Doug Tabacco

If you don’t follow LucasArts news, you might not have noticed that they released a new game today. There’s no mention of it on their website, after all. On top of that, with the exception of the press release, all mention of the game has been through a development blog that, if you stumbled across it, you’d probably think was a fansite rather than an official outlet.

Even so, I don’t think this game would have benefited from the usual hype machine that is a traditional game release. It feels very much like a small development team at LucasArts said ‘Hey, we’d like to make this game. We think we can do it with a small team and without much cost, and we’re pretty sure it’ll sell well enough to at least cover its own costs. If it doesn’t make us millions, no harm, right?’ I’m guessing that’s not far from the truth. It’s very much like the sort of indie game you’d pick up on Steam, except that it’s actually by a big company.

Lucidity is a fairly simple game that picks a mechanic and goes with it. It’s not trying to do anything super complicated or mind blowing, but it’s great for what it is. And although it’s simple, the gameplay is something new, or at least new to me. It’s a little bit like Mario meets Tetris. Sofi, not unlike a real small child, moves forward at her own pace through levels without heed for danger or obstacles ahead. It’s up to you, the player, to grab pieces from a randomly generated queue and place them in her path to guide her away from harm and towards coins fireflies. And as I said, it does stick with that mechanic, so that’s what you’ll be doing the whole game.

It sounds monotonous, but the sheer style of the game keeps it more than interesting. The art direction is unbelievably stylish, sticking to a style that really does evoke the illustrations from a childrens’ picture book. The music leans towards the haunting with plenty of piano and strings. The main theme, Byssan Lull, which was posted to the development blog a couple of weeks ago, is really a great example.

I find myself getting really irritated by reviews that say things like ‘It could have been so much more’ or ‘I wish it was more epic.’ Not every game needs to be an epic. Sometimes a simple game is a good thing. And at the end of the day, remember that it’s a $10 game. LucasArts hasn’t been pretending this is a 50 hour epic, and gamers shouldn’t expect it to be. That’s the fast lane to disappointment.