad. I wouldn't recommend this game. Only good thing i found about it is that it lasts about 2h.
This review contains spoilers
Blend and lifeless game.
Lust for Darkness had a lot of potential to become something unique but failed miserably. It is lifeless husk of a game that has nothing to offer.
When the game first came out, I got excited. It was supposed to be a psychological survival horror game with some erotic twist. Because I am a simple man, this sounded great. But when I played it, it disappointed immediately.
The story was an interesting concept. You receive a letter from your wife, who had gone missing a year ago. You are told that you can find her in some mansion that belongs to the Yelverton family. On your journey you discover that this mansion is home to some cult that worships some lust God and that there is apparently a place called “Lusst’ghaa”, some alternative reality. On your exploration you discover all kinds of messed up stuff, you are being chased and your sanity drops fast. Meanwhile, you still search for your wife, which left more clues in the mansion.
Eventually, you enter the strange world of Lusst’ghaa, where more mindf*cks and weird stuff is happening. And although some events and chase sequences were sort of fun, the rest felt like a weird safari tour.
Like I said, this concept could be interesting but the rest of the game in terms of mechanics, graphics, animation, length, and progressions is so bad, that it did not interest me anymore after an hour. And speaking of an hour, this game is criminally short. I finished it within three hours, and that is while I explored everything I could find.
The graphics are not great but acceptable. What kills it, is the awful and stiff animations of enemies and the environment. It looks so incredibly stiff and lifeless, I had the feeling I walked through some sort of museum, watching animatronics. Everything is scripted or “just happening” and there is almost no interaction of any kind between you and the events and environment around you. Its really bad.
In the sound department, the ambient tracks are all right, but the sound design is just as blend and lifeless as the rest of the game.
Of course, one of the reasons I played Lust for Darkness, was to see some booty and find out what this “erotic theme” was all about. Apart from some statues and people without clothes, it really disappointed. But then there was a specific room/scene of the game with a lot of people, that did, how should I put this, “things” to each other. When I entered however, I just saw twenty animatronics repeating the same movement over and over again. No different animations, no interaction with you, nothing. At this moment, I knew that all hope for this game was lost.
Besides from this, the game play itself is boring and blend. You can sneak by enemies in perfect scripted scenes, in which sneaking is the only way to progress, you collect stuff like notes and items that all feel pointless, and the progression and exploration is non existing.
The game has not much to offer and the way it is made and plays, it just feels that it does not have any reason to exist, except for some sort of tour experience trough a small and strange world. Some sort of demo that is showed off.
In the end, Lust for Darkness is a very, very short, and failed game that I definitely would not recommend for any price.
Lust for Darkness had a lot of potential to become something unique but failed miserably. It is lifeless husk of a game that has nothing to offer.
When the game first came out, I got excited. It was supposed to be a psychological survival horror game with some erotic twist. Because I am a simple man, this sounded great. But when I played it, it disappointed immediately.
The story was an interesting concept. You receive a letter from your wife, who had gone missing a year ago. You are told that you can find her in some mansion that belongs to the Yelverton family. On your journey you discover that this mansion is home to some cult that worships some lust God and that there is apparently a place called “Lusst’ghaa”, some alternative reality. On your exploration you discover all kinds of messed up stuff, you are being chased and your sanity drops fast. Meanwhile, you still search for your wife, which left more clues in the mansion.
Eventually, you enter the strange world of Lusst’ghaa, where more mindf*cks and weird stuff is happening. And although some events and chase sequences were sort of fun, the rest felt like a weird safari tour.
Like I said, this concept could be interesting but the rest of the game in terms of mechanics, graphics, animation, length, and progressions is so bad, that it did not interest me anymore after an hour. And speaking of an hour, this game is criminally short. I finished it within three hours, and that is while I explored everything I could find.
The graphics are not great but acceptable. What kills it, is the awful and stiff animations of enemies and the environment. It looks so incredibly stiff and lifeless, I had the feeling I walked through some sort of museum, watching animatronics. Everything is scripted or “just happening” and there is almost no interaction of any kind between you and the events and environment around you. Its really bad.
In the sound department, the ambient tracks are all right, but the sound design is just as blend and lifeless as the rest of the game.
