((Potential minor spoiler warning for this review))
The last two games that turned me into a emotional sobbing wreck by the end of them were Nier: Automata and Lucah: Born of a Dream.
This is more than just a coincidental pairing - these two games are very similar in many obvious ways. Colin, Lucah’s main developer, writer, and animator, even goes as far as to half-jokingly call it a “Nier-like” in a recent Twitter thread. Despite the mechanical similarities and the fact that they’re both highly emotional, character-driven hack-n-slash games, Lucah's intimacy is what sets it apart and what has left an arguably deeper and stronger impact on me.
It feels very difficult to talk about this game without relating it heavily to myself. There's a lot going on in this game thematically that reflects struggles I've gone through in my life - mental illness, figuring out ones own identity, the fragility of romantic connection, and growing up gay in a religious environment where being gay wasn't allowed. Lucah skips over giving empty promises and vague, sugarcoated hope; these things are difficult as hell, and they aren't easy to overcome.
And yet, you overcome them. Enemies and battles are challenging, and at first, can feel overwhelming, but soon can easily be conquered thanks to the game's welcome reliance on telegraphing attacks and its lovely dodge/parry system. The visuals can feel oppressive, threatening, even nonsensical, but reveal their beauty within the messy lines. Dialogue and lore is emotionally difficult to get through, dealing with trauma and death and pure horror, but catharsis is just around the corner. It'll hurt, but it'll heal in due time.
At the beginning of the game, Colin directly addresses the player, and asks for their trust. Things will be difficult, you'll lose people along the way, and it might hurt - but have faith that it'll end up okay in the end. It seems like a strange request coming from a video game, but this trust is essential to braving the whirlwind ahead. I'm so unbelievably happy that I gave Lucah my trust, and I'm forever grateful that I'll get to carry this experience with me for as long as I need it.
P.S. My friend Bluffy was the one who got me into this game, and I don't have the words to express my thanks. So shoutout I guess ❤️✨
With Lucah you get a fantastic art style, perfectly paired soundtrack, a ridiculously deep combat system and an intriguing story. So, really, it is 100% worth your purchase. The combat does get hard, but thankfully there are modifiers you can engage whenever to ease you through the more challenging fights.
I enjoyed playing Lucah! :-D For my video I checked out the demo. I really like the art style in this game. Paired with the music, it makes for an unsettling experience.
This game is phenomenal. It surpassed every expectation I had for it as well as the ones I developed as I played it more, and I'm still far from done with it! If you like action games with a sense of flair, if you like surrealist horror, if you like anything made by Platinumgames or From Software, do yourself a favor and give LUCAH a try.
And I still get one Mantra and Virtue missing( Seriously, what else Mantras do I ever need after I have got Aether?) .Don't feel like playing it again after four times for reaching an ending.
when i first came across LUCAH, i was hesitant to try it out; its unique art style and camera movement as depicted in gifs wasn't like anything i'd tried before, and i wasn't sure my low-end laptop could even handle it. though i was unsure back then, i downloaded its demo. it's one of the best decisions i think i've ever made.
now with more than 40 hours logged into the full game (which plays smooth as butter, even on the calculator i'm playing on!), i can tell you with certainty that LUCAH: Born of a Dream is all that it promises and more. it has an intense attention to detail--and delivers on it without letting up at any point. mechanically, aesthetically, story-wise, music-wise? LUCAH works effectively on all fronts to immerse you in its nightmarish world from the get-go--and keep you trapped in it. in a good way! not that you'd ever want to leave...
the "hyperviolence mixtape", for all its tracks, provides an incredible experience. its tone stays consistent, yet its events and new mechanics surprised me at every turn. NG+ is a whole different beast, for example; it plays by its own set of rules, a natural progression from NG's training wheels.
there's a lot more i'd love to praise, specific things, but i can't do that without spoiling a bit of the experience. so go on. discover it for yourself! ...and discover yourself through this, while you're at it. to really understand and enjoy everything LUCAH offers, i think you'd have to play through all its endings (much less daunting than it sounds, i assure you). you'd have to pay close attention to what's unfolding. you'd have to give the game the trust it asks for, even when it gets scary. especially when it gets scary.
i love LUCAH, and Lucah, dearly. i don't think i've warmed up to any other video game this quickly and intensely before. give it a try; don't be afraid of falling in love with it, too.
