Buy it. I’m telling you straight away, without ifs or buts (and without even a scrap of introduction).
I’d like to conclude this review right here, but then my boss would hit me with a verbal punchline, yelling “Are you stupid?!”. Yes, I’ve become stupid over “Lacuna”.
Released at the end of May 2021, Lacuna was undoubtedly one of the positive highlights of this miserable year spent in quarantine. I must preface this by saying I’m slightly biased: I always say that games have now become mostly about graphics and little content, and it often happens that I review some “triple A” titles with scepticism, and perhaps even more critically than indie games that may not excel in graphics but have other strengths. The problem is that today, publishers no longer focus so much on a title’s memorability, but rather on visual content. Another thing that gives me a lot to think about is how almost every game is half a copy of another, allowing each release to be clearly categorised into a specific genre of games “meta”.
...And then there’s DigiTales Interactive, which reignites my hope in video game humanity and develops “Lacuna”, a pixel-perfect 2D platformer worthy of being tucked into the “hall of fame” of indie games.
Gap is that word so frequently used by teachers during parent-teacher meetings ("Mrs. , your child has evident gaps in mathematics") and the friends of DigiTales Interactive must have internalised it well, since they were able to produce a game based on tests. But let’s clarify: you’ll play as an investigator for a kind of planetary FBI in a distant world, set in an even more distant future. Without all the fluff, you’ll be catapulted into a cyberpunk reality, where a delicate political situation is destabilised by events I have no intention of spoiling for you.
But you’re so deep into the case that the disgusted Milanese can only envy you. Every event will bring you closer to solving the case, but beware! You’ll need to thoroughly investigate all the crime scenes, speak with people on-site, and send the data to your preferred analyst (Mr. Saito, who’s got the perfect bald head for an analyst, if you think about it). Once you’ve gathered all the information, you’ll have the opportunity to send a “sheet” to the central headquarters of the planetary investigative police, where you’ll draw your conclusions through multiple-choice questions. What you communicate will have serious consequences—not only for the story’s ending, but also for the gameplay!
Not enough to make this a problem, one might think, "eh, well, if I don’t like how it turned out or if I got it wrong, I can just reload the last save" — and that’s precisely where things go wrong.
Saves are only automatic. You can’t go back — you must live with the consequences of your actions and investigations. Moreover, the amount of grey matter required to assemble a correct conclusion isn’t even negligible. You’ll be aided by your phone’s interface, which can record every clue, conversation, etc. Also pay attention to the “news” items, which contain a fair amount of lore from the game — some of which place certain situations in a broader context, allowing you to frame certain events in an investigative light.
We’re serious: who has ever read all the nonsense written in the various texts of lore that are completely marginal to the various games? The gap, however, forces you to take this step and enjoy a fantastic setting and a well-developed story, even starting from the texts.
Lacuna is truly one of the few original titles I hope they make a sequel (or another similar game). Don't miss it!
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