Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure

Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure
88
Metacritic
92
Steam
90.395
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$15.99
Release date
20 May 2021
Steam reviews score
Total
92 (1 384 votes)
Recent
88 (27 votes)

A murder. A hack. A bombing. All it takes to plunge the solar system into war – unless you do something about it. Help CDI agent Neil Conrad make a string of increasingly difficult decisions in this modern dialog-driven adventure set in a gorgeous 2D sci-fi noir universe.

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Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure system requirements

Minimum:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
  • Processor: Multi-core 2.5GHz
  • Memory: 6 GB RAM
  • Graphics: GeForce 750M / GeForce GTX 650
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 3 GB available space
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Joversi
Joversi

It'd be a shame to call this game Disco Elysium-lite, because it's so much better at doing it's own thing. Just a nice little detective story, with good production values, and a few different endings to explore. A lot on the shorter side, too. Worth a play for anyone that's a fan of detective games.

mrkohl
mrkohl

A good atmospheric game is one that makes me feel awful throughout the entire experience, and man do I feel awful. Is there even a correct choice in this game?

But I get to feed a lizard some insects, so joyous day

Tup94
Tup94

Perfect for a rainy day. It's short and low-investment; more of a graphic novel with choices than an in-depth detective game.

Doctor Cucumber
Doctor Cucumber

What a story, what a game. Cyberpunk at its very best.
Mechanically it's quite simple, but it's a fascinating experience nonetheless.

puppieshatecapitalism
puppieshatecap…

Surprisingly strong story, with lots of worldbuilding and some feels. Tons of gorgeous pixel art. Satisfying detective gameplay.

westerngermany
westerngermany

Very solid game! Wanted to try something different for the Deck, and it works great! You'll find yourself touching the screen, so make sure wash your hands before use. It just feels fun and natural, scrolling through your "cell" looking through conversations and evidence.
No real downsides other than if you're not really into side-scrolling and detective work, which hate to break it to you, is this entire game D: I know shocking a detective game is actually about doing detective things.
All around good detective game, where decisions impact the story line.

grape
grape

This is so nearly a good idea. Some really interesting mechanics around the detective work, all of which feel really under-used. The game paints a picture of a big, complex world but is in fact sparse and linear despite its story choices. There's a lot of running around (and lots of 90s-platformer-style stairs which seem to hate you).

The world and the lore have so much promise, but the game takes such a two-dimensional (no pun intended) slice out of it that you're left feeling a bit empty. Lacuna turns out to have been aptly named. I can recommend it for the novelty, but only just.

ManoutofTime913
ManoutofTime913

Lacuna is pretty much what I've always wanted from a detective game. You look back at a lot of games that brand themselves as detective games and often they do all the work for you. For example, in L.A. Noire you could look for evidence and interrogate people, but you were never able to actually think through a case because Cole always figured out the entire case without your input so you never had to piece together the actual crime or think at all. Lacuna is the exact opposite thing; this game is all about giving you the information and letting you figure out the crime yourself.

All of the puzzles in Lacuna are based on the information you receive. The game barely tries to hide evidence from you as it gives you an AR mode and a mode that highlights all the interactibles including the ones in AR. Similarly, interrogating people amounts to little more than asking questions though there are opportunities to help people for extra information or using information you already have against your suspects so they'll reveal more. Most of the puzzle element in the game, however, is piecing together the information you've gathered in your head to reconstruct what happened and identify potential suspects or gather even more information to help you at a later event in the case. I mean "in your head" too as the game does little to help piece things together other than giving you multiple choices as to the parameters of the case. They're never entirely obvious however, and there's just enough red herrings to throw you off if you're not paying enough attention as well.

Also, if you like, there's actually a decent amount of roleplaying potential in this game as it presents you with dialogue options on a timer a la Alpha Protocol and gives you the choice of how to react in certain situations. I don't know why the same happens when you're just asking simple questions in low-stress scenarios, but it's forgivable. You can basically choose whether your Gillian Seed-esque protagonist, Niel Conrad, is going to be a good cop or a bad cop and whether he's a morally righteous character or if he's only out for himself. Further, within these choice exists nuance. It's made clear very early that doing your job and doing the right thing are not the same, and Conrad explains through his voice over narration throughout the game that focusing on his career was his way of not dealing with the rest of his life which you can choose to take to its logical extreme if you wish. There are 8 endings, and you can leave things off amicably for most or turn Conrad's life into a nightmare of repression and all manner of things in between.

I do kind of wish there were more tough consequences for trying to play a morally good character though. There was once where I needed to get into a church in the dead of night, and I didn't want to lie about why I was there to the guard at the door who seemed to take the religion preached seriously. All I needed to do when he wouldn't let me in was just walk through an open back door which felt rather silly.

I won't say much about the story because it would all be spoilers, however I loved that the first third of the whole game is one big case that spans multiple locations and keeps twisting again and again as you track down the perpetrator's path, always one step behind him. It's especially good in that it starts off looking like a rather cur and dry crime scene investigation before it takes the plunge just a little bit later. I liked the overarching plot, and I think it's clever how major plot information that your character couldn't know serves as the introductory tutorial and that it keeps coming up again often enough that it doesn't feel contrived when Conrad pieces it together when you can do it earlier with a bit of educated guesswork.

I very much enjoyed Lacuna and would highly recommend it. I would even go so far as to say the framework of how this game does puzzles should be an example for all detective games moving forward. It just does that good a job.

likexspinningxplates
likexspinningxplates

Fun mystery with various endings depending on the choices you make, some were very difficult for me to choose, enjoyed the sci-fi noir vibes, took me a little time to get hooked on it, but overall thought it was a very good game

Disenchanted
Disenchanted

Great game. I liked the aesthetics, music and story. You get to unravel a case with clues, dialogues and news solving little puzzles and interviews that make you progress through the game. Decisions are important and affect the outcome in more than one way. I left pretty satisfied with my first run and knew exactly what went wrong in some parts of it. Will give it another go in a few weeks. Recommeded to anyone who like detective stories.

rymdmaud
rymdmaud

Yes! Great writing, engaging story and world-building - quite impressive since the game's quite short. The game design might be a tad bit on the simple side but the story along with a great soundtrack and beautiful pixel art more than makes up for it.

桑桑
桑桑

Detroit: Become Human comes so readily to mind when playing Lacuna—the latter bears much resemblance to the former, in its plot, themes, protagonist (Conrad in this game and Connor in DBH; they look alike, are both law-enforcers caught in the dilemmas of whether to choose conscience over duty, to maintain the status quo or to wage wars), some mechanics, even music (e.g. the score accompanying the scene where Conrad confronts the mastermind on a subway train, and that the first chapter of DBH where Connor confronts a deviant)—that it is impossible to think about Lacuna without comparing it to DBH. And, to be frank, if one is to list down everything good about Lacuna, what they'll have then is only a reductive summary of why Detroit: Become Human is great.

