Jump and climb through huge structures in the creepy and atmospheric Lorn's Lure

Lorn's Lure is a thoroughly odd game. It's all about jumping and climbing your way through these huge structures, with a creepy and lonely atmosphere it's certainly a unique experience not found elsewhere. Note: Key provided by the developer.

I've followed this with great interest since the first early preview versions, intrigued by the idea of the game. With an intro that instantly makes you sit back and just take it all in, you know you're in for something different. Lost and alone for 100s of years, you assume the role of an Android trying to find their way out of this…place.

You've by now seen all the complaints across social media about yellow paint, and various other forms of in-your-face sign-posting in games to show you the exact places to climb right? Well, Lorn's Lure strips all that away and basically says "good luck finding your way". A challenge, since it's pretty easy to get a bit turned around, but the exploration and wonder you get from it is quite something. That said, there's a few hints like a waypoint marker you can toggle but it's not forced on you.

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Also, you're not entirely alone. The intro gives you a first glimpse at some kind of owl, that looks like a visual glitch that entices you to go deeper into the world. The mystery surrounding the world and what happened to everyone was really causing an itch in my brain that needed to be scratched, I had to find out more and go deeper. The atmospheric sounds are wonderfully done too, and really demand you turn the volume up and put on some good headphones to fully take in the feeling of it, and once I realised that it truly lured me in.

You get a lot of hints as to what happened, most of it through environmental story-telling, which is how it rewards the exploration and not always just blindly jumping around to keep progressing. A game that will truly leave a lot of burning questions in your mind. You will find some lore too, but not a whole lot.

Speedrunners will probably like what it provides as much as those who like to explore and take their time, and I would genuinely love to see some attempt it in this one because the control system along with various in-game challenges make it worth watching as much as playing.

No parkour here though, this is not a run and jump sort of game. With the help of your tools, you can climb practically every vertical wall. It's very much your choice on how you approach the game, although some parts are more enclosed and linear than others, it does a good job at spacing it all out throughout the game. It is a tough one, but the game mechanics are simple enough to get to grips with.

While it's a thorough challenge, it's not in any way punishing. The restart system from your last jump off a ledge makes experimenting with your positioning and choices on how you tackle all the platforming and climbing a fun thing. That doesn't in any way make it easy though. You're still going to fall to your doom countless times.

Really interesting. Check it out.

Available with Native Linux support on Steam.