I'm not a big fan of Another World (aka Out of this World), but for some reason when Lunark was first announced on Kickstarter, it was one of the very few games that I backed. It took me a while to get around to it, but I am sorry to report that I didn't really care for the game. I think it was the art and animation that drew my attention, and it proved to be the best part of the game. The pixel art really shines, with the environments in particular being very flashy. I found the rotoscoped "cutscenes" to be fun as well, although it's painfully obvious that there's only a few actual unique animations overlaid onto different backgrounds. The gameplay is fine. It's very Another World-esque in pretty much every way. I think the pixel-based art made it more obvious where to go in this game versus the polygon aesthetic of Another World, but the puzzles here are largely less interesting. There are a few that stand out, but they largely feel pretty much the same. I've used the phrase before, but it felt like the developers had more confidence in the combat than they should have, as I found it rigid and largely tried to avoid it. The final section in particular was really poorly designed and left a pretty bad taste in my mouth at the conclusion of the game. Overall, I don't regret supporting the game, as I think it is a well made title, but it didn't really appeal to me personally.

Reviewed on Oct 27, 2023


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