It is unfortunate that the game suffers from bad writing that oscillates between bearable and outright immature. There is nothing more cringe-inducing than seeing a heartsick middle-aged wannabe poet indulge himself in rambling over his emotions of the moment, and, in doing so, forgets that he has to make sense. Or maybe there is: to see from time to time the dialogues littered with broad philosophical terms (e.g. nihilism) that the writers don't seem to be familiar with, because the use of these terms is conveniently followed by a "I'm not here to talk about philosophy" to evade the obligation of justifying it altogether.

Do yourself a favour: skip this, and play Detroit: Become Human instead.

Surfy
Surfy

Fantastic detective game with a great story and nice voice acting. I think I got the best ending, and I love all the choices which can determine what ending you can get!

The Garrison
The Garrison

Excellent little detective game with a great, moody atmosphere. Looking forward to see what the devs do next.

HanZ Solo
HanZ Solo

Great story-driven game with some tough choices you must do

Vet4Jay
Vet4Jay

give player skip or saving function otherwise it's no fun with taking em functions away
add em then I will change to positive review

Mattador
Mattador

The atmosphere, a masterful combination of cyberpunk and noir, is right on the money. The story is fascinating, the characters interesting, and the soundtrack is perfect.

Gameplay wise it's relatively straightforward, nothing too challenging. I liked the mechanics of searching for clues and having to make reports (called 'sheets' in game) based on combing through all the evidence you had collected.

Overall highly recommend this - and there are 8 endings so it has replay value (I've only completed once at time of writing).

BeePeR
BeePeR

I didn't expect this game to win me over. Lacuna is 1/2 walking sim, 1/2 detective puzzler, but it tells a thought provoking story in a carefully constructed sci-fi world that was a delight to learn about and explore.

Few 'puzzle' games strike the right difficulty balance. Lacuna actually makes you think. The puzzles aren't mind-bendingly difficult or frustrating by any means -- but after paying attention to the details of the dialogue and the world, Lacuna managed to still make me feel clever or cheeky for filling in gaps that were intentionally left for the player to solve.

Lacuna didn't overstay it's welcome, either. The game knows what it is good at, executed it superbly, and closed out before any part of it could have felt stale. The game just left a lasting positive impression.

It's beautifully narrated, elegantly written, strategically paced, and a joy to look at and listen to.

Lazy Ninja
Lazy Ninja

An amazing game.
While it's quite on the easy side, it's a true detective game with interesting choices and deduction. The story is simple but extremely well told, with an interesting world and a great noir feeling. I've enjoyed it immensely.

Rex Wrex Wrecks
Rex Wrex Wrecks

Short game, well written. Great soundtrack, which is important because there are only very few segments which are voice-narrated. Everything else is text-based.

The "puzzles" are not hard, they're fairly straight-forward in fact.
That being said, some of your choices do matter.

MrFlyDragon
MrFlyDragon

Great little game, not to hard or long but enjoyed every minute playing it! I hope to see more from these Devs!

NoHaMoFu
NoHaMoFu

This game could have been released almost 30 years ago and would have looked pretty much the same, although it may have sounded somewhat more digitised (and come on about 10 discs).
If it had been released back then I have no doubt that it would have been hailed as the greatest game that had ever been made. Nowadays, it's up against much tougher competition of course, but it stands up very well against it.
A great little detective story worth every penny of it's full price.

Roman
Roman

Ok, so the game itself doesn't take long to beat, nor is it particularly difficult. However, the crime solving detective work is pretty cool. The achievements are what give this game its hours. A couple of them, in particular, are either stupid or very time-consuming. One requires you to take a certain number of steps, which means you have to hose most of your investigations in order to skip certain parts. The other takes forever, because you're required to get every single ending. There are 8, and the game sure as h3ll doesn't let you manually save. I was so tired of hearing the same unskippable monolog from the protagonist in every instance. Not to mention that the decisions you make for most of the game have no affect on the end. About the last 25% of the game is what actually matters.

Bottom line, it's a great sci-fi noir adventure. While the politics of the story take some getting used to, it's not too hard to follow after a while.

*****
*****

Shockingly beautiful.

In some senses, a very traditional hard Sci-Fi Noir: you are a CDI agent tasked with unravelling a conspiracy. But... the /artwork/ is /sublime/, with skilful pauses where you ride an elevator for a brief moment of contemplation of a skyline. With a mournful jazz soundtrack. With a gravelly voiceover.

And the writing -- oh, the writing! I cared about _all_ of the characters! I cared about Conrad, the main character, and Gary, and Seito, his coworkers, and Cat, his estranged wife, and Laura, his daughter. Without exaggeration: the writing in this is so pitch-perfect, I cared about the unborn child of the wife of the employee of the security contractor of an ad firm. The choices all felt meaningful, and unforced, and had natural consequences rooted in human nature. The puzzles were all realistic detective work where you read the news, your emails, and talk with your colleagues.

Buy it. Hold down SHIFT to run. This developer, DigiTales Interactive, and the publisher, Assemble Entertainment, now joins Wadjet Eye in my list of game makers to follow closely.

Leprechaun
Leprechaun

A lot of wasted potential.

This being an adventure game and all it is dissappointing that every dialogue in this game is so stiff and unoriginal. Basically every discussion goes like this:
- MC: Tell me X
- NPC: No I don't want to.
- MC: Common, please tell me.
- NPC: OK, here's X.

The game features an absurd amount of boring running around (holding your controller stick to the right or left) through environments with zero interaction, feeling like a chore most of the time.

Combine all of this with the fact that the game does a huge amount of handholding, so you are almost forced to pick the right choices, and you'll get a very bland, disappointing experience overall.

wcc
wcc

Moody deduction game with nice visuals and soundworks. The story is well-told, but not that original. The puzzles are fairly easy and you'll get shoved with lots of redundant hints, especially later on, which ensures that you won't screw up everything. So my biggest gripe is about the gameplay: I think the only puzzle I got wrong was due to really unlucky fat-fingering, and that's it. I took my time to double-check all evidence, expecting red herrings or a twist, but there was none. Which is a little let-down not just gameplay-wise, but even regarding the story. Additionally, there are some choices which might lead to different pathes, but I can image how they all converge in the end, so I doubt they'll have much effect.
Anyway, it's still a neat little game, and the story might not be mind-blowing, but it keeps you on the toes until the end.

NyanNyanNyan
NyanNyanNyan

Great music and atmosphere. Game does a good job establishing its setting (with the three worlds and their politics). The voice-over of the main character really evokes that detective noir genre, and while I didn't like him much at the start, he has nice character growth throughout the story.

FranzBonaparta
FranzBonaparta

Cyberpunk Sherlock Holmes. Mature story, cool soundtrack and nice retro graphics.

There is no hand holding in the game, you gotta find the clues yourself and piece together what happened. It can be a bit hard if you are not patient, there are consequences if you fail to solve the crime scenes and the consequences get more impactful as you progress.

Red Strings Club vibes all over the place but with a better story.