I'm so glad that I stumbled upon your twitter, because LUCAH is such an awesome, beautiful, challenging game. Not only that, but it's quite a mystery to me. I don't understand the whole story, I don't even understand all the mechanics, and it's great to feel like I'm learning something new while I play again.
Hey, just played the demo yesterday. I'm really excited for the full release on the 21st. I'm just curious what the rough playtime of the full game will be? I was also wondering what the price will be.
Thank you Timothy!! The game will be about 5-8 hours (depending on your skill level) and will launch for $20, with a slight discount for the first week it's out.
I stumbled across this game in Twitter, and knew I had to try it! The art alone had it's hooks in me before I had even started playing.
I totally appreciate the controller support; this game is tough, and I need every advantage I can get. I have only played about 20min so far, but I'm looking forward to doing more and learning more of the dark and haunting story. It's quite the opposite of my usual fare, like Stardew Valley and Kerbal Space program!
THIS IS SUCH A GOOD GOSH DANG GAME IT FILLS A NICHE IN MY SOUL AAAAAAA
i'm aware this is a more serious and personal game, the themes and events are disturbing and that raw excitement may have not been the intented reaction BUT HOLY SMOKES THIS GAME IS SO GOOD IM HYPE AS HELL AAAAAAAAAAAA
ah yaaay no that's ok!! Folks getting excited about the game means I'm doing something right and inspires me to work even harder on getting the full game out there! Thank you so much ^_^
hi benzene! The team and I are hard at work completing the full game for release later this year, but there should be a couple updates to the demo before that! I'll be sure to put up a full update write-up whenever I do that =)
Hey guys, having compatibility issues with v0.6.0 when downloading through itch.io. I hit "New Game" on the Title screen and the game fades to black with nothing additional. The game worked fine back in v0.3.3 but now the game refuses to work. Any fix? Specs below:
CPU: i5-6600k @ 4ghz
GPU: Zotac 1060
Ram: 16gb @ 2133mhz
Storage: 1x250gb HDD, 1x5tb HDD (where the game is installed)
Hi DarkShibara, thanks for the report. Is this through the itch client or from a download from the website? Thanks!
EDIT: If you could, would you be able to post a screenshot of the game at the point where it gets stuck? If you press the E key (or the A button if you're using a controller), does anything happen? Let me know.
Itch.io didn't send an email stating that you replied so I didn't see this until now. Just redownloaded and it works just fine now thanks.
For the previous message, v0.6.0 would freeze after hitting "New Game" with the 'v0.6.0' text in the bottom left corner. Since I don't have it installed anymore, I can't obtain a screenshot of it nor attempt to press E or A to see if it would fix (from what I recall tho, it didn't work with either control setting). Thanks for the quick response and fix! Appreciate the dedication.
Hi Cakeaple! Development on L U C A H is still rolling along, just been a bit quiet because I'm getting all the busywork ready for release later this year! Hoping to get a big kickstarter update written and published sometime soon, so I'll be sure to link it here when that's out. Thanks!
I just want to ask how far are you into finishing this game and i want to know if it will be paid or free if its free thank you because im 13 and i dont make any money sadly :(
Hi Cakeaple! As of right now I'm more than halfway through the game's main story, so at this rate the game should be out around June of 2018. The full game won't be free, but if your situation doesn't change, send me a message and I'll see what I can do about getting you a copy!
um.. hi i was wondering the same thing cuz im also 13 and in fact im cakeaples friend from school and he showed me this game and of course i have no money as well
hi swaglord! For sure, check back and once the game's closer to release send me another message and I'll see what we can do! Be sure to try the free demo if you haven't and tell your friends about it if you like it!
