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.