Lunarium is the kind of game that appears out of nowhere and leaves a lasting impression on the player. It is an isometric soulslite that is dressed in some of the most striking hand-painted visuals released this year. The game is complemented by a story that is pleasant, comforting, and intriguing at the same time. It does not reinvent the genre but delves into the aspects that make the genre good in the first place. Lunarium is a warm, atmospheric, and easy-to-fall-into game, even if a thin combat toolkit and a handful of rough edges keep it from reaching the very top tier.
A World You Can Get Lost In
Lunarium’s biggest strength is its magnificent art direction and its sheer sense of place. The visuals and soundtracks are phenomenal, and work together to build a world that feels serene, melancholic, and beautiful, all at the same time. The vibes are fantastic whether you are relaxing in a calm and peaceful village or moving through a ruined castle to discover chaotic anomalies. Throughout the entire gameplay experience, the atmosphere and soundtrack do a lot of heavy lifting.
The same care also goes to the story of the game and dialogues between characters. Lunarium tells a simple, coming-of-age story that does not complicate itself for the sake of the fantasy aspect. However, the story is told with enough warmth and charm that it stays captivating and does not feel boring despite being on the generic side. Lunarium does not tell the most ambitious narrative, but it delivers it beautifully and never overstays its welcome while doing so.
Learning At Your Own Pace
Lunarium does a wonderful job of showing new abilities and skills to the players instead of overwhelming them from the start. The game shows mastery in design and paces out its abilities, skills, and cloak-based progression carefully. It allows players to learn and get familiar with one idea first before learning the next. While it does not seem like much, but it does make the early hours feel much more approachable and leaves excitement for what will come next. It also allows players to handle the more difficult bosses much more effectively.
The combat of Lunarium is focused on parrying. It is not exactly like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and is more familiar to the Lies of P combat system. If you do not parry an attack perfectly, you will still lose some health. Therefore, the game heavily incentivizes getting familiar with the bosses you fight against and paying attention to their moves. Boss fights also stand out as the game’s highlights. While some bosses might be infuriating or overly simple, some bosses are a delight to fight against.
A Toolkit That Could Use More Tools
While the combat of Lunarium is satisfying and requires skill to master, it does leave a bit to be desired. Players are just given one weapon for the entire adventure, with them finding different ores in order to upgrade the damage of the sword. There is only a simple parry and no other creative ways to parry or counter damage. Players are not given elemental effects (except for the one provided by Lune) throughout the game. Encounters start to feel repetitive due to the lack of combos and move options to rely on.
The game does offer a skill tree that opens up as you gradually progress through Lunarium. It is the main source of unlocking new abilities and getting combos. However, players can use only one combo at a time, which results in a lack of combo chaining. The parry system and boss design are strong enough to carry most of the experience, but a broader combat toolkit, more weapon options, additional combo strings, or simply more ways to engage an enemy would have gone a long way toward keeping later hours as fresh as the opening ones.
Early Bumps and Final Verdict
Lunarium has had its fair share of hiccups with some minor and some game-breaking bugs. The game also has problems with its difficulty scaling, UI hiccups, and progression systems not working as intended. However, the developers are ironing out the bugs really fast. During my playthrough of Lunarium, around 4 patches were released to fix numerous bugs and issues.
Lunarium is a quietly impressive first outing, built on genuinely phenomenal atmosphere, a story that’s simple but never dull, and a combat system that thoughtfully teaches players before it tests them. It stumbles a bit with a combat toolkit that could use more depth and a few technical issues still being smoothed out, but neither is enough to sink an experience this well put together. For players who want something serene, soulslite-adjacent, and genuinely beautiful to look at, Lunarium is well worth the trip.