Hey there! My name is King Zaerdric! And I absolutely love this game. I can't say i followed too too well what was going on, and i was alittle skeptical at first. But! After playing the full demo, I am hooked and in love with this game, the leveling systems, the level design, the colors are damn beautiful and the playing is super fluid. What I am trying to say is I can not wait for this games full release. But, anyway, here are all the videos I put up of lucah over on my channel. Thank you!
Combat and the feeling of just hitting things alone is intense and awesome. Aesthetic as fuck. Theme is sweet. Challenging. Keep doing what you're doing - I'm pumped as hell for the full release. Cheers!
Yup, in the current version you can! Whenever you reach a checkpoint room or rest at a checkpoint the game will save, and you can continue the save from the main menu when you boot the game up again.
Hi H0p3, I'm glad you like the game! The full game probably will be a paid game, but if you need some help getting it because of your financial situation don't be afraid to reach out to me!
Questions what does the percent thing in the top right hand corner mean and i saw a purple familiar in one of the gifs is that one accessible or not i love this game btw i got the character to level 30 to see what would happen cant wait till june
Wow thank you Cakeapple! That familiar will show up later in the full game, and the percentage will also play into events later on! Thank you so much for playing ~
Woah, that's amazing Sydery! Unfortunately our demo was not designed to handle that level of dedication, so you can't defeat the Messiah even if you could get it down to 0 health, sorry! That's why you'll have to wait for the full game ;)
Otherwise, the first boss (Harbinger) in the tutorial level is totally beatable! The story will advance the same but you'll get some nice experience points to play with.
great game but please remove the heavy zooms during combat or give an option to turn them off. They were disorienting and made me feel sick and i couldnt continue playing
Hi there, your feedback is heard! The game is being patched to reduce the amount of zoom and we'll work to give you some more options in a future release. Thanks for playing!
When i first saw the game, i thought that it would be something like the binding of Isaac , the whole finish the stage move on to the next one , pick up items and so on, i was surprised to say the least. The game is amazing , although i was never good at these type of games , i had much fun and joy with this one! The controls are fluid and responsive , the art style is unique and beautiful and the combat varies with different skills and mantras. All in all , the game is amazing, the story though is a bit confusing , maybe i should finish the game first for that and stop focusing on the combat that much, i am also not great with gluing together pieces to understand it, so that's just me i guess... :p I hope the game continuous to grow and get more updates as time goes, i really believe in you and what you have done so far with the game, i hope the best for you and that one day the game will be a top seller!
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((Potential minor spoiler warning for this review))
The last two games that turned me into a emotional sobbing wreck by the end of them were Nier: Automata and Lucah: Born of a Dream.
This is more than just a coincidental pairing - these two games are very similar in many obvious ways. Colin, Lucah’s main developer, writer, and animator, even goes as far as to half-jokingly call it a “Nier-like” in a recent Twitter thread. Despite the mechanical similarities and the fact that they’re both highly emotional, character-driven hack-n-slash games, Lucah's intimacy is what sets it apart and what has left an arguably deeper and stronger impact on me.
It feels very difficult to talk about this game without relating it heavily to myself. There's a lot going on in this game thematically that reflects struggles I've gone through in my life - mental illness, figuring out ones own identity, the fragility of romantic connection, and growing up gay in a religious environment where being gay wasn't allowed. Lucah skips over giving empty promises and vague, sugarcoated hope; these things are difficult as hell, and they aren't easy to overcome.
And yet, you overcome them. Enemies and battles are challenging, and at first, can feel overwhelming, but soon can easily be conquered thanks to the game's welcome reliance on telegraphing attacks and its lovely dodge/parry system. The visuals can feel oppressive, threatening, even nonsensical, but reveal their beauty within the messy lines. Dialogue and lore is emotionally difficult to get through, dealing with trauma and death and pure horror, but catharsis is just around the corner. It'll hurt, but it'll heal in due time.
