Lunar Axe [Review]
Ops Game Studio’s adventure inspired by Brazilian folklore is beautifully drawn but clunky to play with a controller.
QUByte Interactive has brought Lunar Axe, previously only available on PC, to all major consoles. I played the game on my PlayStation 5 and was hooked start to finish.
In Lunar Axe, you’ll find yourself trapped in an abandoned house after an earthquake causes the neighboring building to collapse. As you try to escape, a spirit that haunts the house reveals the true nature of the tremors and sets you on a task to retrieve a mystical artifact, split into three pieces hidden around town. You’ll use it to set things right and prevent the destruction of São Luís.
The game is a point-and-click adventure played from a first person perspective. It’s made up entirely of hand-drawn still images with some light animation, so you’ll be clicking around the environment to navigate from one scene to the next.
You must search for objects that you’ll need to solve puzzles that open the way forward, which you’ll use on the environment and sometimes combine. Clues are often hidden in the backgrounds or in documents you find that also illuminate the backstory. Some puzzles are minigames, for example lockpicking or a sliding tile puzzle; a couple of these are my favorite bits of the game. There are also three or four easy hidden object scenes that felt like busywork, just tacked on and unnecessary.
None of the puzzles are too challenging. The only times I found myself stuck it was because I couldn’t find an item or failed to notice a path I could take. There’s a hint system that will highlight things in the environment, but it’s locked behind a timer and didn’t help me in these cases. I finished the game in around three hours. If you’re more observant than me, you could finish it more quickly.
The game’s controls are a bit clunky, as the developers decided to adapt the game for controllers by mapping a thumbstick to mouse movement. The sensitivity slider in settings doesn’t actually change the sensitivity much; it never allowed me to move the pointer as quickly as I’d like and even on lower sensitivities the game doesn’t handle subtle pointer movement well. It would have been nice to have the ability to toggle between objects you’d already found in scenes with a button or have inventory items move between them.
Lunar Axe is a low-stakes adventure that you could finish in an afternoon. If you enjoy point-and-clicks and are looking for a short experience, it’s suitably priced so definitely check it out. It doesn’t hurt that it’s pretty to look at. Based on my experience playing it with a controller, i’d recommend picking the game up
Lunar Axe is available now for PC (Steam), Xbox One / Series X|S, PlayStation 4 / 5, and Nintendo Switch.
Overall Score: 7/10
Played on: PS5