Badly Drawn Rod
Badly Drawn Rod

What excellent world building. This game has so many little touches that made it so atmospheric to play. My wife and I really enjoyed it.

Two observations (not spoliers):
- Conrad never seems to wait for the train - he has a sixth sense of when it's going to arrive.
- The lift to his apartment is sloooooow.

Bloodwit
Bloodwit

Lacuna is an outstanding work of fiction that rewards the player for digging deeper into its mystery.

Hansern
Hansern

Great story and intresting characters.

M-peror
M-peror

Not bad. Reminds me of backbone which I played a while back.
Good story and tension building, I find myself doing things I normally wouldn't have considered irl. There's enough freedom in the storyline so that you wouldn't feel TOO restricted by the game mechanics. Music ain't half bad too.
But, the whole sheet filling thing do feel like a reading comprehension test in the end. I dislike it, it reminds me of my western civ classes...
Nothing particularly touching tho, and the whole game didn't leave me with something I could take with after I play. Unlike Backbone. I keep mentioning that coz it's another pixel-art 2d detective game aka walk simulator. That being said I do appreciate some easy story without philosophy aspects too much.
Over all, not bad. Especially considering the price.

Voronkovenator
Voronkovenator

BUY IT!
PLAY IT!
Its about decisions and cosequences.
Great thing!! Need moar!!!

It has the style and atmosphere, great music and arts, great story, what else?
Liked it really.

Esoteric Jebist
Esoteric Jebist

An amazing game from start to finish. Makes you engage with the mystery in a meaningful and intelligent way, and delivers a tense and amazing experience.

Scotguard
Scotguard

Truly a remarkable game. i love it. maybe a bit short but cant fault it in any way. the music and voice overs all perfect.

Lucky Loot, Klauboy
Lucky Loot, Klauboy

Very good, engaging, tight experience.
Great atmosphere and soundtrack.

Only con: Achievements indicate 8 endings, and I ain't gonna sit through the unskippable cutscenes 8 times.

Toren_S [Also Friendly]
Toren_S [Also …

Note: My actual playtime is more like 7-8 hours, I played most of this in offline mode.

Lacuna is a great Noir investigation game that respects the player for paying attention and taking notes. There are points in conversations as well as specific 'Sheets' that you're required to submit where you need to answer questions correctly either to get information or to catch the culprits and even get to play a good chunk of the levels.

There are some logic puzzles involved sometimes where you're looking at data like who went in/out of a building or when a sensor was tripped, but largely it's about investigation and deduction and paying attention to determine who did what and how you should answer.

The pixel aesthetic is beautifully done, and the storyline and world are both interesting.

There are 8 endings to work through if you care, but I got a good one that I worked for and decided I'd just leave it at that.

zachspiers
zachspiers

Incredible story, atmosphere and soundtrack. The pixelated art style is really cool mixed with the more realistic lighting effects. By the end I was really sweating over some of the choices I had to make... and apparently I should have sweated more because I didn't get the best ending, but I'm excited to play again and see what different choices lead to.

king jibble
king jibble

If you're currently scrolling through steam for hours and hours looking for a good story based experience, then just install this and give it a go, trust me

Dark Savant
Dark Savant

A very interesting adventure in the future. Not too many point and click games come out today and this one is pretty decent. A bit short, a bit too expensive and various endings are hard to get but otherwise i certainly don't regret buying it. Remember to check the free Prologue first and see for Yourself! Thank You for reading and have fun playing!

Tiger-Leo
Tiger-Leo

This is a great game telling a great story produced by a great team. Great! :)

Ghost_clam
Ghost_clam

Love the story line (9.5/10), and the soundtrack is amazing (8/10). Over all I give it a thumbs up

Bardealot
Bardealot

it is a great game. This kind of game absolutely need strong narrative and this game's is rock solid. The choices feel like they matter and shape the story in a very satisfying way. i do feel like there is this tendency towards you not needing to shoot anybody but at least is woven as "cant get info from corpses". I'd love to see this game iterated upon, having larger mysteries where you may not always get all the pieces, or where multiple sources for some of the information do seem more relevant. Still, they got it so right.

Also, I'm sad I missed breakfast with Liam,

glennbunn
glennbunn

Didn't know much about this game before its release, and bought it on a whim as a fan of films like Blade Runner. Glad I did.

Lacuna is a solid mystery game with a great neo-noir sci-fi atmosphere.

Mitch
Mitch

Wow! I bought this on a whim not expecting a great deal (even expecting to play a few minutes and never touch it again) but I was hooked instantly! Played it from start to finish in one sitting (minus a break for lunch).

-Excellent story that feels both fleshed out and complex without mountains of texts and codexs to read through (newspaper articles and emails exist but in a way that everything is conveyed very naturally over the course of your investigation)
-Good music, not quite great but still I feel it elevated the game.
-excellent investigations. There is room to be wrong and if you are it will change the story later on. You have to logically work things out for yourself. It;'s the perfect balance of not too handholdy but not too abstract either. loved it.
- Choices don't feel too black and white and while they affect the story it's never anything too huge (honestly not a fan of games making me choose giant world altering choices, especially as like real life doesn't work that way) Choices felt organic as did their consequences. Was a nice blend of feeling like my choices mattered but not feeling overwhelmed about making the wrong decision.
-Perfect length. Yes, it's not long but it didn't outstay its welcome which is far more egregious in my opinion.

9/10, definitely one of the best games I played this year. With some time to sit on it (typing this out literally right after completing it) I think it could take #1 spot for 2021.

Stolas
Stolas

The first play through it feels really short (~4hours). But I am almost certain you need multiple.
Good Art Style, Music, and Sound Design. Looking forward to a second edition of this series.

Sir Will
Sir Will

I got lost trying to evacuate to a bomb shelter because I didn't study the map in the teenage girl's room.
Apparently you CAN survive if you study the map, I guess? I don't know. I didn't learn my lesson today nor in college during that fire.

Lynt
Lynt

this game is awesome . had so much fun playing it. and all the little details hidden in the game are super fun to discover.

Strix
Strix

Nice game where you have to pay attention to clues and submit answers. Rare example of a well executed "choices-matter" narrative. Would recommend.

Daniel
Daniel

Cool more-noir-than-cyberpunk pixel art adventure game. Great story, great artwork, well-paced and not complicated (more of a memory than a mix a bunch of items from your inventory adventure).

ScowlingMantis9
ScowlingMantis9

10/10 story and atmosphere. A great game if you don't have a lot of time but want a good story.

Mabry
Mabry

What an incredible journey! I normally don't easily take to these types of games but I wanted something to play whilst chilling on the couch and this hit the nail on the head!!!
As television media deteriorates further and further, my craving for a good story doesn't. Lacuna not only delivers a gripping story, but the beautiful setting and awesome controls make it easy to knock out an afternoon playing and look forward to the next session.
All you need is a wireless keyboard, a comfy couch, and you're ready to go.

gaga
gaga

why do I have to play whole game in order to see different outcomes where there are 8 endings????

mike
mike

Lacuna is a story-driven adventure game that has you press through an investigation as a sort of sci-fi detective, while also dealing with the fallout of your personal life and some interplanetary politics.