Of course, one of the reasons I played Lust for Darkness, was to see some booty and find out what this “erotic theme” was all about. Apart from some statues and people without clothes, it really disappointed. But then there was a specific room/scene of the game with a lot of people, that did, how should I put this, “things” to each other. When I entered however, I just saw twenty animatronics repeating the same movement over and over again. No different animations, no interaction with you, nothing. At this moment, I knew that all hope for this game was lost.
Besides from this, the game play itself is boring and blend. You can sneak by enemies in perfect scripted scenes, in which sneaking is the only way to progress, you collect stuff like notes and items that all feel pointless, and the progression and exploration is non existing.
The game has not much to offer and the way it is made and plays, it just feels that it does not have any reason to exist, except for some sort of tour experience trough a small and strange world. Some sort of demo that is showed off.
In the end, Lust for Darkness is a very, very short, and failed game that I definitely would not recommend for any price.
game is kinda meh but gigerian is something else man...
This review contains spoilers
As I continue to get notified every few days about more activity on that Pikmin 2 review, the whole world overwhelmed by Pikmin Fever, I determined the best way to follow up something that expansive is with a game literally nobody has heard of or cares about. I hate to be too mean, believe it or not, but I am split on whether this game deserves it. It's terrible, but my view of it really hinges on the intention of the developers when making it. If I want to be charitable, this is an example of huge swathes of ambition completely overwhelming actual ability, like trying to keep an African elephant airborne with pinwheels and prayers, which is something I admire. Alternatively, if I choose to be uncharitable, this is a soulless attempt to swindle buyers with a novel hook, only to throw some slapped together junk in their lap and scarper before they realize it's just long enough to be non-refundable and looks like generic asset youtube fodder that is, ironically, occasionally too racy for youtube.
In many ways, this feels like a waste of time to talk about. I wouldn't complain that congealed orange chicken scooped out of a buffet tray fails to impress the refined palette, so what do I get out of picking at a game I only got around to because I needed something to kill time before "Sea of Stars" launched? The answer, truthfully, is the untapped potential that I hate to see squandered. Games seem to be the only major artistic medium cripplingly afraid of seriously exploring sexuality in a real, nitty gritty sense (ie crude and blunt a la 80's b-movie). Maybe this is an awkward point to make mere weeks after "Baldur's Gate 3", a game where I've heard more about the penises than I have about the roleplaying, but I don't think that's the norm. I'm intrigued by the suggestion of an erotic cult horror story in the vein of "Eyes Wide Shut", with a healthy dose of "Hellraiser" freakworld and a leering window intrusion from Cthulhu. Call it sleazy if you must, but while mainstream games are (usually) content to awkwardly shuffle their feet and finagle their suddenly very loose shoelaces at the mere suggestion of their characters so much as patting each other on the back, I respected something willing to go balls to the wall (no pun intended) and embracing some insanity. If only.
After an extended prologue that can basically be summarized as "Did you play Resident Evil 7? It's that but not in the swamp", the game starts in earnest when your character actually goes to the mansion where his wife is being held. Every character there is wearing a mask, a wise decision, considering the one face we do see shows these seemingly stock assets have the usual plastic sheen faces and perpetual fluoride stare. There's a couple of incredibly trivial stealth sections, where the enemy won't react to you unless you sock him in the jaw, scuff up his boots, and insult his preferred political candidate while doing a little dance on his mom's grave. Before entering the mansion, you need to get a disguise, which thankfully happens to be lying just outside. How convenient. As you approach the door, you need an invitation to get in. Turning around, an invitation happens to be lying on the table next to it. How convenient. Either the puzzle fairy came through this mansion or this is meant to be the first video game to be beatable by a dog with an Oculus Rift, because every single puzzle consists of a lock with its key sitting right next to it.
In the mansion, there are sporadic orgies. That may seem sudden, but it's treated with all the pomp and circumstance of a dirty Coke can on the side of the road. These Unity models awkwardly sliding against each other like they're trying to fusion dance is what you paid to see, so best enjoy the three minutes that it lasts. I especially enjoyed the naked guys sitting in the theater boxes alone, just watching the action below. No need to be shy, buddy, I'm sure the other kids would let you play if you just asked! Scattered around the place are documents patching together what might have ostensibly become a story. Unfortunately, I only found a fraction of them, so my plot only went as far as "A disgraced author created a sex cult to try and contact another dimension". No word on how it went, maybe they dropped into a world of Overwatch SFMs and are living their wildest dreams.
