I’ll be perfectly honest with you: I haven’t finished Lorelei and the Laser Eyes yet.
Normally, I’d make it a point to beat a game before reviewing it, but that isn’t the case for the latest title from Simogo, the developer of Sayonara Wild Hearts. But that’s not because I dislike the game — far from it. In fact, that’s really just a testament to how impeccably well-designed it is.
It’s also incredibly challenging, both to play and write about. So much of the experience is an enigma, as next to nothing is outlined for you, the player, especially from a story perspective. All you know going in is you’re a snappily dressed woman named Lorelei in 1963 who must investigate a mysterious Italian hotel. From there, things get decidedly more supernatural and mind-bending in a David Lynch-esque fashion.
To say much more would reveal many of the fascinating surprises that are in store for you, but suffice it to say that Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is an absolutely gripping experience. Right away, I was utterly absorbed by the visuals, which mix minimalist black-and-white textures with striking pink and red hues on certain objects to create an unsettling aesthetic.
On top of being gorgeous, the hotel itself proves to be one of the most thoughtfully interconnected settings I’ve seen in a game, like Resident Evil‘s Spencer Mansion on steroids. With so many passageways, hidden rooms and shortcuts placed throughout, you’ll find yourself constantly going back and forth as you learn more.
But unlike Resident Evil, there is no combat in Lorelei, with the challenge instead coming from the puzzles. That’s the main reason I haven’t yet beaten the game in the time I’ve had with it — the puzzles are incredibly tricky. Unlike many games nowadays that either have simplistic puzzles or even have NPC companions spell out the solutions for you, Simogo respects your intelligence and offers little in the way of guidance.
Instead, the game encourages you from the start to have a pen and paper handy to make notes as you go along, and it’s basically a necessity. One letter from an enigmatic artist in one room may yield information that helps you unlock a door in the garden. A padlock with curious little doodles on one floor might require parsing through a document that has “solve for x” style equations that correspond to each stick figure.
No two solutions are the same, either, with Lorelei incorporating an eclectic assortment of puzzles featuring everything from Roman numerals and Zodiac signs to logic riddles and memory tests. While that might sound daunting, the game is expertly designed to ensure that you always have just enough information to solve each puzzle. Whenever I found myself stumped (and that was quite often), I always knew it was my own cluelessness rather than a fault of the actual game design. (I’m generally not the best at puzzle games.) Even more impressive is the fact that the structure of the hotel is non-linear, so you can always move on to a different puzzle in another area if you feel stuck on a particular one. You also don’t need to solve every puzzle to reach the ending, with some just adding some extra juicy bits of world-building instead.
Still, many of them can be head-scratchers, to be sure, and that’s mainly why I’m slowly working through Lorelei. Like any good puzzle game, sometimes stepping away and coming back later can clear the brain fog. All told, I appreciate this bite-sized approach to playing Lorelei, as I could (try to) clear a few puzzles each night and still feel like I’m making progress toward solving the mystery. This also let me better appreciate the rich sense of atmosphere, which can go from mysterious in one moment to psychological thriller and even supernatural horror in the next. Like any good mystery, Lorelei is best when you slowly pick at it and let its many complex ideas stew in your head.
That’s as much as I can say without spoiling the sense of reward in uncovering its many secrets, so I’ll wrap this up by saying it’s a must-play for fans of both puzzle games and arthouse films. Other than a sometimes frustrating “press any button to interact” control scheme that had me begging for a dedicated “back” button for menus, I’ve been enamoured with my time with Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and I’m eager to press on.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes will launch on Nintendo Switch and PC (Steam) on May 16th.
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