Lacuna is a game made by bitDecay Games as part of Game Off 2020. One thing to mention out of the gate is that this game does feel like a demo. What is here is interesting, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a full game. I’ll explain this further into the review, but let’s go ahead, and discuss the story, and gameplay.
There’s very little story in this game, but what is there does provide at least some context as to what we’re doing down here. Our player character fell down a hole and is now stuck in this cave system. That’s all the plot, but that's fine because this game isn’t really focused on that, but instead on gameplay. Lacuna is a sort of adventure game if I had to give a genre to it. You can down holes to get lower into the cave. On each floor, there are enemies that you should defeat to get coins. These coins are needed to buy new gear in the shop. You must do this before your bulb burns out. When your bulb begins burning out, you must return to the shop to get your battery refilled for free. Failure to return to the shop before your bulb burns out, or die by the enemies, then you will be saved by the shopkeeper, for a fee of coins. That’s the entire game, the only sign of progress is buying things from the shop. Remember, this game was made for a game jam, which means development time is likely low.
This game does have some neat ideas in terms of the items in the shop. There are some basic items such as the pickaxe for dealing more damage, and a heart potion for upgrading your health, but others are a bit more creative. One of these is the smart bulb. This item not only extends the life of the light bulb, but its range of light is larger. I mention this, because the developer could’ve just made the light longer, and sold the range boost as a separate upgrade, but combining them into one is more convenient, and cooler in my opinion. There is also an upgrade that allows you to restore light energy after collecting six enemy corpses, decomposing them into energy. It’s a neat mechanic, that is necessary if you want to explore deeper down. The game from what I noticed doesn’t have a final floor, you're just seeing how far you can get down. Going further down means the floor is more difficult and means you are more likely to die. The challenge and some of the fun lies in seeing how far you can go.
The game also has nice graphics. The graph follows a nice 16-bit style, with a very nice color palette. The character designs are simple, but they work for this type of game. The game also sounds very atmospheric for a retro-styled indie. The music and sounds fit the mood of going down a cave. Makes it feel like you are actually going deeper into a cave system with that little detail, something I enjoy in games.
This game seems like a hard sale to anyone. While it is true there’s not a lot of content in Lacuna, it has to be remembered that indie games are small, and can change often. These reviews are to give insight into these projects and let people know about them. While yes, the lack of content is a problem, the game itself is fun, and I think people should look into it. Games don't have to be completed to be reviewed on this blog, and I hope Lacuna evolves into something here. The developers have something here that I wish will not be wasted. Lacuna has potential, but it still needs a lot of work to reach that final potential. However, you should still check it out, to show support to the developer on future projects, and maybe a continuation. The developers haven’t stated if this project is done, but if it isn’t, then support from the players needs to be shown in order to show demand for a project like Lacuna. Only then will developers feel much more motivated to work on it.
LINK TO GAME: https://bitdecaygames.itch.io/lacuna
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