The big draw here is supposed to come when your character portals to a strange, alien world called Lust'ghaa. If there's supposed to be lust happening here, it must've been hiding amongst the wavy purple tentacles that cover every single wall like I traveled into the Twizzler dimension. Nothing here is visually distinct or the least bit related to the core concept, looking more like some poor man's take on Giger, ironically sans the sexual innuendo. The puzzles remain as inane as ever, punctuated only by the occasional chase sequence where a white goatman (conspicuously dongless for the sex dimension) will run after you so he can breathe on you very heavy. After about 15 feet, he'll give up and go back to leaving dong-shaped statues all over the place that you can pick up, look at, and put down again, maybe pondering the artistic intent behind the dong shape.
In essence, that's the whole game. There's a mask, required to interact with certain lust dimension items, but which, if worn too long, will make you so insane that you instantly die from being CRAZY. Considering the hidden objects are all just interactables or impassable walls, the tradeoff seems to be targeted mainly at people on the verge of falling asleep that might just forget what's going on on the screen. The only other thing worth mentioning is the final boss. Goatman shows up again, repeating the same two lines over and over like he's practicing for a school play. The way to beat him is to stand completely still by the blocked exit. After about a minute, he'll manage to awkwardly power walk his way right into your personal space and start charging up his Kamehameha. So long as you step out of the way within 12 episodes and 150 Vegeta reaction shots, he'll just hit the door for you. Do this one more time, and the final boss is defeated.
Ultimately, I don't feel terribly slighted by this game, just slightly annoyed by its promise. It merely shakes out as part of the Steam page glut of generic horror walk-about. In spite of that, I genuinely wouldn't mind an AO game with some real substance to rise above the sea of "Big Bazonga Waifus in the Slime Dimension Vol. 7" and "Feet Girl Mahjong". I guess I'll just have to put my hopes in the "Sex with Hitler" franchise hitting its renaissance.
In many ways, this feels like a waste of time to talk about. I wouldn't complain that congealed orange chicken scooped out of a buffet tray fails to impress the refined palette, so what do I get out of picking at a game I only got around to because I needed something to kill time before "Sea of Stars" launched? The answer, truthfully, is the untapped potential that I hate to see squandered. Games seem to be the only major artistic medium cripplingly afraid of seriously exploring sexuality in a real, nitty gritty sense (ie crude and blunt a la 80's b-movie). Maybe this is an awkward point to make mere weeks after "Baldur's Gate 3", a game where I've heard more about the penises than I have about the roleplaying, but I don't think that's the norm. I'm intrigued by the suggestion of an erotic cult horror story in the vein of "Eyes Wide Shut", with a healthy dose of "Hellraiser" freakworld and a leering window intrusion from Cthulhu. Call it sleazy if you must, but while mainstream games are (usually) content to awkwardly shuffle their feet and finagle their suddenly very loose shoelaces at the mere suggestion of their characters so much as patting each other on the back, I respected something willing to go balls to the wall (no pun intended) and embracing some insanity. If only.
After an extended prologue that can basically be summarized as "Did you play Resident Evil 7? It's that but not in the swamp", the game starts in earnest when your character actually goes to the mansion where his wife is being held. Every character there is wearing a mask, a wise decision, considering the one face we do see shows these seemingly stock assets have the usual plastic sheen faces and perpetual fluoride stare. There's a couple of incredibly trivial stealth sections, where the enemy won't react to you unless you sock him in the jaw, scuff up his boots, and insult his preferred political candidate while doing a little dance on his mom's grave. Before entering the mansion, you need to get a disguise, which thankfully happens to be lying just outside. How convenient. As you approach the door, you need an invitation to get in. Turning around, an invitation happens to be lying on the table next to it. How convenient. Either the puzzle fairy came through this mansion or this is meant to be the first video game to be beatable by a dog with an Oculus Rift, because every single puzzle consists of a lock with its key sitting right next to it.