At the beginning of the game, Colin directly addresses the player, and asks for their trust. Things will be difficult, you'll lose people along the way, and it might hurt - but have faith that it'll end up okay in the end. It seems like a strange request coming from a video game, but this trust is essential to braving the whirlwind ahead. I'm so unbelievably happy that I gave Lucah my trust, and I'm forever grateful that I'll get to carry this experience with me for as long as I need it.
P.S. My friend Bluffy was the one who got me into this game, and I don't have the words to express my thanks. So shoutout I guess ❤️✨
Already thanked you on Twitter but this is beautiful, thank you so much!!
this is a really fun game with cool art and a neat story so you should play it!!!
With Lucah you get a fantastic art style, perfectly paired soundtrack, a ridiculously deep combat system and an intriguing story. So, really, it is 100% worth your purchase. The combat does get hard, but thankfully there are modifiers you can engage whenever to ease you through the more challenging fights.
If you're on the fence, you won't regret it.
Very nice game. Fun, spooky, rewarding. We gonna get an OST?
Yeah! The OST can be streamed and purchased here: https://nicolotelescaost.bandcamp.com/releases
Nice!
I enjoyed playing Lucah! :-D For my video I checked out the demo. I really like the art style in this game. Paired with the music, it makes for an unsettling experience.
This game is phenomenal. It surpassed every expectation I had for it as well as the ones I developed as I played it more, and I'm still far from done with it! If you like action games with a sense of flair, if you like surrealist horror, if you like anything made by Platinumgames or From Software, do yourself a favor and give LUCAH a try.
Got the good ending but still don't understand what's going on :D. Good job there though!
And I still get one Mantra and Virtue missing( Seriously, what else Mantras do I ever need after I have got Aether?) .Don't feel like playing it again after four times for reaching an ending.
Love the sketchy surreal-like look :)
looks cool might have to give this a try
Any possibilities to put it on steam?
We actually already are! https://store.steampowered.com/app/896460/Lucah_Born_of_a_Dream/
heck yeah
heck yeah!
when i first came across LUCAH, i was hesitant to try it out; its unique art style and camera movement as depicted in gifs wasn't like anything i'd tried before, and i wasn't sure my low-end laptop could even handle it. though i was unsure back then, i downloaded its demo.
it's one of the best decisions i think i've ever made.
now with more than 40 hours logged into the full game (which plays smooth as butter, even on the calculator i'm playing on!), i can tell you with certainty that LUCAH: Born of a Dream is all that it promises and more. it has an intense attention to detail--and delivers on it without letting up at any point.
mechanically, aesthetically, story-wise, music-wise? LUCAH works effectively on all fronts to immerse you in its nightmarish world from the get-go--and keep you trapped in it. in a good way! not that you'd ever want to leave...
the "hyperviolence mixtape", for all its tracks, provides an incredible experience. its tone stays consistent, yet its events and new mechanics surprised me at every turn. NG+ is a whole different beast, for example; it plays by its own set of rules, a natural progression from NG's training wheels.
there's a lot more i'd love to praise, specific things, but i can't do that without spoiling a bit of the experience. so go on. discover it for yourself! ...and discover yourself through this, while you're at it.
to really understand and enjoy everything LUCAH offers, i think you'd have to play through all its endings (much less daunting than it sounds, i assure you). you'd have to pay close attention to what's unfolding. you'd have to give the game the trust it asks for, even when it gets scary.
especially when it gets scary.
i love LUCAH, and Lucah, dearly. i don't think i've warmed up to any other video game this quickly and intensely before. give it a try; don't be afraid of falling in love with it, too.
This is so beautiful, thank you bluffy!!
I'm so glad that I stumbled upon your twitter, because LUCAH is such an awesome, beautiful, challenging game. Not only that, but it's quite a mystery to me. I don't understand the whole story, I don't even understand all the mechanics, and it's great to feel like I'm learning something new while I play again.
You're doing great! I can't wait to watch this long play reach the end!!
