You might think you know Lumo, but you really don't.
You pick a Pokemon-like main character and attend a small game convention with arcade cabinets and old-school games. Then you're zapped into a myserious dungeon via a Tron-like digitizing zapper, where your character turns into a short wizard donning a frumpy "black mage" hat. You navigate room after room, solving simple puzzles (a door needs a key, a pipe need a wrench) and mapping your way through the many levels that Lumo has to offer. You think that might be it, but that's far from the truth.
Published by Rising Star Games and deveolped by Triple Eh? Limited, Lumo's clever world points at a lot of gamer and geek culture. Being inside of a dark dungeon, the last thing a player would expect to find is a flux capacitor or an SD card that holds secrets. You can expect to find a lot of allusions to familiar titles, such as a direct Indiana Jones reference where our mysterious wizard grabs a dropped hat just as a crushing boulder slams against a trap stone wall. Or perhaps a subtle nod to The Legend of Zelda's ghosty monster known as Poe. But that still doesn't describe what Lumo really is.
Dig a little deeper into the adventure and you'll find evil spiders that can be warded off from your wand's light. Trippy rooms place blocks under your feet as you walk into an uncertain void. An elevator escalates you to a strange WOPR-like room. These mysterious things, whatever they might hold, are hidden level by level, and there's always a strangely-placed rubber duckie to grab. What we get is a mix of familiarity--a wizard we feel like we've known for eras in a new package with little quirks and intricacies that break the "adventure game mould," without need for a manual to explain everything. It's a self-sufficient, pick-me-up-anytime adventure title that's cute. Available on Steam right now, it's well-worth the money and time.
Get to know it. There's mystery around the corners and a chuckle or two behind the myriad of rooms.
“Satisfying and cute”
This isometric dungeon puzzler is cute and carries plenty of references to geek culture we know and love. I just wish there was more of it.