Lucah: Born of a Dream (PC) Preview

LUCAH looks great in its uniqueness, literally like a cross between Lite-Brite and a hand-drawn trip through hell - together, they fit the feeling of the game pretty well. There is only the barest of dialogue, but it helps pull players in with a "What is going on?" feeling of trying to figure out if the character is dead, literally in hell, or if something else is going on. The confusion prevalent is very reminiscent of similar indie games, such as Loved or A Dark Room, and many of the darker themes in those games are found here.

Gameplay involves guiding the bright blue figure around dungeon rooms, as they try to figure out what to do. Nearly each room has various enemies, which all hit very hard - usually enough to kill in only a few hits at most - and the player must beat them to move on. Combat is a fluid affair of dodging, hitting fast combos, and getting out before a counter. It strikes a good balance between a degree of tactics, as well as button mashing. After battles, there is a levelling system of picking which stat to increase, which offers some degree of replayability, as well as changing aspects of the weapon equipped.

Occasionally, there will be random story sections, which (as of the demo, available here) offer temptation of a narrative that appears to be fairly deep. It has implications of various religious overtones, death, and some degree of others dying around the character. Although the demo is short (about two hours to beat) it is a satisfying experience of wanting to know more about the story.

The dungeons have very few rest areas scattered, and these are the only way to heal. As a result, combat is very dangerous, and in some ways feels like a roguelike, despite not actually being one. The darker, gothic overtones feel very similar to cult classic Baroque, which tackled similar themes of death and rebirth.

As of right now, LUCAH is still in funding stages and will hopefully make its goal, as it is pretty original. There are a few minor issues, such as really needing a map or some indication that rooms have been visited before, as it happens a lot and takes a while to even realise they are old rooms. Further, the art style could use a little cleaning up, as the art direction is great, but sometimes it is hard to know what something is even meant to be. Minor things, really, as the overall package is novel enough to warrant some interest if these types of games interest a player.