The game does a couple of things I really like - during investigations (the most point-and-click part of the game) it tells you what you've already examined and highlights when someone has something new to say, which cuts out almost all of the time-wasting that these games sometimes have. The other nice thing is its investigations do feel like investigations - they're not deeply complex, but I genuinely did feel like I was using knowledge to draw conclusions about the story, rather than just stumbling over the right answer.

It's the perfect length, packed with great visual details, there's a "smoke cigarette dramatically" button, and it has a fair bit of branching in the ending phases too. It's a really nice indie game.

skwx
skwx

I bought this expected a sort of poor man's Beneath a Steel Sky type point and click but it's actually something far more interesting.

Gone are the tedious clicking around a screen looking for small objects and backtracking around areas to solve convoluted puzzles that are point and click games at their worst; instead we have conversations and a frustration free clue finding mechanic (no wandering around an area repeatedly in case you missed something). Most of the detective work is done via reading back over logs of conversations, reading emails and reading the news - so lots of reading. The game feels like an actual detective game, not a puzzler and for that I can only say kudos to the devs; this one was a pleasure to play.

Story wise we are on solid ground here, lots of troupes but always done well and with respect for the player. The ability to foul up a mission and have the game go off on a different course is well done, there's a line of cause and effect but nothing feels artificial or contrived. The lack of a manual save/reload feature is excellent - it makes you live with your mistakes which is part of the essence of noir.

Presentation is solid, I'm not a pixel art fan but it was fine. The music was good but cuts out at times killing the atmosphere. My only complaint is that at times the scrolling stops, making you assume you've reached the end of an area, only for it to start up again if you push on.

If you like hardboiled or noir stories this is well worth your time and money and I hope this does well enough to spawn more games in the same vein.

dr.b.bottles
dr.b.bottles

I absolutely loved this game. The story is fantastic and you feel really smart when you piece things together. My only complaint is that I wanted to life in this world a little longer. I can't wait to see what else this dev churns out.

Buffy
Buffy

I bought this a couple of weeks ago as I am loving pixelart adventures a lot, but I just wasnt in the mood. Now after playing this, I kinda wanna replay some of the old classics. It's a fun and intriguing game, in which your decisions matter. Well done

Nitsugua
Nitsugua

I really loved the game, gameplay-wise, it's not very varied because it's an investigation game but everything is done to facilitate the investigations (not to simplify them) like the interface of our "laptop of the future" which allows us to gather all the useful information for it. For me, who is not very good at deduction, it was a great help and allowed me to reread each document to make my decisions.
The art direction of the game is particularly nice, it's very nice pixel art that plays superbly well with the lights and is well accompanied by music (although a little absent sometimes).
The characters are endearing and each of those who accompany us have their own character trait that makes them irreplaceable. The story is very very good, and the idea of multiple endings depending on the decisions are very well incorporated. The theme of the investigation mixes politics, private funding and revolution and the game makes it clear that our actions will have greater repercussions than we imagine.
The game can be played in a week with 2-3 hours per day, it allows you to dilute the information over several days to better immerse yourself in the atmosphere.
I really recommend it! And as usual, you can cancel after 2 hours of play if you don't like it on Steam 😉
Good investigation, detective 🕵️

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

NC
NC

A solid detective mystery

Lacuna is a game that does most things right.

Best part of entire experience is the music, soothing jazz tracks are among best I've ever heard in a video game.

Sound is functional. There isn't much to sound effects in such game, anyway.

The story is somewhat complex, but unveils in manageable manner, and makes sense. There's multiple endings, but I really don't feel like I care to explore them, I guess I got the best one on first try.

User interface is pretty alright. The icons look about twice as big as they need to be, especially on phone screen, and highlight mode doesn't really work if it doesn't highlight much due graphics direction, but it's tolerable and you don't need to fight it. They keypad thingy is used only 3 times in entire game, if I remember it right, so I wonder why it was an UI element at all.

Puzzles are, well, not very puzzling. There's just two or three more clever ones peppered in, but rest of the game feels quite linear and multiple endings are probably simply a matter of not paying enough attention.

Controls... I don't really love. You can play entire game with WASD and shift, and while it makes thing probably super portable to consoles, there's zero reason to not utilize mouse more. You get to wander around a lot, and have to hold down the run key. Not really sure why it's a thing, the wandering. There's nothing to do in this game aside main quest elements, but still screenfuls to traverse, for some reason. I guess it was to immerse player more into the city, but that takes me to the last part...

Graphics. Entire thing is pixel art, but the "art" part of it... noooot really sure. Sure, it looks pleasing and functional, but very... bare. Minimum needed to make something look like something, and not a click more. Sure, game world is pretty huge and pixel art is a lot of work, and not every game can look like Owlboy or Punch Club or Gabriel Knight or whatever, but still, I find graphics quite lackluster. Lots of reusing of same tiles, super lazy 2-6 frame walkcycles that don't even look good, overusage of soft lights of much higher resolution - a common plague of modern pixel art games and so forth. It still looks nice, but somewhat lazy, to be honest.

And with lackluster graphics, there's much less wonder to wander around diffent parts of the city, so level/gameplay design suffers from this also.

Despite graphics, very easy difficulty and weird controls, I must say I still enjoyed Lacuna. There's not very many story rich adventure games done nowadays, even less a detective mysteries, and soundtrack alone makes the game worth it.

Vitlök
Vitlök

Lacuna oozes atmosphere, has an interesting plot in more ways than one, but most importantly, the investigations feel incredibly meaningful and tense. And that's for two simple reasons: the story actually accepts wrong answers to your investigation, and there's autosave which prevents you from going back. If you hate that latter part, maybe this is not a game for you; but believe me: it makes everything so much more engaging.

Before we dig deeper, let me just note that by default the game highlights important bits of info in dialogue and articles, and the time to choose your answer during most dialogues is limited. It's possible to turn off both of those things in the settings, and I highly recommend turning off the highlighting - it's much more satisfying to find the crucial clue yourself.

You got the wrong guy

At the very core of investigation games there lies a very serious problem: since the games will only progress when you get things right, you can sort of trial-and-error your way through them; and you will never doubt your findings. Lacuna solves this by actually accepting the wrong answers and adjusting the plot accordingly.

Wait, what? Really?

Well, to an extent. You're not a single detective, there is a whole unit around you and other actors besides. Which means that even if you do get things wrong, some part of truth will still be found. But by then it will probably be too late; some parts will be missed, big picture will become clouded; people will get hurt or die, perps will escape, crimes will succeed. It's possible to miss entire sections if you fail a deduction. And the best part? You will be none the wiser until it's too late!

As such, the tension at certain parts is SO thick, I'd compare it to *that* scene from Disco Elysium. Yes, that good.