In the mansion, there are sporadic orgies. That may seem sudden, but it's treated with all the pomp and circumstance of a dirty Coke can on the side of the road. These Unity models awkwardly sliding against each other like they're trying to fusion dance is what you paid to see, so best enjoy the three minutes that it lasts. I especially enjoyed the naked guys sitting in the theater boxes alone, just watching the action below. No need to be shy, buddy, I'm sure the other kids would let you play if you just asked! Scattered around the place are documents patching together what might have ostensibly become a story. Unfortunately, I only found a fraction of them, so my plot only went as far as "A disgraced author created a sex cult to try and contact another dimension". No word on how it went, maybe they dropped into a world of Overwatch SFMs and are living their wildest dreams.
The big draw here is supposed to come when your character portals to a strange, alien world called Lust'ghaa. If there's supposed to be lust happening here, it must've been hiding amongst the wavy purple tentacles that cover every single wall like I traveled into the Twizzler dimension. Nothing here is visually distinct or the least bit related to the core concept, looking more like some poor man's take on Giger, ironically sans the sexual innuendo. The puzzles remain as inane as ever, punctuated only by the occasional chase sequence where a white goatman (conspicuously dongless for the sex dimension) will run after you so he can breathe on you very heavy. After about 15 feet, he'll give up and go back to leaving dong-shaped statues all over the place that you can pick up, look at, and put down again, maybe pondering the artistic intent behind the dong shape.
In essence, that's the whole game. There's a mask, required to interact with certain lust dimension items, but which, if worn too long, will make you so insane that you instantly die from being CRAZY. Considering the hidden objects are all just interactables or impassable walls, the tradeoff seems to be targeted mainly at people on the verge of falling asleep that might just forget what's going on on the screen. The only other thing worth mentioning is the final boss. Goatman shows up again, repeating the same two lines over and over like he's practicing for a school play. The way to beat him is to stand completely still by the blocked exit. After about a minute, he'll manage to awkwardly power walk his way right into your personal space and start charging up his Kamehameha. So long as you step out of the way within 12 episodes and 150 Vegeta reaction shots, he'll just hit the door for you. Do this one more time, and the final boss is defeated.
Ultimately, I don't feel terribly slighted by this game, just slightly annoyed by its promise. It merely shakes out as part of the Steam page glut of generic horror walk-about. In spite of that, I genuinely wouldn't mind an AO game with some real substance to rise above the sea of "Big Bazonga Waifus in the Slime Dimension Vol. 7" and "Feet Girl Mahjong". I guess I'll just have to put my hopes in the "Sex with Hitler" franchise hitting its renaissance.
Este juego es bastante incompetente para lo que promete. Un walking simulator que me esperaba que me fuera a crear algo de ansiedad por el horror ''lovecraftiano'' que tanto se inspire pero para nada, se siente más un chiste para gente cachondísima que le gusta el concepto de culto a una deidad y sexo.
Tiene partes potenciales, como el que miembros del culto cuestionen su creencia a este, el usar el sexo no como pornografía visual pero que te llegue a ponerte la piel de gallina en un ambiente macabro y de dudosa moralidad, al igual que darte una pequeña libertad al explorar un poco más la mansión o incluso interactuar con el resto del culto para saber un poco más de su historia y averiguar algo de tu mujer quién fue secuestrada y te ha pedido ayuda.
Pero la pobre narración y el hecho de sentirse pasillos lineales no le hace justicia ni tampoco el mundo alienígena que podría no haberse incluido y habría impactado lo mismo el juego. No voy ni a hablar del monstruo porque es simplemente correr dando vueltas hasta que encuentras la salida y estás a salvo. ¿Merece la pena? Si te lo pillas muy rebajado a 1€ te lo juegas en 2 horas y te ríes de lo exagerado que son los diálogos, pero poco más.
Tiene partes potenciales, como el que miembros del culto cuestionen su creencia a este, el usar el sexo no como pornografía visual pero que te llegue a ponerte la piel de gallina en un ambiente macabro y de dudosa moralidad, al igual que darte una pequeña libertad al explorar un poco más la mansión o incluso interactuar con el resto del culto para saber un poco más de su historia y averiguar algo de tu mujer quién fue secuestrada y te ha pedido ayuda.
Pero la pobre narración y el hecho de sentirse pasillos lineales no le hace justicia ni tampoco el mundo alienígena que podría no haberse incluido y habría impactado lo mismo el juego. No voy ni a hablar del monstruo porque es simplemente correr dando vueltas hasta que encuentras la salida y estás a salvo. ¿Merece la pena? Si te lo pillas muy rebajado a 1€ te lo juegas en 2 horas y te ríes de lo exagerado que son los diálogos, pero poco más.