Hey melessthanthree you guys did a great job on this tell Collin i said hi
I meant on the full game i funded it so i could play early
Thank you so much Andrew!! I'm so glad you like the game =)
- colin
Hey, just played the demo yesterday. I'm really excited for the full release on the 21st. I'm just curious what the rough playtime of the full game will be? I was also wondering what the price will be.
Thank you Timothy!! The game will be about 5-8 hours (depending on your skill level) and will launch for $20, with a slight discount for the first week it's out.
I stumbled across this game in Twitter, and knew I had to try it! The art alone had it's hooks in me before I had even started playing.
I totally appreciate the controller support; this game is tough, and I need every advantage I can get. I have only played about 20min so far, but I'm looking forward to doing more and learning more of the dark and haunting story. It's quite the opposite of my usual fare, like Stardew Valley and Kerbal Space program!
THIS IS SUCH A GOOD GOSH DANG GAME IT FILLS A NICHE IN MY SOUL AAAAAAA
i'm aware this is a more serious and personal game, the themes and events are disturbing and that raw excitement may have not been the intented reaction BUT HOLY SMOKES THIS GAME IS SO GOOD IM HYPE AS HELL AAAAAAAAAAAA
ah yaaay no that's ok!! Folks getting excited about the game means I'm doing something right and inspires me to work even harder on getting the full game out there! Thank you so much ^_^
Fun game. Looks great and plays well. We got some good footage out of this one!
thanks so much for playing and sharing!!
Are there still going to be updates?
hi benzene! The team and I are hard at work completing the full game for release later this year, but there should be a couple updates to the demo before that! I'll be sure to put up a full update write-up whenever I do that =)
Dang this is gorgeous. Really like what you've done on it so far.
Thank you very much!
Hey guys, having compatibility issues with v0.6.0 when downloading through itch.io. I hit "New Game" on the Title screen and the game fades to black with nothing additional. The game worked fine back in v0.3.3 but now the game refuses to work. Any fix? Specs below:
CPU: i5-6600k @ 4ghz
GPU: Zotac 1060
Ram: 16gb @ 2133mhz
Storage: 1x250gb HDD, 1x5tb HDD (where the game is installed)
Hi DarkShibara, thanks for the report. Is this through the itch client or from a download from the website? Thanks!
EDIT: If you could, would you be able to post a screenshot of the game at the point where it gets stuck? If you press the E key (or the A button if you're using a controller), does anything happen? Let me know.
Hi DarkShibara,
I just pushed an update that should fix this issue. Let me know if you get a chance to redownload it and try it out.
Thanks!
Itch.io didn't send an email stating that you replied so I didn't see this until now. Just redownloaded and it works just fine now thanks.
For the previous message, v0.6.0 would freeze after hitting "New Game" with the 'v0.6.0' text in the bottom left corner. Since I don't have it installed anymore, I can't obtain a screenshot of it nor attempt to press E or A to see if it would fix (from what I recall tho, it didn't work with either control setting). Thanks for the quick response and fix! Appreciate the dedication.
I would like to know on how the development is going for the game so far if you don't mind.
Hi Cakeaple! Development on L U C A H is still rolling along, just been a bit quiet because I'm getting all the busywork ready for release later this year! Hoping to get a big kickstarter update written and published sometime soon, so I'll be sure to link it here when that's out. Thanks!
I just want to ask how far are you into finishing this game and i want to know if it will be paid or free if its free thank you because im 13 and i dont make any money sadly :(
Hi Cakeaple! As of right now I'm more than halfway through the game's main story, so at this rate the game should be out around June of 2018. The full game won't be free, but if your situation doesn't change, send me a message and I'll see what I can do about getting you a copy!
um.. hi i was wondering the same thing cuz im also 13 and in fact im cakeaples friend from school and he showed me this game and of course i have no money as well
hi swaglord! For sure, check back and once the game's closer to release send me another message and I'll see what we can do! Be sure to try the free demo if you haven't and tell your friends about it if you like it!