Cyberpunk Noir, and its politics

This game's setting is totally alien: it uses some noir influences in a sci-fi cyberpunk setting, but the planet is not Earth. There never was an Earth, in fact; it's a completely alternate universe. As such, the essences of things can be examined without our real-world preconceptions about them. There is an oppressed religious minority with its own rules and politics. There are different planets in an uneasy peace. There are corporations, there are cops, there are people; there is society with all its woes. It's quite believable - and the worldbuilding is interesting and varied without being overwhelming.

And there we get to the morality. Your choices will affect people, and perhaps even the world. Which one is the right choice? The game doesn't have any karma system - although your general style of talking can net you a good cop or bad cop achievements - instead it gives you a set of circumstances, and it's up to you to decide which one is the right one. There is no "lesser evil, I'd rather not choose at all" nonsense here; inaction is also a choice. That's what I call game morality done right.

It's cyberpunk noir. You can't have cyberpunk without politics, and you can't have noir without the blurred lines between good and evil.

All the good things you never noticed

After all these goodies, it's easy to overlook other minor things which make this game great, which blend in with the general greatness. The game looks great, fantastic even. The animations are detailed and lifelike without drawing attention away from other things. The environments are very unique: you don't see the same cafe sign on every corner, in fact many set pieces appear exactly once, twice at best. The voice acting (English, but there's also German) is great, it really fills the character of Neil with flesh and blood (only his brooding monologues are voiced). The characters are varied, the writing is vibrant, the music is a little repetitive at times but moody and nice overall.

If there's one thing that I wish was different was the length. The game is not very long, took me 6 hours to beat it, but I paced myself and played it over multiple days - which was very hard considered I really wanted to know what's going to happen! But that's the price you pay for such an intricate, independently produced piece. Good thing it was co-funded by the German state, we need more initiatives like those, as indie games are hard to make and unlikely to sell well.

Oh, right. The game is made in Germany, and it's somewhat visible in the general cultural tone. If you're tired of the cultural tropes prevalent in fiction from the Anglosphere, you'll probably find this refreshing.

So what are you waiting for? Get it! And remember what I said about the highlighting of the text... (or leave it on, if that's what you like!)

seaweedgod
seaweedgod

absolutely gorgeous visuals and dope story

ifkovic
ifkovic

I have to give up on the game near the beginning of it. The lack of map is mind boggling, you are expected to know where your daughter's apartment is in a random, unfamiliar, never seen before environment, without any kind of pointer to the objective or at least a map? I ended up in my own apartment, seemingly - I keep searching for daughter and get to a bed that lets me sleep, so I assume it's my new place and not old place. Sadly, I have no patience for "puzzles" like this and will move on to one of many other games and take the monetary loss on this one. Not recommended.

Nuclear
Nuclear

Bought it on a whim because it was on sale, having heard nothing about it prior. After playing all the way through once, I gotta say I enjoyed it. I do wish there was less "course correction" if you get things wrong, I feel like it takes away from the point of there being choices if all the choices lead to the same place. Overall though, the stories were very engaging, the soundtrack was perfect for a noire style game, and the presentation was fantastic. I'm not sold on the idea that the game is particularly replayable, I might give it one more go but anything more would be a stretch I think if you don't LOVE it.

If you can grab it for under 15$ and you're into detective/noire games or looking for a one-shot playthrough on a weekend or something, I'd absolutely give this a go.

eazycheazy
eazycheazy

A huge shout-out goes to the whole team for such a masterpiece. Among all the content, it's difficult nowadays to dig out such a fascinating story that draws in for hours to ponder everything that is going on over and genuinely wonder about the ending. Rightly worked out music, picture, atmosphere, gameplay, attention to the smallest details, and overarching storyline (for this type of game) leave nothing to be desired. Also, a big thanks for creating the "logs" feature to read all the dialogues after everything's been said because it was much and much easier to keep up with the whole process of investigation! Really don't think I will ever be able to find the better detective process in this genre if there's any.

Ugignadl
Ugignadl

Beautiful game. Great pixel art and music, with a branching, rewarding storyline. Fairly simple puzzles and quite short. Might be helpful to keep a little page with notes if playing across multiple sessions.

theelectronicjew
theelectronicjew

I've played dozens - over a hundred, actually - of these "old fashioned" adventure games over the years. This one is top-notch. If you can live with the low resolution graphics (which are surprisingly beautiful at times) and you can appreciate a well-paced and interesting detective story, this game is easily worth its full asking price. If you have a chance to buy it on sale... well, it's a no-brainer. BUY THIS GAME!

localblackman
localblackman

Very good detective game. Every choice has a consequence where you can’t revert back to an older save. This makes the decisions you pick more meaningful and makes the game more enjoyable. The pixel art, gameplay, and soundtrack were all top-notch for this game. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to what DigiTales Interactive may put out next.

Sable Suit
Sable Suit

good game. Took me about 7 hours to beat. Would definitely recommend if on sale.

Gibraltar
Gibraltar

Great, story rich and atmospheric detective game. Recommendation!

Zero Command
Zero Command

Excellent detective game. The game saves automatically at key points, and you can't go back and reload a save, so every decision and deduction is big; by the end of the game it was quite nerve-wracking! The story is excellent and has twists and turns, murder, kidnapping and plots. Both the atmosphere and characters are good. The Sheets used to solve cases are another great idea. If the game has one flaw, it's rather short; it can be replayed to see the outcome of different choices, but the solutions don't change. I am hopeful for a follow-up or a spiritual sequel

someone.untitled
someone.untitled

That's what a noire game should look like these days.

Games about political intrigues and self reflection are usually executed in black and white, and thus are full of cliche for teenagers. This one is a lucky exception.
It's not overly grim, the character isn't broken to the point of being ineffective, the idealistic talks are on a minimal level. Instead, it's a logical, believable detective story, where you conduct a realistic investigation on a grand scale. Highly recommended to all enthusiasts of crime point-n-click adventures.

Good points:
- Graphics does its job well, sound design is exciting.
- Gameplay is minimalistic yet curious and inventive. The sheets functionality is a good finding.
- Writing is quite fine! It's pleasant to follow, and the story it uncovers is rather interesting.
- Characters are wholesome.
- Navigation with trains and ladders is surprisingly intuitive and very well thought!
- It seems that users' choices really matter. I felt quite a responsibility about my decisions, and the fact that I had no opportunity to quickly overwrite what I did - implementing this is a daring yet bold choice on the devs' side.

