It is sometimes the smallest of things that can make all the difference. While we upgrade the new rig and refit the gaming room I’ve been having something of a holiday from game reviews. Instead, catching up with my ever-growing gaming backlog and getting a bit of fresh air in between. When you spend a degree of time away from something it is often hard to jump back on the horse, to fire up the forge and get those creative juices flowing again. A few days ago I received an email with a review code for a  game I am now ashamed to admit I had never heard of. After an hour playing, I ran upstairs to grab my iPad and start banging my thoughts into a review structure. Let me tell you about LUNA The Shadow Dust.

Storytime

So I’ll get the easy part out of the way: this game is just a joy to behold and must be one of the best-looking indie games I’ve seen in years. I love reading stories to my son at bedtime and always admire the work artists put into bringing these worlds to life. Well LUNA is like a children’s storybook that really has had life breathed into its pages. Each scene has been painstakingly hand-drawn with numerous artistic effects that add an authentic feel to this magical place. The backgrounds can feel like a canvas that has been treated ready for a masterpiece and the outline of pencil on the main characters features fits perfectly in this style

There’s a wonderful stop motion effect to the animation that makes each movement feel like it was poured from an old fashioned projector. Everything from small mechanisms and mice to large contraptions has a staggering amount of animation lavished on them. It is also how well these interactions are grounded in the game world that make the whole scene feel like a real place. The thing that has the most profound effect on the visual clout in LUNA is the way light is woven into each scene. Sometimes it will be a warm glow flickering on the edges of an ornate fireplace or a single candle flame dancing in a lonely kitchen. Other times light cascades from magical sources and punctuates the more interesting elements of a puzzle. What is even more intriguing is how the shadows from these light sources can be manipulated to create platforms which in turn aid your progress.

Single Serving Friend

As the game opens with a short and whimsical cut scene you are then left to progress at your own pace. Setting out you have no memories of who you are or how you came to be in this place and uncovering your memories is part of the quest you are tasked with. You see the world from a side-on perspective and use your mouse pointer to move around each area. You spend the majority of your time ascending a teetering tower which is filled with many obstacles that halt your progress. These rooms can have various layers and some will only become apparent on closer inspection. There is no way to highlight the various interactive parts of the game world so it is down to you to uncover these. 

You will sometimes be thoroughly enjoying a game but at the same time start to feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again. Many large games these days (especially open-world endeavours) can use repeatable gameplay loops to pad out the time a player needs to spend in the game (Odyssey I’m looking at you!). While this can sometimes work to good effect, it often leaves the player feeling like they are running on a giant hamster wheel with little to show for their time invested. As I get older I crave titles that don’t distil the creative flow of a game but give it to me as raw imaginative content. It is this honest design philosophy that make games like GRIS and FAR: Lone Sails so special. LUNA is one such game that you will probably only play a few times but that single experience is worth hundreds of hours on the hamster wheel. 

Cognitive Collaboration 

Early on in the story, you will meet a companion who you immediately gain control over. I’m not sure what the exact name for this mythical being is but I’d say it’s a cross between a cat and an owl (a flightless owl, probably). It will soon become apparent that you must use the boy and his new friend to solve the puzzles henceforth. One thing I really like is that both characters can be given a movement command and they will both make their way to that location. If it had been the case that one could not move without the other being stationary this would have really grated and so I appreciate this extra thought. In many situations, you much occupy different scenes in the same puzzle and flitting between them is essential. One puzzle, in particular, required the boy and cat (look it’s a cat ok) to inhabit the same place but at different seasons. This was when I truly fell in love with this game.

I think LUNA does stand head and shoulders above the competition because while most puzzles can be conquered without too much head-scratching, it’s the delivery that counts. The wonderful imagination that has gone into every scene in LUNA deserves high praise as each is both unique and beautiful. There isn’t a single idea that is rehashed down the road and this also makes entering each new room a little more exciting.

Melodic Meanderings

In a brave move, the developers decided to tell this emotional yarn without a single stitch of dialogue. The two main characters are therefor expressed with the exquisite animation I have already mentioned but also by a fantastic musical backdrop. In an interview Wang Guan (the musical composer) explains that the music is also one of the storytellers. She would play each level first and work closely with the artist (Guo Beidi) to form the right musical palette for that scene.

Music in the cut scenes is more dramatic but in the gameplay, it is synced with what is happening on the screen with a deft hand. This is no accident as Wang didn’t want to get in the way of the player experiencing their own emotional journey. 

Conclusion 

We all have different tastes in gaming and for some, the slow pace of LUNA will not appeal. There is no combat, character progression or branching dialogue trees. This is pure storytelling that is both captivating and emotionally charged. What I love about LUNA is that it doesn’t try to hide behind repetitive gameplay loops or arbitrary shopping lists. The characters, the story and the fantastical places we visit all speak for themselves. The puzzles that form the backbone of the gameplay are also challenging enough to temporarily stump you and then delight you as the solution forms before your eyes. 

I have really enjoyed playing LUNA The Shadow Dust and can heartily recommend it to those who have an eclectic taste in their adventure games. Even the mesmerising soundtrack is enough justification to pick up this title which is absolutely magical and up there with favourites like Journey and GRIS.

Thank you for reading my review of LUNA The Shadow Dust. I would like to thank Application Systems Heidelburg for providing an early review code for the game as this always help. If you want to see more PC Gaming reviews and content please follow me on Twitter @riggedforepic