LunarLux is a game that might as well have been designed specifically for me. it takes a whole lot of DNA from Mega Man Battle Network and Star Force, two of my favorite game series of all time, and it really shows in its overall quality. i don't think it hits nearly the same highs as Battle Network 6 or Star Force 3, but it's still pretty great!
its combat system is pretty interesting, on the player phase you select a skill to use plus an additional passive skill to add a random secondary effect, which can be anything from a +10 boost in damage to inflicting guaranteed stun on one enemy, preventing them from moving at all. some, but not all, attacks have "action commands" associated with them as well, usually manifesting as timed button presses.
on the enemy turn, they'll attack using one of a few different methods. the first three are directly inspired by battle network and star force, with the main differences between them being the field layout. these attack methods will place you on either a 3x3, a 3x1, or even a one-square grid, with attacks flying at you from various directions that you'll have to avoid. you also have a shield to use (generally for the 1x1 attacks, though it's generally usable in the 3x1 and 3x3 attacks as well). using this shield will consume one of your stored shields, which you start out with a few of in battle but can only be regenerated by using specific skills or items.
the other two methods of attack you'll run into are actually, surprisingly enough, inspired by Undertale. they're pretty directly just the red and green SOUL forms from that game, with some minor changes. for those who somehow haven't touched Undertale or even seen its gameplay in big 2024, the attack pattern inspired by the red SOUL basically forces you to move around inside a rectangular box while taking the form of a small heart. after moving a bit (the attacks don't start unless you move around a bit, to make sure you're ready), you'll be dodging enemy attacks that are flying at you or spawning in the box itself. you can also still use your shield in this form, and you take damage based on how many times you got hit after the attack ends. the final method of attack basically relies on you projecting a shield to block attacks coming at you from the left and right. unlike in Undertale, this pattern never forces you to block attacks from the top or bottom, so it's generally the simplest type of attack to handle (i didn't get hit by one of these during my entire playthrough)
the overworld is decently fun to explore as well. while not as in-depth as BN or SF's overworld and cyber/wave world areas, i still found myself having a lot of fun just exploring around and gathering items and powerups. the powerups you obtain throughout the game range from maximum HP and shield boosters (of which there are, i believe, a limited amount in the game) to skill boosters that can increase the level of a passive or active skill by one, to a maximum of three (later four, once obtaining a certain postgame item). you can also outright find new skills to use in the overworld as well, though many are also found in shops.
the writing is...kind of a mixed bag? the main story is somewhat simple, yet still enjoyable due to the way the main characters' personalities bounce off one another. i also found the postgame content (because it's inspired by BN/SF, of course there's a postgame) to be the best-written part of the game. the problem comes when you get to the game's attempts at humor, generally when it comes to flavor text you find by exploring around. in BN/SF, checking everything around was paramount not just for finding new items, but for finding new areas to jack or pulse in to. naturally, if you have experience with those series you'll be doing that here too...but the problem is while there are still lots of items hidden around, the writers attempted to add quite a bit of humor to the flavor text. this in itself isn't much of a problem at its core, but when they're putting Pickle Rick references in the game, it comes off as a little obnoxious. not enough to ruin the game by any means, but it did get grating seeing the number of blatant references in the game that just kinda knock you out of your immersion. i saw the Among Us guy, man.
overall though, if you found yourself liking mega man battle network or star force, or even RPGs with cool gameplay gimmicks in general, then i'd highly recommend this game. it's a pretty quick romp, my playthrough in total lasted me about 21 hours and that was with doing damn near everything in the game, so it's easy enough to get through.
oh, and the music is fantastic, as expected of a project inspired by anything Mega Man. even if you don't play the game, give it a listen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxS-PXjY4ok
its combat system is pretty interesting, on the player phase you select a skill to use plus an additional passive skill to add a random secondary effect, which can be anything from a +10 boost in damage to inflicting guaranteed stun on one enemy, preventing them from moving at all. some, but not all, attacks have "action commands" associated with them as well, usually manifesting as timed button presses.
on the enemy turn, they'll attack using one of a few different methods. the first three are directly inspired by battle network and star force, with the main differences between them being the field layout. these attack methods will place you on either a 3x3, a 3x1, or even a one-square grid, with attacks flying at you from various directions that you'll have to avoid. you also have a shield to use (generally for the 1x1 attacks, though it's generally usable in the 3x1 and 3x3 attacks as well). using this shield will consume one of your stored shields, which you start out with a few of in battle but can only be regenerated by using specific skills or items.
