When game genres merge, a chemical reaction occurs, creating a new beast to roam the lush forest of the gaming community. The beast being a creation people want to interact with is always up for debate, but these genre-blending games are at the forefront of innovation and are necessary to keep gaming from hitting dangerous plateaus. Today, we look at the choose-your-own-adventure/match three hybrid called Metropolis: Lux Obscura for the Nintendo Switch, developed by Sometimes You.
Gameplay
3/5
It's not everyday that you stumble on a choose your own adventure game with a match three combat system. Sometimes You could have easily made this a point and click or a reaction-based cinematic experience, which is typical for this genre and well-received when done correctly. Not only did they break the mode with Lux Obscura, but they added a leveling system and put a subtle twist on the match three style of play to which gamers grew accustomed. The battles consist of moving around blocks in a grid, trying to match three or more of the same blocks to create an effect dictated by the type of block matched. You can move blocks horizontally or vertically, and are not restricted by how far you can move a block along the grid. The only restriction is moving it up, down, left, or right. When I say the only restriction, I mean that literally. The blocks are not confined to the grid, allowing you to move your selected block as far off the screen as your heart desires. This causes confusion and annoyances, since it's easy to confuse yourself when you over shoot and lose sight of your block. I also found a couple bugs that caused a block to vanish from the plane of existence, creating a void on the grid that is impossible to fill. Both of these glitches can be fixed, which will enhance the gameplay dramatically since these issues tainted the otherwise decent battle system.
When it comes to matching the variety of blocks together, a layer of complexity covered the simple mechanics. Matching a set of blocks will either damage your opponent, damage yourself by getting the cops involved, or will increase your rage meter, powering your attacks. Trying to decide when to anger yourself, when to deal damage, and how, all while doing your best to avoid getting cops involved left me thinking through each move more than I have with other match three games. Your opponent is always on a count-down timer, which determines how many turns will pass before their next attack. The skills you acquire from leveling up offer a variety of different effects. Some will power certain blocks or reduce the amount of damage from cops or opponents, and others will offer unique advantages like turning cop blocks into rage or randomly forcing your opponent to skip their turn.
The battle system in Lux Obscura is a unique concept for this style of game and I did enjoy it for the most part. Along with the glitches I experienced, the difficulty scale forgot to take its medication, causing it to fluctuate dramatically every battle. This is caused by your character's skills and/or the quality of enemies you're facing in each encounter, but also due to the huge dependence of RNG from your different skills. I could breeze through one fight solely due to getting a lucky crit, followed by my opponent losing their turn, but then get stuck on the next encounter, trying ten times until I get lucky with another crit or favorable grid placement. If each battle became increasingly difficult, that wouldn't have been an issue, but it didn't sit well with me when I had to struggle during one fight only to speed through the next two effortlessly.
Story
3/5
I never like to discuss the story in-depth for games heavily based around it, so I will keep this part brief. You're Jon Lockhart, a newly free man that just finished serving years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Instead of letting the past stay where it belongs, he decides to use his newly found freedom to actually commit crimes this time around, with the end goal of locating the rat who framed him. Lockheart's short temper gets him into an obscene amount of confrontations, and his determination for vengeance allows him to justify any action that gets him closer to that goal. I'm not sure how a bar fight would help him with his quest. Okay, he may have a slight anger problem.
The story is hard to take seriously, but with the humorous voice acting, the grungy atmosphere, and the overall use of cliche sex, drugs, and violence, it caused me to chuckle and had me looking forward to the next cut-scene. This was mainly to quench my desire of seeing how the next confrontation would unfold so I could make fun of it, but I was mildly interested in the story progression nonetheless. The biggest issue I had was how erratic the story became at times, leaving me utterly confused as to what and why certain things took place. The game can easily be completed in one sitting, but you’re able to unlock four different endings depending on how you progress the story. Instead of conversational choices, the story alters based on where and when you decide to travel to select locations on the map. I would have enjoyed the ability to direct the loose cannon named Lockhart at times, deciding when and where his temper explodes, but it was interesting to see how much the story could alter based on where you went, causing me to play through the game more than once. With all of that, the story still was lack-luster and left me wanting more. Having more character development instead of keeping it surface deep would have sucked me into the story for the right reasons.
visuals and sound
3.5/5
The graphic style Lux Obscura adopted was spot on and a delight to gaze upon. Instead of taking the easy route of still images or retro visuals, or spending way more time than necessary crafting flashy cinematic cut-scenes, Sometimes You decided to lean on a comic-book style approach, which gave off a Sin-City/Frank Miller vibe. A style I can always appreciate. This portion of the game has caused Lux Obscura some negative attention in the media, but it has a large amount of nudity, sexual content, drugs and violence sprayed across the story in a way that will force any responsible parent to only launch this title during their personal, kid-free times. There were times when the audio wouldn't sync up with the speech bubbles and captions, and other moments made me dizzy with how quickly the pages transitioned, trying to keep up with the voice actors. On the flip side, drawn out pauses that did not add dramatic effect or comic relief also caused me discomfort. The soundtrack for Lux Obscura was a perfect fit for the story and added to the atmosphere of the game. Having only one battle track constantly looping to the point where you only turn the audio up for the cut scenes took away my excitement of this stylistic choice.
Is it worth the price tag?
Even though I appreciate what Lux Obscura was trying to achieve, I feel it missed its mark on multiple levels, causing it to become a game that can easily get lost in the E-Shop jungle. Even with these glaring issues, I still put around 6 hours into the game comfortably before I started to lose interest, so this can still be a game I could justify recommending with its $7.19 price tag if this blending of genres has you intrigued.
This has been Program with another Indie game review. Have a fantastic week and happy gaming!