Not so good points:
- Initial load of the game is quite slow. Not a big problem, yet is seems not fully optimized. After the launch, the game work fast.
- The prologue had a different tone and thus left me puzzled to the point I forgot about the game for a while. It seemed not what I was expecting. So, to whoever also feels confused after the prologue - keep playing!
- Rare savepoints. I understand that they are required for the game design, yet it's at times frustrating that you can't quit the game because "your last save was 20 minutes ago". It's an old-school approach which might not be very welcome these days.
- I feel doubtful about certain situations the main character was put into. On one hand, they were tedious cliche from the cop movies. It seemed unfair that the authors want me to feel an emotional connection with the game by using such cheap methods. Especially considering the fact I was already involved on 100%, as the detective case was very interesting and the whole story was quite dramatic on its own. On the other hand, the job in an investigation bureau _is_ quite difficult and full of gray-zone dilemmas, and that feeling was delivered to the fullest, even though the method seemed imperfect to me.

Thank you for a great adventure, DigiTales Interactive.

GirlBug
GirlBug

Lacuna is a step up from your usual point-and-click noir mystery adventure game; it's a police procedural where getting the right answer--and apprehending the right people--depends on your understanding of the mystery and your skills of deduction. And with eight different endings, your choices really do affect the outcome of this fast-paced political investigation.

You play as Liam, a divorced father and CDI agent in a futuristic interplanetary political system. But when a diplomat is assassinated under the CDI's watch, all hell breaks loose, and it's up to you and your colleagues to solve the case. Personal vendetta? Terrorist attack? Or something more?

Throughout the game, you'll be tasked with solving several "sheets"--Q&As about the case at hand. For instance, early in the game, one of your first tasks will be solving where the assassin's bullet originated from: deduce the answer, fill in the blanks, and submit. If you're right, the investigation moves along. If you're wrong? Well, that's where the "choices matter" mechanism comes in. The better you solve throughout the game, the easier it will be to have a happy ending at the end of all this.

Outside of the sheets, the game is mostly conversation- and investigation-focused. Inspect areas and find relevant clues, then interview suspects and ask the right questions (and provide the right responses) to find the solutions for the sheets and progress the story. There aren't puzzles in the traditional sense: no codes or keys or inventory-object moon logic required. The story is at the forefront of everything, and that's a good thing, because the story is pretty great!

The Good

    Compelling story - You'll feel immersed in this world and its history, but thankfully the lore and world-building isn't nonstop exposition.
    Good character development - The game really lets you play Neil however you'd like to play him--good cop, bad cop; good father, bad father; lawful or chaotic. You can even get him to quit smoking if you want to. Because you know there's weight to each decision, it makes you really think about what kind of person and agent you want him to be.
    Choices matter - I'm going to be honest. I'm a bit of a wimp in games where my choices matter. And I MAY have double-checked some answers against a walkthrough. Maybe. But I loved that the game offers many endings that are dependent on your actions until that point. I'd love to play it again and try some other choices, and the game is short enough to do so!
    The game stores your findings - Can't remember what that one suspect said that one time? Conversation logs have your back! Whether it was a conversation, email, or news article, you can look it up and review it at any time.
    The interface - This one is medium-good for me. I liked the old school pixel art, liked being able to move my character with WASD. And I liked that you did everything else (access convo logs, submit sheets, read email, etc.) through your Cell. I think there could have been a little more flexibility in the Cell view--ways for you to manually organize information, for instance, rather than scrolling back and forth to find the relevant documents. But overall, this was good.
    Horace! - Love a little pet lizard.
    The music - I often find myself a little fatigued by video game music, but this always felt appropriate. It looped at the right rate, the tone of the music fit the scenes, and sometimes the music would cut out entirely when not needed. A nice touch was that when you go into investigation mode, the music dulls around you, like putting earplugs in while at a concert, or going underwater. I really enjoyed the score for this game.

The Less Good

    What is with this game and stairs? - There are so many stairs. Often to places you don't need to go. And the stairs, viewed from the front, look like a ridged wall. They're missing depth of field or shading that would improve the illusion of depth, making it look like your character is scaling a wall every time he climbs up. And sometimes, items in the foreground would block the stairs on your way down (thinking specifically of the market area) and would make it difficult for you to see where to go. I definitely got a little lost from time to time, which makes me feel like the game's area could be condensed just a bit.
    Overthinking and underthinking the deductions - Sometimes the sheets were so simple that I really doubted myself; other times I assumed they were simple and missed the point entirely. This feels stupid of me; relevant information in your documents is always highlighted, so I should really have put things together easily, but the slight inconsistency between how simple some of the questions are vs. how complicated others can be made me live in a perpetual state of doubt every time I went to submit a sheet. But nothing ever felt unfair.
    Complicated conflict - One thing I struggled with most is keeping track of all the players in this complicated political mystery. With interplanetary relations and people who seem to be acting against their best interests, it becomes confusing who is on whose side or what people's motivations are. It all does end up making sense, but I took a few days' break in between playing and found I'd forgotten a lot by time I signed back on.
    Gary - Boooo Gary.

This game is a must-play for point-and-click adventure fans, and for anyone who loves to play detective. It's just the right amount of story, world-building, character depth, deduction, and gameplay.

MasterofFaces1
MasterofFaces1

Lacuna is a game I never expected to actually play. If I’m honest I bought it off a drunken stupor during one of the sales because the pictures looked pretty. Not one of my finest moments, I’ll admit but I’m glad I did (in my defense the game is very pretty, it has some of the best pixel artwork I’ve seen in a while).

Lacuna is, as the title announces, a “Sci-Fi Noir” and I think it holds up pretty well to that name. I’ve seen more than a few people say the game is too easy in it’s detective roleplay and to an extent they are right. It makes the game a whole lot easier that certain quotes and items are highlighted for two reasons. One, I’m a certified moron and would have easily glossed over it and two, the low poly art style would make some of the important clues and would make the game a hundred times more frustrating.

I actually appreciate the dumbed down variation. I’ve played my fair share of hard games, from Hotline Miami and the Witcher III (hardest difficulty) I’ve “gotten gud” but I’ve never bought into the “harder games make it better”. I still felt quite good when I figured out the first chapter perfectly and genuinely bad when I messed up the second act. I just don’t have the time to spend 20 hours trying to solve a virtual case like some people have so the fact you can get through this in a little under 7 hours and still make me feel like I’ve actually solved something is an accomplishment in and of itself.

There are a few little things that nagged me in the end. I wish they had spent more time on some of the characters, so when the hard choices come up on whether to screw them over have a bigger impact. Which is not to say they don’t just if they had been given a bit more time I think it would have been a lot more powerful. It feels very linear and could have used some side quests or activities. But that might ruin the tight compactness of the story and bloat the game longer than it needs to be.

I’m not one for these sort of point and click detective games. I played both Darkside Detective games and had to cheat my way through a fair chunk of it because I have two functioning brain cells. I don’t dabble too much in the indie market, I prefer games like Red Dead and New Vegas. So I figured this game would proper do me in. But I ended up not only playing through the whole thing but living with my consequences because I was so invested in both the story and the world. Any game that gets me out of my comfort zone and exceeds my expectations is doing something right.

7/10 - being only around 7 hours long if you really take your time it’s well worth a playthrough.

Shiviritsky - シヴィリツキ
Shiviritsky - シヴィリツキ

This game is fantastic! Immersive Story with interesting puzzles and mysteries to solve. I definitely recommend this little gem!

