Noblessetober Day 27

Lunark congratulating her baby brother for evolving.

I don't think I mentioned the music in Lunark.

And that's probably because it didn't stand out to me much at first. But -- I realized this later -- that's because it did such a good job of being so very background listenable.

It's not the sort of music where you go "whoa this song is so catchy," but it's music that really works and has just the right energy for each area. It sets the scene without being distracting, or feeling too repetitive when you have to try a section a few times before beating it. It does exactly what video game music should do: complementing the story and gameplay, without overshadowing it.

After finishing the game, I put the soundtrack on as background music while I'm working -- and I've been listening to it loads and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. It's got enough energy to keep me awake and focused, but not so much as to distract me.

(Oh, and the music in the level where you're riding the metro somehow just sounds exactly like what riding a metro feels like. Exactly.)

I just finished Lunark and it was a pretty great game!

This game was chock full of Flashback references; in fact it was essentially an homage to Flashback. And considering that it was made 31 years later, I think that's perfectly fine. It also had at least one clear reference to Another World that was so obvious it made me laugh, but in a good kind of way. Lunark doesn't feel like it's ripping off its predecessors, but honoring them.

However, it still stands as a solid game on its own. I actually enjoyed the gameplay element more than Flashback, due to having a more modern approach to health and save points, and the combat being not quite so difficult (though still challenging). And it had a pretty good amount of variety among the quests and levels, too.

I also enjoyed the story, which was pretty well fleshed out and had a lot of dialogue, including a good deal of humor. It's a game that doesn't take itself super seriously, but is a lot of fun and has a variety of wacky side characters. In fact, it was probably the least lonely of a cinematic platformer world that I've encountered so far.

In the main gameplay, the pixel art has large pixels with fewer details, and it didn't impress me as much as Full Void's, but there were some very lovely backdrops and space sunset skies. I also enjoyed the more detailed pixel art in the short rotoscoped cutscenes that were very Flashback-esque.