Lacuna Review

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Bazifar30

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Published on February 4, 2022 6:00:09 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMdlm_dojDE

Game:

Lacuna (2021)

Category:

Review

Duration: 8:09

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Lacuna Review
Lacuna is a game about consequence. Every choice made (or ignored) coupled with every puzzle solved (or botched) moves things forward. It’s an easy game to play in that there’s never really a question of what to do; rather, the challenge comes in doing things correctly to achieve the desired outcome. Through a combination of detailed puzzles, excellent writing, and branching pathways, this stylish noir-themed pixel art side-scroller manages to instill a sense of both accomplishment and defeat at times, each of them pulling you further into its fascinating jazzpunk drama.
The main story takes place on the planet Ghara in the city of Louville. Ghara is an Earth-like world in a colonized solar system made up of several other habitable planets. Governments, religious groups, and corporations have long vied for control over these worlds, with the interplanetary drama taking a turn for the worse on Drovia with the “Sector II incident” forty years earlier. In a brief flashback segment, players assume the role of a teenage girl named Mira, who has just landed on the planet with her parents. Shortly after getting settled into her underground living quarters, hell breaks loose in the colony and the civilians are directed into an emergency shelter – if they can make it there in time. This opening section teaches some of the basic gameplay mechanics and serves as an introduction to the universe, but also has profound impacts on the story to follow, depending on your actions.

One aspect of the design that I had a love/hate relationship with was the save system. To put it bluntly, you have no control over saving whatsoever. Saving manifests itself in a checkpoint system that will periodically record your progress after a critical decision. Due to the inability to manage saves in Lacuna, you are completely locked out from exploring other narrative paths in a single playthrough. From a player’s perspective, I liked that it took this completely out of my control. On the other hand, this did mean that I needed to keenly keep an eye on when saves would occur so that no substantial progress was lost. Additionally, and least from a reviewer’s perspective, this was a goddamn nightmare since it meant I would need to start a whole new playthrough to encounter specific story elements again.
Like I mentioned earlier, I genuinely adored the noir-inspired presentation and gritty story. You encounter hookers, drugs, murder, and plenty of f-bombs, and that is just in the first hour. Inhabiting this nasty world seems like it wouldn’t be easy, especially for those that are less affluent. Luckily Neil is there to once again tap into the noir approach, and delivers fully voiced internal monologues. Actually, this is the only time that there is any voice acting whatsoever, and the devs knocked it out of the park.
Probably the least clear aspect of Lacuna, in general, are the investigations. That’s not to say they were terrible. These scenes were just a bit unwieldy for my liking. If you have the outline mode engaged, which highlights observable elements in the environment and citizens you can interview, it becomes fairly straightforward to gather evidence. The problem was, there were frequently scenarios where I wouldn’t be able to submit an investigation worksheet because the game knew there was a missing a piece of evidence. I easily spent an extra hour at times going on wild goose chases, trying to track down specific objects or testimonies. It was fucking infuriating.
Plus, instead of grinding to a halt by a convoluted puzzle, the story can always be driven forward in a number of approaches, depending on the outcome of your investigation. As a detective, you must help Neil draw crucial connections from the details he uncovers and look out for things that don’t add up. Doing so means making use of the ultimate detection tool: the Cell. This nifty device stores clues, conversations and other useful information that could impact the investigation. Once you’ve made a conclusion about a case, you must submit a report or ‘Sheet’ to the CDI, detailing your findings. One small detail could mean the difference between cracking the case wide open and letting a dangerous criminal escape scott-free! This approach is wonderfully slick and streamlined and genuinely replicates the experience of conducting complex detective work.
So, what’s the catch? There’s only one minor drawback. Without stepping into spoiler territory, it becomes apparent later that a certain character is heavily involved with the unfurling narrative. But the nature of that involvement is somewhat glossed over and referenced only briefly in one segment. This could’ve been explored in a lot more detail, given the depth of their involvement, even being a whole new case in itself. At 4.5 hours long, despite the replay value in exploring different choices, you’re left wanting a little more; an extra case would satiate that craving.
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