the other two methods of attack you'll run into are actually, surprisingly enough, inspired by Undertale. they're pretty directly just the red and green SOUL forms from that game, with some minor changes. for those who somehow haven't touched Undertale or even seen its gameplay in big 2024, the attack pattern inspired by the red SOUL basically forces you to move around inside a rectangular box while taking the form of a small heart. after moving a bit (the attacks don't start unless you move around a bit, to make sure you're ready), you'll be dodging enemy attacks that are flying at you or spawning in the box itself. you can also still use your shield in this form, and you take damage based on how many times you got hit after the attack ends. the final method of attack basically relies on you projecting a shield to block attacks coming at you from the left and right. unlike in Undertale, this pattern never forces you to block attacks from the top or bottom, so it's generally the simplest type of attack to handle (i didn't get hit by one of these during my entire playthrough)
the overworld is decently fun to explore as well. while not as in-depth as BN or SF's overworld and cyber/wave world areas, i still found myself having a lot of fun just exploring around and gathering items and powerups. the powerups you obtain throughout the game range from maximum HP and shield boosters (of which there are, i believe, a limited amount in the game) to skill boosters that can increase the level of a passive or active skill by one, to a maximum of three (later four, once obtaining a certain postgame item). you can also outright find new skills to use in the overworld as well, though many are also found in shops.
the writing is...kind of a mixed bag? the main story is somewhat simple, yet still enjoyable due to the way the main characters' personalities bounce off one another. i also found the postgame content (because it's inspired by BN/SF, of course there's a postgame) to be the best-written part of the game. the problem comes when you get to the game's attempts at humor, generally when it comes to flavor text you find by exploring around. in BN/SF, checking everything around was paramount not just for finding new items, but for finding new areas to jack or pulse in to. naturally, if you have experience with those series you'll be doing that here too...but the problem is while there are still lots of items hidden around, the writers attempted to add quite a bit of humor to the flavor text. this in itself isn't much of a problem at its core, but when they're putting Pickle Rick references in the game, it comes off as a little obnoxious. not enough to ruin the game by any means, but it did get grating seeing the number of blatant references in the game that just kinda knock you out of your immersion. i saw the Among Us guy, man.
overall though, if you found yourself liking mega man battle network or star force, or even RPGs with cool gameplay gimmicks in general, then i'd highly recommend this game. it's a pretty quick romp, my playthrough in total lasted me about 21 hours and that was with doing damn near everything in the game, so it's easy enough to get through.
oh, and the music is fantastic, as expected of a project inspired by anything Mega Man. even if you don't play the game, give it a listen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxS-PXjY4ok
This game rules! I love the music and characters! The gameplay is a lot less like Battle Network than I was expecting, but nonetheless very solid
Really good and fun short indie game. The characters were extremely likable, the world building was great, I liked the combat even though it was a bit unbalanced. Ends on some sequel bait which I didn't mind. Overall really fun experience and I recommend it highly.
this is pretty cool. combat system kinda reminds me of the mario and luigi games or undertale and pushes a lot of the same buttons those do for me, and it looks really nice and the soundtrack is great. story and writing are a mixed bag, though, and it's really easy to end up overlevelled on accident
Overall, I liked it. It has good art for the characters, which is the main reason I went to play it. BTW, the artist is Constellor if you want to see more of their art. The pixel art is also very good.
The combat was enjoyable. I have never played a battle network game, so I don't know how it compares to those games, but I feel it does a mostly decent job at being entertaining the whole way through. I say mostly because I really don't like Undertale-like parts. They ruin the flow of combat for me by being too long, especially if you get a bunch of enemies doing it in a row.
I liked the characters and story; both are pretty straightforward. I did find a few points pretty eye-rolling (e.g. The Murk Slayer), but I feel that comes with the territory a bit with this type of story. The comedy in this is extremely hit-or-miss. There is way too much cheap reference humour in the superfluous text. It's 2023; you can't make eating a mushroom will make you big joke anymore, come on.
Despite all the negative stuff, I still think it is a 7/10. If they make a sequel, I will play it.
The combat was enjoyable. I have never played a battle network game, so I don't know how it compares to those games, but I feel it does a mostly decent job at being entertaining the whole way through. I say mostly because I really don't like Undertale-like parts. They ruin the flow of combat for me by being too long, especially if you get a bunch of enemies doing it in a row.
I liked the characters and story; both are pretty straightforward. I did find a few points pretty eye-rolling (e.g. The Murk Slayer), but I feel that comes with the territory a bit with this type of story. The comedy in this is extremely hit-or-miss. There is way too much cheap reference humour in the superfluous text. It's 2023; you can't make eating a mushroom will make you big joke anymore, come on.
