Beautiful, captivating, albeit short-lived | Full Review - Lucid Lenses

Lucid Lenses is a narratively-driven romantic adventure game featuring mesmerizing puzzles and clever interactions, bolstered by a nice soft vibrant painting-like artwork.

🟩Pros

+fun puzzling mechanics

+plot is simple yet imaginative

+beautiful artwork and soundtrack

🟥Cons

-Out of place mini-games from other genres

Lucid Lenses’ story is deep rooted in astronomy and the study of the cosmos. It features two star-crossed lives turned lovers living seemingly normal lives in somewhat unique circumstances; the man, Reymond, seems to be a smart astrophysicist locked in prison, and the woman, Emily, a university student studying astronomy, is accompanied by her blue bird that she can communicate with.

At first, aside from their shared interest in the stars, their lives couldn’t be more opposite. One is a prisoner, and one is an aspiring astronomer still studying. However, this contrast is the intrigue of the story which I won’t spoil any further

The gameplay I encountered is composed of point-and-click mechanics and puzzle elements that most of the time, incorporates themes of astrophysics; from the matching star constellations and mapping out planetary orbits, to the rhythm game element with a starry night backdrop.

It also features more mundane tasks like turning off alarm clocks or opening a letter to emphasize the slice of life storytelling format. And it works, accompanied by a moving melodramatic soundtrack, the narrative is relatable, immersive, and captivating.

As an astrophysics enthusiast myself, I appreciated how they integrated the concept into the gameplay, especially in how the planetary orbits are plotted and the matching simple puzzle implementation, they really turned something as complex as orbital mechanics into something artistic and simple.

It also features other familiar mini-games throughout the entire experience; flappy bird (yes), stacking, whack-a-moles, rhythm games, and dress-ups. It’s a very interactive story, but how it randomly mashes up elements from other games, it kind of feels out of place sometimes, and not everyone is going to welcome it.

Lucid Lenses’ plot is simple yet imaginative and unfolds beautifully throughout the five chapters. The alternating scenarios for the two characters and the narrative format is just amazingly delivered. It is very short, but very exciting because of the unpredictability of the story with regards to its chronological order and narrative turns.

The interactable gameplay and storytelling elements go well together and are nicely balanced, and it never really felt like a chore to play through. The puzzles are mildly challenging and the narrative is told in small chunks at a time.

At the outset, Lucid Lenses is a short but beautiful experience for a very affordable price. If you like astronomy, romance, or classic adventure games, I highly recommend trying it out.

While it is tagged as an early access release, the game is still fully playable from start to finish and it could not see any glaring issues with it as far as game-breaking bugs go. It could have been longer, as I just finished it in one sitting, but I can’t really ask much for how cheap it is.

Lucid Lenses is a very short but very meaningful game that is sure to captivate players with its beautiful narrative and presentation. For just $4, you think of it as buying access to a great interactive short story. If you like astronomy, romance, and classic adventure games, then this game is an even better buy.