Probably, the last time I’ve seen a tech demo/pitch project turned into a commercial release was in 2007 when wonderful Penumbra: Overture got released. It was an unfinished and relatively short adventure with lots of promise, and Frictional Games have gotten a chance to deliver on that promise later with their future titles. I can only hope that, Lucifer Within Us, that is also for all intents and purposes a proof of concept turned commercial game project, will be a sign of things to come. Because despite its short length and and abrupt story, it shows a lot of promise.
Lucifer Within Us is an investigation game focused on recreating scenes of the crime through testimonies, finding contradictions in statements and establishing the basics of who, how, when and why. It is far from being the first title like this, but what it does, it does pretty well. Every crime scene is very small and self contained and you don’t spend much time walking in it – you can perform one sweep, finding all physical evidence and getting all suspect testimonies, and then just stay inside the testimonies menu, rapidly jumping between character with no need to walk otherwise. And it even doesn’t punish trying out different things. In fact, the game encourages you to try and see if you can accuse everyone, as you might learn something along the way.
Problem is, “every crime scene” in reality means “all 3”. Which will take you about 2 to 3 hours to figure out. As I pointed out before, I don’t have a problem with that, because I don’t care how long the game is or if it’s even telling the full story, if what there is is good. But not everyone might be of the same opinion. So quite a few people might find the short length and the ending that opens up some fun future possibilities, but leaves you hanging, disappointing. Personally, I was far more disappointed in that the accusations had just one correct solution and that despite the wonderful concept for the UI, it was still occasionally confusing. But even that didn’t ruin my experience much.
If you’re fine with playing a game that is a promise for more game that might never come and you like a good investigation game, definitely check Lucifer Within Us. If you’re not as keen on something this short, but still feel interested in the gameplay, at least give it a go at a discount. It’s a really fun game that’s worth checking out.