RSn|FaTE
RSn|FaTE

I freaking love the atmosphere, not to mention the noir feel is on point. The devs has done a great job!

dhark01
dhark01

Really a fun and worthwhile Adventure until now .

Gablabla
Gablabla

Totally engrossed. Brilliant for fans of The Expanse.

dolly_the_dinosaur
dolly_the_dinosaur

I enjoyed this game a lot.

I'm a fan of pixel art, the music was very nice, I loved the voice acted parts in between and the story is very much re-playable with different decisions.
I streamed one full play-through and was fully taken away by the story and the choices I had to make.

Please make more games like this.

BIG BROTHER
BIG BROTHER

I have now played this games story twice. I really enjoyed both playthroughs and it was a fun game with a great story and nice mechanics. I wasn't expecting much considering it was 2D but the art and music are amazing. The characters are pretty fleshed out in my opinion and the atmosphere is incredible. This game gives off Blade Runner vibes with its sci-fi noir which I absolutely love considering it's one of my favorite movies. The game is pretty short with around 4 hours worth of gameplay but it was great. Def Recommend

XNomadX
XNomadX

Great story and aesthetic. A little on the short side though.

Skynred
Skynred

Not What I Expected

(This is a neutral recommendation.)

Before purchasing this game, I read 3 different reviewers stating Lacuna strongly reminded them of the Lucas Arts / Sierra games of old.

Those reviews were absolutely misleading, as this game has nothing to do with classic Adventures. Nothing.

What is Lacuna actually about?
You move around with WASD, talking to characters and, sometimes, investigating a few background interactables, all to collect information to fulfill a few entries on a Sheet (a screen in your phone) related to your investigation, which you then submit, allowing the story to move forward. According to your answers -- whether you got things right or not -- the narrative is supposed to branch (slightly, I assume) but I can't say for sure, because I did not get anything wrong as far as I played.

The game spoon-feeds pretty much everything to you. There's a button to highlight all the interactables on the screen. Any relevant information shown in texts is highlighted as well. You keep going from "this thing" straight to "the next thing," following linear objectives.

You spend most of the time walking or reading. Thinking or anything else that might be considered playing does not play much of a role, here.

Is it bad?
No. It's just not good.

The story is somewhat interesting but, after playing for an hour and a half or so, I read, from a fourth reviewer, that it also develops obviously. So, after playing for 117 minutes, what had kept me going that far wouldn't push me farther as I have a good idea of how everything is likely to develop, and finally end, later on.

Before buying the game, I had also seen several reviewers with a total playtime of 20+ hours, so I expected the game to be fairly long. After seeing the in-game progression-meter, I can infer it actually lasts 6-7 hours.

TL;DR
Lacuna is not bad per se, but it's pretty short, somewhat dull, too easy and not an adventure game at all. It's a "find some information and a few clues to answer simple, short questions to solve a criminal case" game. You do not have an inventory, you don't interact with anything other than to get text-feedback.

It's not worth the $15 I paid for it. If you have $5 to spare (and can get the game for this price) some 6-7 hours to burn, and are interested in pixel art and/or a somewhat interesting story that, according to at least one other reviewer, turns out to be predictable, you might end up enjoying the experience.

Though I was kept mildly entertained by Lacuna for almost 2 hours, I ultimately chose to refund it.

Gaon
Gaon

A game I bought on a whim while depressed about the state of the world (detective media often did good for me in these times). I didn't expect much of it and was absolutely enraptured by its narrative to the point this is one of my all-time favorites, helping me go through some dark times. If you ever loved cyberpunk noir (allá Blade Runner, which is basically the unofficial source material for this game as far as atmosphere goes), I don't imagine you'll regret this. Hell of an adventure and I hope we get more games like this to show the complexity of a world-that-could be.

[fb] TastyBurger
[fb] TastyBurger

This is good stuff: the investigation works quite well, and by paying attention or rereading the excellent logs (although not searcheable, but hey it's not 3000 pages), the investigation in itself is not that difficult, but very rewarding. I was quite happy to be spot on for every conclusion, on the first playthrough (no savegames). I'm not so sure I'm going back for a worse ending though... but there might be more then I suspect, as there are 8 endings in total, so why not... Very cool animations and sound. Very recommendable!

FadeOut
FadeOut

This game has toyed with my feelings more than any other game I have played.
10/10

Rojav
Rojav

Two minds about a negative review. I didn't love the game, the characters and world didn't feel real or compelling to me on my first playthrough, and at times the options were oddly telegraphed and linear for a game all about choices.
That said, I do plan to play through again now that I have it, so it cant have been that bad.

But overall I felt like it was a shallow take on the noir detective genre, without the real meat or atmosphere which elevates the game to something interesting. Maybe pick it up on sale, but I wouldnt pay anything near the full price for this.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Got bored after playing only for 7 minutes.

Serene Doge Rutherford B. Hayes
Serene Doge Ru…

A well-made update to point and click adventures games from the past. The story was interesting and generally well-written and the game offers multiple endings. There's also a few minor puzzles that are fairly easy to solve. Overall a fun, if a bit short, experience. Total playtime if you stay focused would likely be 3-4 hours for your first playthrough, though subsequent playthroughs to get different endings would likely be much faster.

gogogirl2100
gogogirl2100

Good game albeit short and very linear. I may re-play to get different achievements but probably not.
Main reason to not re-play: I generally get really short windows of time to play a game and the fact that you cannot save the game yourself via a specific place or action at all meant I would lose progress when I needed to quit. I would have to stop before a save happened (seem to be after a specific points in the story) as they were so infrequent.

KaTaTToon
KaTaTToon

Atmospheric, philosophical narrative while fun to enjoy the retro vibes of the visuals. Multiple endings. play through several times will be interesting to find all the different outcomes of the choices made along the way.

eta carinae
eta carinae

This one's a real gem. Wonderful music, loved the pixel art, great setting. I've never played anything quite like it before. It feels like taking part in a cool sci-fi noir movie that never existed.

Really looking forward to DigiTales next project now.

Olive Garden Breadsticks
Olive Garden B…

Fantastic detective noir story. The game respects your ability to put clues together while not making it too easy or an obtuse puzzle. The music was fantastic and the cherry on top was the voice acted narration. Definitely putting this developer on my watch list!

WillPow3r77
WillPow3r77

I do not think that the people writing the negative reviews should be taken seriously. For the Price I paid for this game it was a great experience, the universe is written out beautifully. Your'e following a story line and making choices that alter it. I could not be more happy with the game, its one of the better purchases I have made in a long time.

Unseen Rakash
Unseen Rakash

Considering the small development team this is a very good game or rather interactive story. I enjoyed it very much and can only encourage you to give it a try.

trzcina
trzcina

Short. But if you're into something like this, then it's ok

D_REVAN
D_REVAN

it is a nice noir adventure game, really hope that this developers make more games like this one.

