REVIEW : Lydia (PS5)
Guns and swords aren’t in every video game. Lydia, a game about child abuse, neglect, and substance misuse portrayed in a gloomy storybook environment, is one of those games that makes a statement about real life. Lydia provides a unique and frequently terrifying experience, but the game’s subject matter may be too dark for some players.
Lydia is a point-and-click adventure set in the home of the titular young girl. The game begins in a dark setting that wouldn’t seem out of place in a Tim Burton film.
As the player enters Lydia’s bedroom cupboard to experience a bleak fantasy land populated with monsters that symbolise horrible occurrences in her actual life, it becomes clear that something isn’t quite right in her world. The player watches events later in Lydia’s life as her indifferent friends and parents shape her personality as the storey progresses.
Lydia’s (minimal) gameplay loop is influenced by games like Yume Nikki and the original Lisa, as the tiny girl wandering through a scary world is a popular indie trope.
Lydia is more of an interactive storey than a puzzle. The game’s closest thing to a problem is a single branching dialogue exchange in which the player is supposed to select the proper responses with no punishment for incorrect replies. The game’s goal is to experience the storey in its entirety, which will take approximately forty to fifty minutes to complete.
Lydia is a great visual and audio design game that successfully creates a stressful mood in a cartoon universe. The music is frequently frightening, and the strange simlish-style noises utilised for the characters all wonderfully convey their personalities to the player without the usage of actual words. Lydia uses composition and size effectively to make the player feel as small as Lydia does in the dark world in which she lives.
Lydia belongs in the same genre of story-driven games with limited gameplay, such as Sea of Solitude, a similar title that deals with depression in a fantasy setting. Lydia provides a compelling, albeit brief, experience that may be too grim for certain gamers. The game is a profoundly personal account of growing up under difficult circumstances. The developers have stated she is based on real experiences, rather than a storey with simple answers or a happily ever after.
REVIEW : BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE (XBOX Series X)
