Lucifer Within Us (Review)

By Rae

Tis the season for spooky, creepy adventures into the dark places of the world and – lucky for us – Kitfox is here this spooktober with Lucifer Within Us – an investigative adventure into the sins of mankind.

Lucifer Within Us starts the player right off in the middle of things. In the church of Ain Soph, there has been a murder. At the core of the mystery are two prideful brothers – Rueben and Gideon. Each insists they know nothing about what happened, but who’s lying? This mystery – presented as your tutorial case – snowballs into a day of tragedy.

The player is in control of Sister Ada – a devout disciple of Ain Soph and skilled exorcist. The mechanics can seem a touch overwhelming at the very start, but once you adjust they’re clear enough. As you question suspects, they’ll give you testimony. Does everything they said make sense? Is there physical evidence or other testimony that contradicts them? You’ll need to examine the crime scenes, question everyone involved, and dig as deep as you can to uncover the sins of the faithful. The story isn’t riddled with action or quicktime events. It’s up to you to discover as much evidence as you can and pull apart testimonies. When you have enough, you can accuse your chosen suspect with their opportunities, means, and motive. If you’re right, you’ll have the opportunity to exorcise the daemon within them.

I do feel the need to mention that, clocking in at about 3 hours, with 3 cases to solve (one of which is the tutorial), Lucifer Within Us is a bit on the short side. It also doesn’t have a lot of replay value once you know the answers to each case.

However, I enjoyed every minute of this strange, creepy story so much that I would definitely say it’s worth it. Each mystery in Lucifer Within Us is interesting and not quite what you’d expect at the start. The graveyard case in particular was absolutely fascinating. Because there’s very little hand-holding, the game can be difficult at times if you miss a contradiction or don’t know what to present, but everything is laid out so well that I was thrilled each time I uncovered a lie or found a new piece of evidence to present.

With on-point voice acting and a clean, fresh art style, the story portions of the game were just as enjoyable as your investigation time. The only thing I really regretted at the end was its length, and it’s hard to fault a game I loved for the fact that I just wanted more. I really hope we get to see a continuation someday, because I would love to see more of this story and learn more about this futuristic world and the evils within it.

Overall, the two big detractors from this title would be length and replayability. If those are things that really mean a lot to you in your game purchases, you may want to hold off. But if you’re looking for a good few hours of mysterious story and engaging puzzle-solving, I think Lucifer Within Us is a great choice.