Kadreal
Kadreal

Fun little mystery game. A bit on the short side, but with a decent (if predictable) story.

RoyalRocka
RoyalRocka

Nooooooo, I don't want it to end....
What a lovely game! Every Cent you spent, is invested in creativity and opens a door in your heart

Anonymous
Anonymous

excellent experience living the story :)

BinarySplit
BinarySplit

Branching paths and 8 possible endings based on choices made throughout the game. You have to repeat the game to see the full story. No manual saves, no reloading previous saves, no skipping cutscenes, multiple clicks needed to skip each line of dialogue. This game has no respect for your time.

The story I got with the first ending was relatively interesting (albeit obviously incomplete), but I'm not prepared to spend another 7 hours mostly repeating content to see the rest of the story.

This anti-player crap has ruined the experience for me. I'd have had a great experience if I could have skipped through the parts I had already played to see the other endings. Now I'm left with a crappy choice of either abandoning it with an incomplete story, or spending MOST OF A DAY replaying it to see the other paths.

Immanuel Cunt
Immanuel Cunt

A really well designed detective game with a captivating story and beautiful graphics.

brijwhiz
brijwhiz

A very good political murder mystery. I did get a sense of where it might be going about 70% into it but it was well foreshadowed and not as finicky as some of the older pixel searching mysteries used to be. Time well spent. Without a save system I don't know if I will devote the same time to replay and try to hit all badges. But well done by this development team!!!

Thorn
Thorn

The best detective game out there hands down.

Anonymous
Anonymous

While a little complicated at times, it's quite a fun detective game. The multiple endings makes it more enjoyable imo. I liked the atmosphere, the characters and the story. Give it a try!

Golden Trebuchet
Golden Trebuchet

This is a really cool and well written game, a bit slow in the beginning but the writing is fantastic and it paints a really rich story that makes the world feel alive.

If you don't like reading than this isn't the game for you, but it's a ton of fun if you like rich stories, I haven't read a book in forever and this game still had me enthralled with the story.

11/10 Neat asf FREE DROVIA, GHARA IS A LEECH TRYING TO STEAL ALL THE TYLLANIUM FOR THEMSELVES

Estalian Gentlemen
Estalian Gentlemen

A great scifi noir detective adventure game. The world building and backstory is concisely crafted in order to drive the main plot line. More sci-fi in setting than themes, the story elements stay mostly within classical detective and espionage narrative beats. In this case, you play as Agent Neil Conrad, tasked with investigating the murder of an foreign diplomat, along the way uncovering a conspiracy that hits a bit too close to home. The moment to moment gameplay is more linear and story driven, as you're ferried from section to section to investigate, gather clues, and form a conclusion, all in order to progress the story. Along the way you are given choices to on how to go about with said investigation, mostly being Good Cop Bad Cop, with its consequences affect your investigation and outcome. Its branching narratives encourages multiple playthroughs and is definitely a cool aspect of the game. The music is serviceable and okay at best for an atmospheric game like this. I found it to be slightly too upbeat for a certain sections where the stakes are high, but this may very well be a matter of personal preference. It took me about 7 hours to complete a first playthrough, and I was engaged the entire time. A great detective story to fill in a free afternoon. If you enjoy noir detective stories that require you to piece together clues to solve the mystery, its worth a buy. Otherwise, its still worth picking up on a sale when you've never else to play.

Yuki
Yuki

One of the most polished modern point-and-click game I've played so far. If you're looking for interactive fiction and like the cyberpunk noir genre, I highly recommend this one.

I won't talk a word about the plot in this review since I think going into this blindly is the way to go.

Instead, I wanna talk about something which I hold dear to me: Accessibility.

I find this game to be very accessible: the objects which you need to interact with are obvious, there's a categorized logs of all conversations, there's a list of facts about the world surrounding you, and hell, the font is nice and easy to read. Normally, "pixel art" font aren't easily legible to me but they went out of their way and actually choose something that's actually decent.

Some might think these things are optional or somehow make the game even worse (i.e since it's obvious what you need to interact with, the mystery factor of finding those is gone) but I support these decisions since mainly it allow me to immerse myself in the world that this game is conveying and focus more on the things which matters most to me.

_oxy
_oxy

Just finished my first playthrough and I think I got the good ending.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and cared about most of the characters.

The world building is not that complicated, the politics and the social connections are not that alien from ours, which is kind of a downside tbh, because the world is set in this cyberpunk high sci-fi intergalactic solar system where body modification and enhancement are a thing, but everything that's crucial to the story still feels like it's 2019 on Earth.

Also, there are still a few moments when the interactions lacked consequences. Like what ever happened to Mr. Moore in the end? It was never brought up again even though it was part of the story progression. It might be because of the ending I got, so his side of the story just ended so abruptly. But I would still have loved to see some closure regardless of the choices I've made.

ldgary
ldgary

Sorry, this was boring to me. I couldn't even finish it once let alone multiple times for multiple endings.

[LBC] Slash [GER]
[LBC] Slash [GER]

Lacuna is an awesome detective adventure game. Great storyline and some nice pixel art! Highly recommended. :)

ICARUS
ICARUS

absolutely brilliant. it got me glued to the screen until i've finished. if you like investigation stories, you won't regret playing this one.

Nausicaa
Nausicaa

So so soooo SO stupid. Worst detective ever.

Arc_Trooper_66
Arc_Trooper_66

Nice futuristic noir point and click with a interesting story that makes you use your brain occasionally.

RyToaste
RyToaste

This is one of the few true detective games. It makes you feel like the detective and doesn't spoon feed you the story. Some might not like the fact that you can't jump around saves to choose different choices, but I liked that it felt immersive in the way that your choice do have a legitimate impact on your story. I loved this game and it'll always be memorable for how it stands out compared to others in it's category. This is a completed game yet they keep updating it which is also nice. Replayability is high if you enjoy games for their story above all else. I highly recommend this to people who feel connected to Blade Runner, young adult sci-fi books, or any semi-dystopian cyberpunk universe.

rjazz2
rjazz2

Wouldn't mind seeing this character become a PI and continue his adventures.

Travakh
Travakh

By-the-book noir adventure. Channels Bladerunner in almost every way, which isn't a bad thing. The principal gameplay is assembling clues based off of your investigation and looking at surroundings, but since your character has an 'investigate' mode that highlights things of interest, the investigation is, simply, too easy. If you play nicely and help everyone you'll get every necessary clue dropped in your lap. That being said, if you treat it as more of a visual novel than a solve-the-mystery game, it's pretty engaging for its short duration. Excellent music and art direction, solid writing and voice acting. Pick it up on sale.

skybluegecko
skybluegecko

Definitely one for fans of pixel point and click games such as Darkside Detective. Complex but also intuitive, with great design and levels, and the developers have obviously put a lot of thought into the travel aspect (I hate games where you can't sprint and it takes forever to go between areas!)

Basically I loved it and would highly recommend it. Really looking forward to their next game!