Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure

Very interesting world building, and game design. One of the most actually "detectivey" detective puzzle games you'll find. Very well written, complex branching storyline, genuine story consequences. The only downside is it is indeed quite short, but for $12? What are you expecting? Will definitely be following these developers from now on.

Very nice game, nice athmosphere, great value for the money! It probably took me around 10 hours, but I never rush through good games... Audio and music are great, lots of soft/relaxing tracks playing, even though some parts had real annoying music too but guess that's very individual. I love the voice acting, which consists of your own character talking to himself sort of, updating the story here and there and reasoning with himself. Gfx could have been slightly more highres so the faces/hairstyles could have at least a tiny bit of detail, cause as it is now many persons look exacly the same, but oh well... It's a very relaxed game overall, even though some dialogue choices are on a timer (that you can disable if you want in options, but the timer is pretty fair I must say and probably there so you shouldn't browse the web before choosing)... Apparently it has quite a few endings, and I guess a few choices really have big impact. I like the one-slot-autosaving though, so you never can go back and change your mind - you play and live with your choices, that's cool - sort of ironman mode ;D The story is really good in this one - it's complex, high level politics, while also easy to follow, probably for everyone, and that's great! Just keep some concentration while playing and there'll be no problems - this isn't Myst or anything, no hard puzzles like that, more doalogue/choices and reviewing clues/data!

The concept and reviews looked good so I had great hopes. But although I explored everywhere I could, walked around VERY slowly using the big magnifiying glass, and talked to everyone they let me, I was astonished when the game stifled any further progress until I would make unfounded guesses as to questions that I didn't have answers to. Which then fouled my investigation, again and again (although I did manage to guess right twice). Also as another reviewer stated, my character was limited in his choices in a way I never, ever would have followed. Ever. And finally, with all the talk in gaming about "trigger cards" and such, I was very unpleasantly surprised at where the story went and would have much preferred to have known in advance about a particular plot device that I absolutely abhor. Fortunately the game is extremely short and the ending I got was just barely satisfactory. So live and learn, no need to play anything more by these folks.

The game is visually pleasing. I like the setting and the story, but the controls are driving me nuts. It's a point-and-click adventure that isn't point-and-click. The WASD with the left shift run is so annoying. I'd much rather just click where I want him to go. Not sure if I'll play to the end. Would be nice to have the option to change conrols to old school point-and-click for us stuck-in-our-ways oldies.

As a choice-matters adventure game, ‘Lacuna’ tells a gripping tale of a murder that puts already tenuous interplanetary diplomatic relations at risk. Don’t let the ambiguous title and mundane banner art fool you, this game delivers a well-crafted sci-fi neo-noir mystery and deduction brain-teasers that will put your inner detective to work. The locales in ‘Lacuna’ are depicted in great detail using 16-bit style pixel art. The places ooze with verisimilitude, making me wish this game is less linear and allows for more open-world exploration. The beauty of the locations are on full display when the camera zooms out to reveal the grandeur of the setting. The catchy jazz/electronic soundtrack makes searching for clues and tracking down suspects extra immersive. Although the main narrative arc is quite linear, the decisions you make in ‘Lacuna’ can affect the outcome in different ways. Will you be a good cop or a bad cop? Will you be empathetic or cynical? Will you make the right deductions and find the culprits behind the murder? Every action, big or small, has a cascading effect. The best bits of the game are those tense moments in which you have no idea how your decisions will play out. With 8 different endings, ‘Lacuna’ invites players to replay it many times to explore various possibilities. Yet, with each playthrough having only one save slot, no manual save, and any checkpoint save overwriting the previous one, I got annoyed after my third complete run. It’s also frustrating that tutorials, cutscenes and monologue narration can’t be skipped. Despite these couple of annoyances, ‘Lacuna’ is one of the better mystery adventure games in the genre, and it’s worth checking out.