I would have to say this is the first “adult” game I’ve ever played that’s actually good and can be considered a game. Most are shameless excuses for games just to throw nudity up on the screen, but Lust From Beyond does it with a purpose as it’s part of the story. You pay as Victor who ends up having dreams that teleport him to the world of Luust’ghaa. This is a land of lust that is ruled by strange gods who want to bring everyone to the Land of Ecstasy. You end up going back and forth between these two worlds, Luust’ghaa is a puzzle-solving world with little combat, and then the current world is mostly sneaking around and opening new paths. This is a Lovecraftian game all the way through and it’s what lured me in. The art design is also inspired by H.R. Giger’s work as well (Aliens).
I won’t beat around the bush or hide it. The main selling point for Lust is the hardcore sex scenes throughout the game, but when I say throughout I mean spread out across the entire game. It’s done tastefully and is actually part of the story. With this occult worshipping a god of lust they partake in orgies, torture, and maiming, dismemberment, and all sorts of horrible acts. The game is incredibly violent and disturbing. You have sex with mutilated bodies, strange monsters, and it’s also pretty entertaining and fascinating to see this used in a halfway decent game. There are only a handful of sex scenes in the game and they are key points in the story. To get to Luust’ghaa you have to feel extreme pleasure to transport there.
However, this is an adventure game with light combat, so there is some light puzzle solving, but most of the game is running around labyrinthine levels collecting baubles and keys to open doors. Sneaking around is mostly done early in the game when you learn of a rival cult that split and tried to use the opening of Luust’ghaa to their advantage. This is the most disturbing part of the game where there’s lots of gore and strange sexual encounters. Sneaking in this game is pretty easy but still tense. If you stay crouched nothing can hear you no matter how close you are. There are a few chase scenes, some bosses in fact, and you do get a gun towards the end of the game to use in small parts. Overall, the game never got boring as the gameplay was always tossed up, but I didn’t care for the Luust’ghaa levels. It looks gross and creepy with shiny flesh everywhere, but after a while, it was just the same boring corridors to find ways to open doors. Sometimes I used a lever to move a block, but mostly they get boring. Nothing really happens in these levels as there really isn’t much storytelling here. It feels like an excuse to fill the game out.
I also felt that having the power of Essence felt like a waste of time as you only use it towards the end of the game. You can find Essense pools and use them to raise bridges and lure gross monsters near tumors that it can absorb to open a pathway. It just felt like silly filler content and a pointless gameplay mechanic. However, I did like the creature and enemy design. Overall the entire game looked pretty good and the art direction was great. The atmosphere was very memorable and I feel like I will remember this game for a long time. The characters however are something to be desired. The voice acting is spotty, and I could tell they tried to make these characters stand out, but you don’t spend a lot of time with them and their backgrounds aren’t explored enough. Victor is a cookie-cutter protagonist who is trying to find his girlfriend and save her and then disregards everything just for her. That whole story is cliche and gets old and tiring. I also wish the lore was explored more. What’s here is solid and you get an overall sense of what these gods of lust can do and the cult’s basic history, but instead, we get filler levels of boring key finding.
But can Lust stand out without the hardcore uncensored sex scenes? Yes, it actually can. Even the censored mode works because the game isn’t built around sex and gore. While it helps and adds to the atmosphere you can still enjoy the story and game without all of it. There are a few plot twists in the game that surprised me, and I played the game straight through to the end it was entertaining enough. However, the only time I wanted to quit was when another Luust’ghaa level came up because I knew I was in for more boring corridors and key finding and lever pulling. At least it’s not too easy to get lost or not know what to do. Occasionally I missed a ladder or had to quickly learn the layout of a level because of the number of enemies around, but somehow it just all works.
