WARNING! Introduction It's a generally-recognized fact that we, as a society, have a hard time talking about sex. We all know it exists (usually long before we even know what it's called), but we don't discuss it, we don't analyze it, and we certainly aren't encouraged to try and tell stories about it. This widespread repression, which often extends to encompass even the most ambiguous and innocent forms of sexual expression, has led to a collective knot in our psychic underwear, and it is from the sordid juices that stain that warped tangle of fear and desire that I think Lust for Darkness must've dripped, because I really can't explain its existence any other way. It's a bad game, which promises serious commentary and dark themes on the surface, but sadly seems to have been made by people who only wanted to try and spook the players with images of alien vaginas and sloppy writing (no not that kind you sicko). Whatever happened to him, it was probably more exciting than the experience I had playing this game. Chances are it was probably more painful, but that's not saying much. This is not meant to be an insult to the actual developers by any means (so please excuse my colorful language), because its clear the they tried to do their subject matter justice, what with all the lore and effort they put into building the background of the game's world. But alas, the key plot strokes they rely on (god, the innuendo is just everywhere, isn't it?) fall flat or else feel like they're trying too hard to be shocking, and the whole product is weighed down by the alternately boring and frustrating gameplay, which feels like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but without the polish, proper pacing, sound design, or indeed any part of what made Amnesia so good. It's a depressing disappointment, given the game exceeded it's Kickstarter funding goal by at least a factor of six times, but if you want to torment yourself by playing it, it's available on Steam for $24.99 at the time of this writing. If you want to know why you probably shouldn't bother though, read on... Story Like any horror game, Lust for Darkness places most of its weight on its story. And to be perfectly honest, the story is...not good. To be fair, the opening had promise when I first played it. The shock factor of waking up in a bondage dungeon after apparently being kidnapped is a truly nightmarish scenario. It only gets creepier after you realize the implied cult angle from the object on display. However, after this prologue concludes and the opening titles play, things rapidly slide downhill in terms of quality. The rest of the game has you playing as the husband of the woman from the prologue, who ends up receiving a call from his missing spouse telling him in roundabout terms that she's being held prisoner at a mansion out in the countryside. There's a lot to unpack in terms of problems with what happens next, and how it reeks of a writer who was sadly out of their depth, but I'll do my best to be concise. To its credit, the majority of the story does keep pace with the style and form of most Lovecraft stories. This is not necessarily a good thing, unfortunately, since many Lovecraft stories equate progress with reading unspeakable tomes of forbidden knowledge. There's a lot of reading to be done in this game, with most of the establishing lore for the setting and world being hidden around the environment. Some of it's good, but none of it is particularly 'unspeakable' or unsettling. This is unfortunate, because the main plot isn't much better at keeping the reader engrossed. It relies too heavily on shock value to try and motivate its characters, who often feel flat and unreal in their reactions (though that may sadly be the fault of the voice actors, who are also rather amateurish in their delivery). It's undeniable the game's lighting is quite beautiful. However, no amount of bizarre alien architecture with suggestions of phallic imagery can make up for the ham-fisted plot strokes that drive the main narrative. But the problems run much deeper than dull lore. Halfway through the game, the protagonist discovers that his wife was pregnant when she was kidnapped, and that the evil cult leader not only aborted his unborn child, but then sired a new one by raping his hostage spouse. This is, without a doubt, one of the most horrible things a villain could do. It's vile and reprehensible...and yet it in the greater scheme of the story, it carries almost no weight. There's no buildup, and the delivery is falls flat, consisting of a stilted, uncomfortable conversation between husband and wife. It's barely even brought up in the rest of the game. It's clear that the writer could've learned a thing or two from reading some analyses of Silent Hill 2, which deals with themes of sexual violence and trauma in fashion that is leaps and bounds above what this game tries to achieve. If you're going to introduce rape to your story, especially if said story has an overt focus on themes of sex and horror, there are three words to remember: SHOW, DON'T TELL. In fact, it could be said that the misunderstanding of this simple fact encapsulates everything wrong with Lust for Darkness' plot. I could probably write an entire paper on everything I noticed in hindsight that didn't jive with the game's storytelling goals, but suffice to say, where it was weird, it was largely softcore, and where it was shocking, it was poorly set up and poorly conveyed. The whole project sadly had the stink of a studio who wanted to do big things, but should've run through a few drafts before publishing their work. Sex and horror, when combined correctly, can tell some of the best stories out there, especially when your prime audience is a society where love, gender, and the human body itself are still closeted subjects for many, many people. Alas, Movie Games Lunarium never managed to find that proper blend to make their end product palatable, and so we are left with what can only be called a hot, sticky mess. Gameplay and Design The story isn't the only culprit of course in making this game a failure though. Games in general rely heavily on a balance between interactivity and experience, and nowhere is that more crucial than in games that slide further to one end of the spectrum or the other. An artsy game with frustrating design can still gather a cult following if its writing is good enough. Conversely, a game with a boring or hammy plot can be saved if its core gameplay look is sufficiently addictive. Sadly, Lust for Darkness suffers from the worst of both worlds in this case, as its floppy, twitching plot which never seems to find its pace, is dragged down by a very bland and often frustrating mode of gameplay. The majority of the experience is spent either wandering around looking at everything that can be interacted with for the sake of looking into the lore, or looking at everything that can be interacted with because the puzzle you're being confronted with is so brain-breakingly unintuitive that you HAVE to find a hint or give up and go look for a walkthrough. There's plenty of sexual imagery on display, but it seldom gets much stranger than this. There's a few moments near the end of the game that might nauseate you if you've got a weak stomach, but it's no SAW film, that's for sure. There are parts that involve hiding from monsters of course, because the player needs to face some form of threat if the atmosphere can't delivery. Unfortunately, the stealth system is finicky at the best of times, and the often cramped levels and slow pace of the character themselves makes fleeing and hiding uncertain prospects at the best of times. Being pursued isn't particularly terrifying in any case, which speaks volumes about how unprepared the developers were for a large-scale horror experience. The sound design and music are nothing to write home about either, which might as well be a death-knell for any chance of actually scaring players. A horror game without good sound is three steps down on the road to obscurity, and it takes a monumental effort to overcome that handicap, which devs sadly did not. The worst part of the game might just be the final boss fight (hard to say, given how much of a chore it was up until then; also, a boss fight in a horror game? Come on, man!), which was anticlimactic and downright enraging. When the credits finally roll, it's almost a relief. FINAL VERDICTSex, as ever, is a touchy subject. Confronting it in a serious fashion is often a scary subject, especially given how repressive modern society still is in its discussion. Telling meaningful stories about it is a daunting prospect, and one not lightly approached. Sadly, Movie Games Lunarium did not consider that fact when trying to make Lust for Darkness. It's one thing to try and sell your game with sex appeal (looking at you Haydee), but if you're going to try and scare people with the thought of intimacy, you need to do more than slap a pair of tits on some monsters. Don't get me wrong; there's some decent ideas here, buried under all the half-finished detritus. But until the devs learn from their mistakes, I have to recommend that they stick to shorter, more condensed pieces. It doesn't do to try and rush to third base after all. FINAL SCORE: 3.9/10
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