Beaten: Oct 27 2021
Time: 6ish Hours
Platform: Dreamcast
I’m not sure why I’m surprised that Lack of Love, like the other Love de lic game I’ve played (Moon), is a monstrously creative and pinpoint focused art-adventure game, since that’s kind of Kenichi Nishi (the director of the game)’s whole thing. Even still, this one feels different. Almost angry, disappointed and dissatisfied with the way the world is heading. It's still optimistic, but it gets dark, almost depressive, for a while there. What a note for Love de lic to go out on.
LoL starts out with a short cutscene showing a (rather cute!) robot landing on a planet and beginning to terraform it. After that, it cuts to some ready-to-hatch eggs at the bottom of a small pool. In true LdL fashion, your life timer has already started, and if you don't do anything you'll die. So wiggle that analog stick until you hatch, and crawl out of that primoridal pool into the world, ready for the game to begin in earnest.
The bulk of this game is a twist on normal adventure game fare. Basically, you're not the only creature on this planet. Some of your fellow animals (as denoted in the pause menu) need help surviving, or just want to play, and when you help them out they'll give you a "gift", some kind of life force you'll use to metamorphosize into the next stage of your life cycle. It's usually not exactly clear what you need to do, so you'll need to pay attention to everything around you while you play, and near the end you might need to look up a guide. It's definitely obtuse, but not much more than your typical adventure game is, and not nearly as unclear as Moon can be.
Just like Moon however, the puzzle design isn't really what I came here for, and I'll bet it's not really what you came for either. It might be an adventure game, but the emphasis here is on the message and the aesthetic more than anything else, and God Damn based on those metrics alone this game is a 10. I don't wanna spoil some of the more interesting things it does, but rest assured, this is one of the most viscerally affecting games I've ever played, both in the sphere of environmentall conscious games and the wider sphere of games as a whole.
I don't know how this game managed to surpass my expectations, but I think it did it by going completely around them. I've never played an adventure game like this before, and I probably never will again. It's a special game, for all it's obtuse-ness, and I wholly recommend it. Also though don't feel bad about using a guide, some of these puzzles are really really out there
Time: 6ish Hours
Platform: Dreamcast
I’m not sure why I’m surprised that Lack of Love, like the other Love de lic game I’ve played (Moon), is a monstrously creative and pinpoint focused art-adventure game, since that’s kind of Kenichi Nishi (the director of the game)’s whole thing. Even still, this one feels different. Almost angry, disappointed and dissatisfied with the way the world is heading. It's still optimistic, but it gets dark, almost depressive, for a while there. What a note for Love de lic to go out on.
LoL starts out with a short cutscene showing a (rather cute!) robot landing on a planet and beginning to terraform it. After that, it cuts to some ready-to-hatch eggs at the bottom of a small pool. In true LdL fashion, your life timer has already started, and if you don't do anything you'll die. So wiggle that analog stick until you hatch, and crawl out of that primoridal pool into the world, ready for the game to begin in earnest.
The bulk of this game is a twist on normal adventure game fare. Basically, you're not the only creature on this planet. Some of your fellow animals (as denoted in the pause menu) need help surviving, or just want to play, and when you help them out they'll give you a "gift", some kind of life force you'll use to metamorphosize into the next stage of your life cycle. It's usually not exactly clear what you need to do, so you'll need to pay attention to everything around you while you play, and near the end you might need to look up a guide. It's definitely obtuse, but not much more than your typical adventure game is, and not nearly as unclear as Moon can be.
Just like Moon however, the puzzle design isn't really what I came here for, and I'll bet it's not really what you came for either. It might be an adventure game, but the emphasis here is on the message and the aesthetic more than anything else, and God Damn based on those metrics alone this game is a 10. I don't wanna spoil some of the more interesting things it does, but rest assured, this is one of the most viscerally affecting games I've ever played, both in the sphere of environmentall conscious games and the wider sphere of games as a whole.
I don't know how this game managed to surpass my expectations, but I think it did it by going completely around them. I've never played an adventure game like this before, and I probably never will again. It's a special game, for all it's obtuse-ness, and I wholly recommend it. Also though don't feel bad about using a guide, some of these puzzles are really really out there