A darkly devotional hymn to the unstoppable force of will and the born survivor's power. Michalski injects every scene in Lorelai with heartbreaking truth. The voice acting and soundtrack are in a class of their own. If you've lived, you'll recognize pieces of yourself in this long, final journey to the edge of the night.
The unique and beautiful art style of the previous games in the series is raised to the next level in Lorelai. Unfortunately, games fail to capture the same psychologically dark and disturbing atmosphere of the first 2 games, but it's still a great game!
Una obra maestra absoluta, aunque no a la altura de su anterior parte, The Cat Lady. Los que le dais una puntuación negativa, dejad de sed imbéciles y no puntuéis un juego sin jugarlo.
The final game in the Devil Came Through Here trilogy deftly avoids the pitfalls its predecessor tumbled into, but doesn’t quite manage to live its best life
Lorelai is the third game springing from the feather and code of R. Michalski, and also the nickname of its protagonist Laura Woods, a charming young woman whose life is a heartbreaking mixture of domestic horror and a few glimpses of hope and sweetness. Fortunately, she’s almost free of said life. Unfortunately, she is the protagonist of a horror adventure game, so things will soon take a turn for the worst.
Lorelai is the first game in the trilogy made with the Unity engine, and the increase in production values shows: The art is sharper, more detailed and richer in colour, the soundscape is crisp. I am happy to report that the engine change has not cramped the developer’s style: Many weird and unsettling sights await the player, haunting tunes immerse in terrible and unfortunate things, and the rare yet effective splashes of crimson are as startling and vibrant as ever.
The gameplay, too, hasn’t changed much: Laura follows the arrow keys on a two-dimensional plane, triggers interaction points, picks up things and rubs them against other things. There is a run button now. Again the puzzles are mainly there to propel the plot and increase player buy-in, so the solutions are well telegraphed and free of moon logic. So, as before, the story and the characters are the main selling point.
So how is the story? And what are the characters like?
I am happy to report that Lorelai, unlike Downfall, does not drown in an endless sea of misery. Don’t get me wrong, **** gets very, very dark and the horror reaches a depth of depravity not yet seen in the trilogy, but Lorelai is about dealing with the horror instead of slowly succumbing to it. It suffers a bit from diminishing returns, though, because Lorelai’s arc feels a bit too similar to Susan’s in The Cat Lady.
There is another piece of the script that does retread familiar grounds without suffering for it: Once again, Michalski has found a way to make an utterly mundane slice of life chapter a very engaging experience. This time he’s actually done it twice, and in these two chapters Lorelai reaches its peaks of excellence.
As for the characters: Laura is a warm summer rain of charm and likability after the sinister Joe Davis. She seems to innately possess an inner strength and determination, yet she does have a mean streak that keeps her from Mary Sue territory. The bit players, too, come over as grounded, realistic and engaging. The secondary antagonist is a bit flat, but at least the main villain retains an atmosphere of cosmic horror and ambiguity that make her a very engrossing presence.
Michalski and his collaborators have also once again had a very lucky hand in casting. The returning actors are as great as ever, and the newcomers all deliver wonderful performances, especially Maisy Kay as Laura and Elsie Lovelock as a spunky sidekick character.
Unfortunately, one specific character, whose art design and role in the story are very endearing, is in the final analysis little more than a macguffin and a cheap ploy to gather unearned player sympathy. It’s an manipulative and unfortunate shortcut to take for an otherwise very well written script.
Is Lorelai a good time at the controllers, then? I’d say so. Following Laura through her ordeal and out the other end is an unnerving, emotional and ultimately uplifting experience that fans of the franchise or aficionados of intelligent horror should not miss.
TLDR: Lorelai finds its way back to the strengths of The Cat Lady and even expands on them. Fans of the trilogy and those that enjoy slow burn terror tales should not sleep on this game.
It’s a little rougher around the edges than Michalski’s previous masterpiece, but if you’re looking for a coming-of-age story with an edge that laces the banalities of a troubled life with pure elements of horror, then don’t be afraid to enter Lorelai’s nightmare.
Very nice game. Like all Harvester Games, very distopic, very gritty, very dark.... Hope to see more.
Game tells the story of Lorelai, a girl with some heavy family issues that makes (or not) a deal with the devil to alter events of the past / present. Very beautiful distopic art like in other Harvester games is displayed all around. Lorelai's journey leads throughout reality and unreality, sanity and insanity.
Also you should play The Cat Lady and Fallout (Redux) which are predecessors. It's all the same universe.
Highly recommendation from me!!!
I have not played through the game yet - so that is more a "first look" than a comprehensive review.
First things first
- it has a good soundtrack with very atmospheric sound design and somber tracks
- the visuals are ... well, maybe an acquired taste? They mix 3d render and 2d backgrounds with 2d characters that are made in a "paper-cut-out" style. I must say .. i am not quite convinced of this .. at all. Characters look out of place and there is a lack of cohesion in fore and background as well as FX an cut-scenes.
The art-style itself .. that is character design is nice though .. their animations however lifeless.
The voice-acting ranges from very good to a bit cringe-worthy .. and am not not so sure the dialogue options are any more than flavour rather than actual decisions.
- Controls are abysmal! ... this is a single plane click adventure (like Zak McKraken or Maniac Mansion the originals) ... but combining inventory items and interacting with the world is .. well, not optimal. Mouse controls seem unsupported .. which is a big NO for a pc point and click adventure.
- loading times are dreadful. Even switching very small environments can take quite a long time .. and i do not think my computer is the culprit here.
However, an adventure game is mostly about its story .. and it is a mature story that is told nicely. Characters are well done as well as the "world" they live in.
So it is a beautiful story nightmare (despite being an actual technical nightmare..)
Top boring game 2019 with GreedFall and Days gone , boredom, boredom and again boredom, the story is written on the knee completely unthought, there are moments of a flash of work in a nursing home but it is not enough.