REVIEW: Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir, More Than a Year Later
In the down season of Triple-A games, I found myself turning to my wishlist and, finally finding time to spare, Lacuna was the first that I was dying to play.
This sci-fi noir brings an exciting new addition to the noir/detective genre, with its mechanics and gameplay as well as an intriguing story. As you follow Agent Neil Conrad, the game very much plays into the skeptical cynic that every noir protagonist is, topping it off with a smoking habit, if you so choose to make Neil continue or help him quit. An objective driven, sleep deprived detective, Neil grows with the player through the duration of the story, depending on the choices the player makes and depending on their sleuthing skills.
As for the sci-fi part, Lacuna takes place in a tense political climate between two planets, Ghara and Drovia. In a very nice break from the traditional sci-fi stories, Lacuna takes place much after Ghara has explored these planets and breaks away from the exploration side and focuses on the after civilizations have been built on other planets.
Lacuna keeps its story grounded, every choice rippling and affecting events in the future, but Neil’s commentary allows the players to keep an eye on the much bigger picture of the potential two warring planets. After major events, Neil reflects on his decisions and, true to the lovable cynic, weighs on how, despite the terrible events, it is giving him purpose and motivation. This inner turmoil, mixed with the tensions with his ex-wife and child, leads Neil to focus too heavily on his job, and he admits that.
Multiple choices and different endings keep the replayability of Lacuna high, as for myself I completed two playthroughs and am on my third, and trying to be the ‘bad cop.’ I also missed an entire level on my first two playthroughs and didn’t know until my third playthrough, so that should speak for something. From small decisions to larger, impactful decisions, Lacuna keeps the player interested and pulls them from one clue to the other to piece the larger mystery of murder and terrorist organizations.
A MAIN MECHANIC: Neil’s ‘detective mode’ allows the players to investigate and observe clues with commentary from Neil.
A mechanic worth noting is that of the ‘sheets’ system within the game, through the device that Neil uses for a multitude of things — such as reading the news and messages he receives as well as a stored log of previous conversations for the player to read through if they need it — Neil submits ‘sheets’ to as his answers to the questions the story poses. Receiving them from different NPC’s, ‘sheets’ provide a place for the player to give their final answers for suspects, lingering questions, and information that is vital to the investigation.
BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT: If you’re choosing to help Neil break his smoking habit, you’ll miss the animated cutscene on his apartment’s balcony.
Lacuna’s art style is 2D retro pixel, the different environments emphasizing the sci-fi, neon-lit streets of a futuristic world on another planet. There’s a strong contrast from the ‘Upper Levels’ with its sleek, white designs, clean streets and notably fewer people walking on the streets, such as Neil’s residence in Louville, whilst the ‘Lower Levels’, such as the Matunda Residence, is much darker and grimmer, broken fences litter the area as trash and food venders cover every square inch they could find.
As this review is more than a year old since the game’s initial release, the game most definitely holds up and is a shame that it isn’t talked about more. With its beautiful art style and fun gameplay, Lacuna most definitely should be on your next indie to play list and I am very excited to play DigiTales Interactive’s upcoming game, Between Horizons when it releases!