Despite all the negative stuff, I still think it is a 7/10. If they make a sequel, I will play it.
the gameplay, art, characters, and music are great but if you travel ever so slightly off the beaten path you are treated to the most dragging writing ever. provided you're not the type who claps when they hear Name Of Media Property, you will be groaning and sighing the whole time you spend exploring a populated area.
again, other than that, the game is good. I certainly got more than my money's worth (5 dollars with two other games, as part of this fanatical bundle)
again, other than that, the game is good. I certainly got more than my money's worth (5 dollars with two other games, as part of this fanatical bundle)
This was a genuine surprise!
The game combines many gimmicks from well-known RPGs (with a heavy inspiration in MegaMan Battle Network/Star Force), and creates a very complex yet fun battle system. Fights are long at first, but as soon as you figure out how to extract power from your characters' skills, you'll start noticing how deep some of the mechanics are.
Honestly? Give this one a go, the team behind it were very passionate about the project, and you can clearly see that on the ammount of care that has been put to all scenarios, NPCs and references to all sorts of media.
The game combines many gimmicks from well-known RPGs (with a heavy inspiration in MegaMan Battle Network/Star Force), and creates a very complex yet fun battle system. Fights are long at first, but as soon as you figure out how to extract power from your characters' skills, you'll start noticing how deep some of the mechanics are.
Honestly? Give this one a go, the team behind it were very passionate about the project, and you can clearly see that on the ammount of care that has been put to all scenarios, NPCs and references to all sorts of media.
7.8/10
Too many fucking references.
Too many fucking references.
I was interested in this game because of its premise, but was unable to back the Kickstarter at the time due to financial issues. So I ended up getting it recently and... it was worth the wait.
It takes a lot from Mega Man Battle Network and also Star Force, wearing those inspirations (especially the latter) on its sleeve. The music is also fantastic too, really sounding like new takes in the same style used for Star Force. Very enjoyable, and there really isn't a single track I'm not fond of as they're all bangers. Especially the battle themes.
As for the gameplay itself, battles are great and enjoyable, and once you get more skills and stuff you're able to shell out some MASSIVE damage. A lot of the skills also have their own action command inputs to use properly and those are nice. As for dodging attacks, sometimes it takes place on a grid a la Battle Network where you gotta move around to dodge, and sometimes it's more like Undertale where you move your heart around to dodge the bullet hell-like storm of shots. You do have shields to block in both situations though which is nice and helpful. You also can attack Support Skills to your Active Skills (think like the Atk+10 chips and such of BN that you put after chips to add effects) and the Invisible one is great too.
The storyline was also fantastic, taking inspiration from those games with some nice twists and turns. The worldbuilding is nice too, with each location being distinct and memorable and filled with great characters and some homages to other games (both indie and otherwise) so seeing those references was always fun.
All in all I HIGHLY recommend this game, especially since post-launch content is coming. Especially if you're a fan of Battle Network or Star Force.
(also as a footnote, yes i copypasted my review on steam from this because i'm lazy and it already said everything i wanted to about it lol)
It takes a lot from Mega Man Battle Network and also Star Force, wearing those inspirations (especially the latter) on its sleeve. The music is also fantastic too, really sounding like new takes in the same style used for Star Force. Very enjoyable, and there really isn't a single track I'm not fond of as they're all bangers. Especially the battle themes.
As for the gameplay itself, battles are great and enjoyable, and once you get more skills and stuff you're able to shell out some MASSIVE damage. A lot of the skills also have their own action command inputs to use properly and those are nice. As for dodging attacks, sometimes it takes place on a grid a la Battle Network where you gotta move around to dodge, and sometimes it's more like Undertale where you move your heart around to dodge the bullet hell-like storm of shots. You do have shields to block in both situations though which is nice and helpful. You also can attack Support Skills to your Active Skills (think like the Atk+10 chips and such of BN that you put after chips to add effects) and the Invisible one is great too.
The storyline was also fantastic, taking inspiration from those games with some nice twists and turns. The worldbuilding is nice too, with each location being distinct and memorable and filled with great characters and some homages to other games (both indie and otherwise) so seeing those references was always fun.
All in all I HIGHLY recommend this game, especially since post-launch content is coming. Especially if you're a fan of Battle Network or Star Force.
(also as a footnote, yes i copypasted my review on steam from this because i'm lazy and it already said everything i wanted to about it lol)