KIRA has a finger perfectly on the pulse of 90s PSX nostalgia. Basilisk & Basilisk 2000 were entertainingly meta, but I was curious what the longform of that kinda game looked like. Was the stamina there?
Lunacid is 10 hours of tight adventure. Within its labryinths, nearly every dead-end has a purpose: a new item or weapon, a journal entry, a secret door. Level ups are brisk and correspond to easily observed changes in ability, not just increased attack but higher jumping and quicker walking. Weapon upgrades happen only for a few weapons but when they do, the entire appearance and sometimes material makeup of the weapon changes.
Nothing is wasted, so in the end Lunacid does not feel like a watered down King's Field, or worse cropped out, but something just as filling in a smaller package.
My only issues with Lunacid is how it becomes a nexus of 90s standard definition nostalgia buried underneath a mountain of referential nods to important games, especially Demon's Souls. KIRA is talented enough that one day people will be referencing them in their own indie games, but for now the winking and nodding breaks a little of the magic.
Lunacid is 10 hours of tight adventure. Within its labryinths, nearly every dead-end has a purpose: a new item or weapon, a journal entry, a secret door. Level ups are brisk and correspond to easily observed changes in ability, not just increased attack but higher jumping and quicker walking. Weapon upgrades happen only for a few weapons but when they do, the entire appearance and sometimes material makeup of the weapon changes.
Nothing is wasted, so in the end Lunacid does not feel like a watered down King's Field, or worse cropped out, but something just as filling in a smaller package.
My only issues with Lunacid is how it becomes a nexus of 90s standard definition nostalgia buried underneath a mountain of referential nods to important games, especially Demon's Souls. KIRA is talented enough that one day people will be referencing them in their own indie games, but for now the winking and nodding breaks a little of the magic.