This is a SEX GAME about SEX. SEX WITH MONSTERS. At least that's what the Steam page would have you believe. I'm not sure how I ended up with this game in my Steam library, but this is the game I own with the lowest Metacritic score, so I decided to try it out. It's fine. The reason the score is so low is because the page implies this is an orgy filled affair, when really there's like two sections of a few nude models gently clipping through each other. Not exactly erotic. I think the marketing was supposed to be "oh, look at this hot and sexy game, I'm sure no Lovecraftian horrors will show up", mimicking the plot, acting like it's a big surprise. Turns out, the audience wanted their hot orgies and didn't get it, leading to poor ratings. The actual game is like a Lovecraftian Amnesia. It has some well done visual design, but the puzzles aren't very interesting, it's kinda repetitive, and the ending was really stupid. So while it's pretty low on my personal ratings for the year, it's not as bad as the reviews would lead you to believe.
There are so many Eyes Wide Shut references that it's almost a shame to play this game without seeing the movie
Horror, they said. Eroticism, they said.
All we got was disappointment and dicks. Lots of dicks.
I played this game because I was interested in a sequel to some degree. You know, eroticism and porn may go hand to hand at times but have heavily different destinations. And this is just embarrassing.
I guess author had something in mind when building this. And maybe he should've instead had a wank and be done with it. The only good thing is that this game can be completed in a couple of hours. Ah, yes, the game also runs like shit.
I hope the sequel will be better.
All we got was disappointment and dicks. Lots of dicks.
I played this game because I was interested in a sequel to some degree. You know, eroticism and porn may go hand to hand at times but have heavily different destinations. And this is just embarrassing.
I guess author had something in mind when building this. And maybe he should've instead had a wank and be done with it. The only good thing is that this game can be completed in a couple of hours. Ah, yes, the game also runs like shit.
I hope the sequel will be better.
The constant blurry screen when your character freaks out is such a pain in the ass,. some interesting area designs though.
Not enough gay sex.
Far from a perfect game but the Gigerian level and asset design is done so lovingly, can't not appreciate it
You'd think it's hard to make a bad Lovecraftian + Kubrickian game.
An odd, janky, and dark horror game with VERY adult themes that still mostly delivered.
I played this entirely on Steam Deck and was able to play from start to finish. I did not complete all of the side content though. It did not seem to be a well optimized game either but it worked. I got a steady 40fps on a low/med mix using Proton Experimental.
I got Lust from Beyond M-addition through Humble recently and was intrigued. I decided to buy the bundle of the original games and give them a shot. For a psychological Lovecraftian horror it has it's charm. Through most of the game you play the husband of a woman who has been kidnaped by a cult and you are trying to get her back. It is a VERY adult story (content wise), but lacks some depth when dealing with the adult subjects. The way you navigated through the world and story was intriguing enough that it kept me engaged. It did not blow my socks off though. Overall, the story is solid but some of the dialogue and elements fell flat for me.
The world is limited to a house (where you start), a mansion, and a maze like alternate dimension. Though limited the world feels lived in to an extent, but also empty at the same time. If nothing else this adds to the feeling of unease you get navigating the locations and the horrors taking place, but you can't help but feel like there should be more here. The alternate dimension you enter periodically is very intriguing and definitely pulls inspiration from H.R. Geiger's Alien. This dimension is very disturbing at times, but it works. Overall, this world the devs created is unique, mostly engaging, and very disturbing.
The gameplay was fairly simplistic, but served it's purpose. You spend most of your time sneaking around and solving puzzles to progress. The puzzles are not overly complicated, but are also not always intuitive. Interacting with objects is interesting and and you wear masks in several instances, that serve several purposes. Again, not overly complex or complicated, but it does add to the game overall. The gameplay overall is familiar to those who enjoy the psychological horror genre.
This was a game with some pretty solid bones, but lacked some substance. I appreciate the adult themes, but they didn't completely land the way I had hoped. It makes for an interesting and different experience in the psychological horror genre and I can definitely recommend if you are even slightly intrigued.
