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Monday, August 3, 2009

Lunnye1.jpg

There were mixed reactions when I posted about Boss Baddie!'s latest release recently, so I decided to grab a copy and form an opinion on whether it's worth the $3.20 asking price. Lunnye Devitsy is a puzzle platformer concerning a small alien who has fallen off the moon and is now trying to make his way back up there.

What you get for your hard-earned cash is a reasonably-sized world to explore, a nice variation of puzzles to solve and a game crammed full of atmosphere. This is an experience all about exploration and if that's your kind of thing, Lunnye Devitsy is bound to please immensely.

The world is comprised of several different areas which all flow smoothly into one another. You know when you've just stumbled into a neighbouring domain, as the music changes to suit the mood and the lighting evolves to set the scene. The musical score is definitely worth a mention - most of the tracks fit the bill solidly, and there's some really soothing stuff here to find.

Lunnye2.jpg

So, to the actual game bit. Your little extra terrestrial must find six different ways to get back to the moon. A couple of the methods aren't too taxing, but attempting to achieve all six is insanely difficult unless you know exactly what you're doing. As of yet I've managed to find four, but I'm sure I'll be going back to carry on the search (the game saves every path you find as handy glowing lights on the moon). There's a variety of different ways to discover - a couple of simple collect-a-thons here, a launchpad unlocking button there - and having to traverse such an elegant land to find them makes it all the more worthwhile.

One small annoyance is that once the game is quit, everything in the world (not including how much of the moon you've managed to light up) resets back to original positions. It's completely understandable, but a couple of the puzzles need to use the same mechanics, so once you boot up again, you might need to go back and do certain things all over again. Still, even with this possible backtracking, Lunnye Devitsy will last a good while. I've been playing for around 2 hours now, and I plan to go back and check it out some more.

Lunnye3.jpg

In fact, while playing I couldn't help making connections between Lunnye and the recent IGF winner Blueberry Garden. Both games revolve around the same principle - they are both beautifully atmospheric exploration titles, with the added bonus that there is a puzzle or two (or six) to solve. If you enjoyed Blueberry Garden, I really would recommend trying this out. You can grab it from the Boss Baddie! site for a mere $3.20, which I personally think is a great price.

[Note: For anyone who does give this a purchase, you'll want to begin the game by venturing towards the bottom left of the world. There's a power-up down there which gives your little guy the ability to dash around by holding D, and it makes exploring a lot more fun]

Comments

Nice catch Michael :)
Will probably try this one too but I recall : 3.20$ is way too cheap!

For anyone who does give this a purchase, don't read this article as it spoils unnecessarily many facts. I want Tim's brief blogging back.

Is that a he? Considered the game's name, I would think she's a she.

How can I save? This may be a stupid question, but I can't seem to retain my abilities.
:P

I agree it's too cheap. It makes you think the game is too small or not really good.

Spoiler: the Moon is in another castle.

So, it's kinda like Knytt (Stories), if not in the terms of gameplay (even though based on your review it is that too) at least in the terms of atmosphere, right? That sounds friggin' good, I should maybe buy it...!

You know, if you indiexperts can recommend games with soothing / ethereal -feeling atmospheres I'd be very grateful... Knytt Stories is the most soothing game I've played so far... Recommend, please! I beg you. ;_;

Actually, 3.2$ is not a bad price for the game, especially considering how low-tech it is. Oh, the graphics are nice and makes a good attempt at being atmospheric, but the actual gameplay is lacking.

If you have a dire love for Kynth Stories and anything like it, you might like this, but otherwise, don't bother.

In fact the name means "Moon girls/maids", translated from Russian.

I badly want a map. This is fun for a while, but it gets old going to the same places over and over without being to save my abilities.

I thought I'd give this a go after seeing the thread. I think the price is perfect...Not too much to make a difference to my bank account.

Was fun =)

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