Lenrual

[b]TLDR[/b] A surreal, but oddly charming exploration puzzler with unique ideas and atmosphere, light on actual puzzles and very short. [14/20⭐, 3h🏅, 2/5💡] [b]Context[/b] Lenrual is a surreal exploration-puzzle game built around interacting with strange creatures through line-drawing mechanics, loosely framed around the idea of reaching some form of “awakening” through community. Most of the time, I had little idea what I was doing — or why — but it still manages to be an interesting, if somewhat elusive, experience. [b]Writing[/b] The game takes place in a nighttime town, where you play as an undefined entity interacting with creatures going about their evening routines — though all of them seem have trouble communicating. The narrative is entirely abstract, with no written dialogue or explicit storytelling. To progress toward “awakening,” you engage with a variety of surreal figures, such as guy-preparing-cosmic-cakes, floating-hand-serving-drinks, or seaweed-singing-heads. As night passes, the game transitions into dreamlike sequences that push the surrealism even further. As you reach higher levels of awakening, you begin to discern (oddly detailed, for the context) paintin…

This game is literally therapy

This is a small, at first intentionally confusing exploration puzzle / metroidbrainia game, played from a first person perspective with no narration. You meet aliens; to say more would probably be a spoiler. Even the trailer technically has spoilers. If you like this type of game, you will probably like this one! I found it on the metroidbrainia subreddit where there was some discussion if it qualified, but I think it does (some discussion below under a spoiler tag). I took about two and a half hours to get all achievements and the credits roll (and a few additional minutes to tweak the controller setup - see below). I don't think I figured out everything, though I probably did figure out most things. It is VERY atmospheric. I loved hanging out in this place and slowly figuring out what was going on. The atmosphere was the strongest part of the game, some of it was just genuinely beautiful and touching to a degree I did not expect. Some of the earlier reviews say there is no save system, but this has since then been added (and I really do think that was a good decision). It autosaves! Don't press the save icon in the main menu, because that actually deletes your save. (I don't t…

In Lenrual they don't say "How are you?" they say: "🔼◀️🔼▶️▶️🔽" and I think that's beautiful.

Quite short, and frankly indescribable. Just as charming as it is befuddling. Lovely time.

Short, confusing, and very cool!