Overall, Lust From Beyond is a surprisingly decent adventure game with tons of atmosphere, dark horror, and excellent enemy design. The shock value of sex, gore, and dismemberment is second-hand to the entertaining story and levels, and that’s okay. There is a bonus called the Chamber of Pleasure that are just rooms with two sex scenes each, a few not in the game, and that’s just there I guess. Doesn’t really add to the value of the game as a whole. I just want to say don’t go into this game thinking it’s sex every 10 seconds. It’s spread out and used to advance the story or be part of it.
I won’t beat around the bush or hide it. The main selling point for Lust is the hardcore sex scenes throughout the game, but when I say throughout I mean spread out across the entire game. It’s done tastefully and is actually part of the story. With this occult worshipping a god of lust they partake in orgies, torture, and maiming, dismemberment, and all sorts of horrible acts. The game is incredibly violent and disturbing. You have sex with mutilated bodies, strange monsters, and it’s also pretty entertaining and fascinating to see this used in a halfway decent game. There are only a handful of sex scenes in the game and they are key points in the story. To get to Luust’ghaa you have to feel extreme pleasure to transport there.
However, this is an adventure game with light combat, so there is some light puzzle solving, but most of the game is running around labyrinthine levels collecting baubles and keys to open doors. Sneaking around is mostly done early in the game when you learn of a rival cult that split and tried to use the opening of Luust’ghaa to their advantage. This is the most disturbing part of the game where there’s lots of gore and strange sexual encounters. Sneaking in this game is pretty easy but still tense. If you stay crouched nothing can hear you no matter how close you are. There are a few chase scenes, some bosses in fact, and you do get a gun towards the end of the game to use in small parts. Overall, the game never got boring as the gameplay was always tossed up, but I didn’t care for the Luust’ghaa levels. It looks gross and creepy with shiny flesh everywhere, but after a while, it was just the same boring corridors to find ways to open doors. Sometimes I used a lever to move a block, but mostly they get boring. Nothing really happens in these levels as there really isn’t much storytelling here. It feels like an excuse to fill the game out.
I also felt that having the power of Essence felt like a waste of time as you only use it towards the end of the game. You can find Essense pools and use them to raise bridges and lure gross monsters near tumors that it can absorb to open a pathway. It just felt like silly filler content and a pointless gameplay mechanic. However, I did like the creature and enemy design. Overall the entire game looked pretty good and the art direction was great. The atmosphere was very memorable and I feel like I will remember this game for a long time. The characters however are something to be desired. The voice acting is spotty, and I could tell they tried to make these characters stand out, but you don’t spend a lot of time with them and their backgrounds aren’t explored enough. Victor is a cookie-cutter protagonist who is trying to find his girlfriend and save her and then disregards everything just for her. That whole story is cliche and gets old and tiring. I also wish the lore was explored more. What’s here is solid and you get an overall sense of what these gods of lust can do and the cult’s basic history, but instead, we get filler levels of boring key finding.
But can Lust stand out without the hardcore uncensored sex scenes? Yes, it actually can. Even the censored mode works because the game isn’t built around sex and gore. While it helps and adds to the atmosphere you can still enjoy the story and game without all of it. There are a few plot twists in the game that surprised me, and I played the game straight through to the end it was entertaining enough. However, the only time I wanted to quit was when another Luust’ghaa level came up because I knew I was in for more boring corridors and key finding and lever pulling. At least it’s not too easy to get lost or not know what to do. Occasionally I missed a ladder or had to quickly learn the layout of a level because of the number of enemies around, but somehow it just all works.
Overall, Lust From Beyond is a surprisingly decent adventure game with tons of atmosphere, dark horror, and excellent enemy design. The shock value of sex, gore, and dismemberment is second-hand to the entertaining story and levels, and that’s okay. There is a bonus called the Chamber of Pleasure that are just rooms with two sex scenes each, a few not in the game, and that’s just there I guess. Doesn’t really add to the value of the game as a whole. I just want to say don’t go into this game thinking it’s sex every 10 seconds. It’s spread out and used to advance the story or be part of it.