Hey there! My name is King Zaerdric! And I absolutely love this game. I can't say i followed too too well what was going on, and i was alittle skeptical at first. But! After playing the full demo, I am hooked and in love with this game, the leveling systems, the level design, the colors are damn beautiful and the playing is super fluid. What I am trying to say is I can not wait for this games full release. But, anyway, here are all the videos I put up of lucah over on my channel. Thank you!
ahhh thank you so much King Zaerdric! I loved watching these
Ooo man.
The art and the atmosphere of the game is really amazing, the combat system is great, and I'm super hyped for the full release.
Really great from what I've played so far, and keep up the great work!
thank you so much!!
Played the game at the Boston FIG convention.
Combat and the feeling of just hitting things alone is intense and awesome. Aesthetic as fuck. Theme is sweet. Challenging. Keep doing what you're doing - I'm pumped as hell for the full release. Cheers!
Thank you Heathbar; I can't wait to finish the game for you all!!
All I can say is well done for creating such an amazing game, the art style is great and I now can't wait for 2018 :D
I can't wait either; thank you!!
Quite epic! Looking forward to 2018 :)
Thank you! I'm excited to release it for you all.
This game looks absolutely gorgeous!
Thank you so much =) I put a lot of work into making this game look exactly how I imagine...
Really neat stuff, great visual style. Nice work!
Thank you very much Mister!
I was just curious, but is there a way to save the game? Does it auto save, or is there some sort of hidden feature I can't find?
Yup, in the current version you can! Whenever you reach a checkpoint room or rest at a checkpoint the game will save, and you can continue the save from the main menu when you boot the game up again.
Neat!
loved the game i hope the full one is free!
Hi H0p3, I'm glad you like the game! The full game probably will be a paid game, but if you need some help getting it because of your financial situation don't be afraid to reach out to me!
Questions what does the percent thing in the top right hand corner mean and i saw a purple familiar in one of the gifs is that one accessible or not i love this game btw i got the character to level 30 to see what would happen cant wait till june
Wow thank you Cakeapple! That familiar will show up later in the full game, and the percentage will also play into events later on! Thank you so much for playing ~
I'm tempted to let it hit 100%. It would be interesting if the percentage didn't just affect story, but the gameplay too.
well if you do tell me what happens
i would much appreciate it
Ok thank you so much for making the game
This is an amazing game keep up the good work!
Thank you QueenCancer!
I love the game!!!! the combat system is so good, hacknslash,dodge,counter and stuffs!
Anyway is the Messiah defeatable? I have trained Lucah to lv122 but still can't defeat it (can't avoid the OHKO)
And if i defeat the first boss (sword of mother) what will happen?
Woah, that's amazing Sydery! Unfortunately our demo was not designed to handle that level of dedication, so you can't defeat the Messiah even if you could get it down to 0 health, sorry! That's why you'll have to wait for the full game ;)
Otherwise, the first boss (Harbinger) in the tutorial level is totally beatable! The story will advance the same but you'll get some nice experience points to play with.
Hope that helps!
Our first look at LUCAH http://earlyaccessgaming.net/l...
This is a great feature, everyone be sure to read it, and thank you Early Access Gaming!
great game but please remove the heavy zooms during combat or give an option to turn them off. They were disorienting and made me feel sick and i couldnt continue playing
Hi there, your feedback is heard! The game is being patched to reduce the amount of zoom and we'll work to give you some more options in a future release. Thanks for playing!
When i first saw the game, i thought that it would be something like the binding of Isaac , the whole finish the stage move on to the next one , pick up items and so on, i was surprised to say the least. The game is amazing , although i was never good at these type of games , i had much fun and joy with this one! The controls are fluid and responsive , the art style is unique and beautiful and the combat varies with different skills and mantras. All in all , the game is amazing, the story though is a bit confusing , maybe i should finish the game first for that and stop focusing on the combat that much, i am also not great with gluing together pieces to understand it, so that's just me i guess... :p I hope the game continuous to grow and get more updates as time goes, i really believe in you and what you have done so far with the game, i hope the best for you and that one day the game will be a top seller!