I played this entirely on Steam Deck and was able to play from start to finish. I did not complete all of the side content though. It did not seem to be a well optimized game either but it worked. I got a steady 40fps on a low/med mix using Proton Experimental.
I got Lust from Beyond M-addition through Humble recently and was intrigued. I decided to buy the bundle of the original games and give them a shot. For a psychological Lovecraftian horror it has it's charm. Through most of the game you play the husband of a woman who has been kidnaped by a cult and you are trying to get her back. It is a VERY adult story (content wise), but lacks some depth when dealing with the adult subjects. The way you navigated through the world and story was intriguing enough that it kept me engaged. It did not blow my socks off though. Overall, the story is solid but some of the dialogue and elements fell flat for me.
The world is limited to a house (where you start), a mansion, and a maze like alternate dimension. Though limited the world feels lived in to an extent, but also empty at the same time. If nothing else this adds to the feeling of unease you get navigating the locations and the horrors taking place, but you can't help but feel like there should be more here. The alternate dimension you enter periodically is very intriguing and definitely pulls inspiration from H.R. Geiger's Alien. This dimension is very disturbing at times, but it works. Overall, this world the devs created is unique, mostly engaging, and very disturbing.
The gameplay was fairly simplistic, but served it's purpose. You spend most of your time sneaking around and solving puzzles to progress. The puzzles are not overly complicated, but are also not always intuitive. Interacting with objects is interesting and and you wear masks in several instances, that serve several purposes. Again, not overly complex or complicated, but it does add to the game overall. The gameplay overall is familiar to those who enjoy the psychological horror genre.
This was a game with some pretty solid bones, but lacked some substance. I appreciate the adult themes, but they didn't completely land the way I had hoped. It makes for an interesting and different experience in the psychological horror genre and I can definitely recommend if you are even slightly intrigued.
Lust for Darkness es de control sencillo (WASD Q-E más ratón) en vista de primera persona para ser aún más inmersiva esa sensación de agobio y pánico. Recomendado únicamente para adultos de mente muy abierta. Las escenas de sexo son muy recurrentes y explicitas. Pero también hay mucho gore, en forma de mutilaciones y bestias grotescas. También lo recomiendo para amantes de las aventuras de juegos de terror como Amnesia, en las que correr o escondernos es más seguro que un arma, sobre todo porque no llevaremos ningún arma. Para apasionados de los dioses primigenios, Lovecraft y ese terror psicológico, que en ocasiones aterra más que una manada de zombies. No es un juego porno, no vayáis con esa idea a la hora de jugarlo. Es un juego cortito, con una gran historia detrás, terrorífico y muy mal rollero. Y entra de lleno en mi categoría de RARUNEZ sobre todo por su final abierto a secuela (en la que ya se está trabajando) que te deja con la boca abierta. Un juego muy disfrutable. Reseña completa en http://www.orgullogamers.com/2020/07/lust-for-darkness-analisis.html
Perfectly okay "walk around and be spooked" game. It was fine.
I downloaded this after a recommendation of a local radio station for the interesting concept of Survival Horror and some kind of porn.
Well as I really found the concept interesting, the implementation was horrible. Game mechanics are very clunky. Running works only randomly, no matter how many times you mash the run button. The second world is ugly, and it is very confusing as you can go so many ways that lead to nowhere. It has a ton of items you can interact with, but they do just nothing (even the statues in the different altars are pointless)
And the worst thing was, the whole game was washy and blurred in the parallel universe. Also, the loading screens seemed endless. I don't know if this was because of the performance of the Nintendo Switch but I can't imagine that the Switch wouldn't be powerful enough to run such a rather short game.
This was pretty painful to come through, even though the concept was interesting.
Well as I really found the concept interesting, the implementation was horrible. Game mechanics are very clunky. Running works only randomly, no matter how many times you mash the run button. The second world is ugly, and it is very confusing as you can go so many ways that lead to nowhere. It has a ton of items you can interact with, but they do just nothing (even the statues in the different altars are pointless)
And the worst thing was, the whole game was washy and blurred in the parallel universe. Also, the loading screens seemed endless. I don't know if this was because of the performance of the Nintendo Switch but I can't imagine that the Switch wouldn't be powerful enough to run such a rather short game.
This was pretty painful to come through, even though the concept was interesting.