If you watched and liked Robert Egger's brilliant The Lighthouse, you'll love this game, right? Well, kinda.
Visually and atmospherically, NOLUL is a gorgeously realized game. The low fidelity PS1-esque graphics perfectly complement the lonely experience of being a lightkeeper stranded in a seemingly desert island and, to its credit, most of the horror elements stem from its creepy ambiance rather than cheap jumpscares. There's a deeply unsettling feeling of diligently doing your everyday chores with the looming sensation there something's terribly wrong but you can't quite put your finger on it.
Story. This is where NOLUL loses a lot of its shine. While its plot is intriguing and leaves you feeling satisfied by the end, you probably won't experience it to its full extent by yourself. Unfortunately, this is one of those games with multiple endings that require you to look up a guide because the (very few) hints are excessively cryptic and not enough for you to figure out everything by yourself.
The plot itself is also told in a purposefully disconnected, non-linear way and its obscure overtones get easily lost because of just how little guidance there is. And this is coming from someone who's used to being challenged by the media I consume.
While I appreciate the dev's vision, I can't help but think this could've been a much better game if it focused more on the first aspects of my review (intresting atmosphere, psychological horror) rather than the latter (needlessly convoluted story). Play it for the vibes, if nothing else.
Visually and atmospherically, NOLUL is a gorgeously realized game. The low fidelity PS1-esque graphics perfectly complement the lonely experience of being a lightkeeper stranded in a seemingly desert island and, to its credit, most of the horror elements stem from its creepy ambiance rather than cheap jumpscares. There's a deeply unsettling feeling of diligently doing your everyday chores with the looming sensation there something's terribly wrong but you can't quite put your finger on it.
Story. This is where NOLUL loses a lot of its shine. While its plot is intriguing and leaves you feeling satisfied by the end, you probably won't experience it to its full extent by yourself. Unfortunately, this is one of those games with multiple endings that require you to look up a guide because the (very few) hints are excessively cryptic and not enough for you to figure out everything by yourself.
The plot itself is also told in a purposefully disconnected, non-linear way and its obscure overtones get easily lost because of just how little guidance there is. And this is coming from someone who's used to being challenged by the media I consume.
While I appreciate the dev's vision, I can't help but think this could've been a much better game if it focused more on the first aspects of my review (intresting atmosphere, psychological horror) rather than the latter (needlessly convoluted story). Play it for the vibes, if nothing else.