Annapurna Interactive has got to be one of the leading publishers when it comes to boundary-pushing games. That streak continues with the difficult, inventive, and infinitely intriguing Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. Developed by Simogo, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is all about puzzles with just the right amount of occultic dread hanging over it all. A monochromatic game with pops of red that sell the mystique of the old baroque manor, the puzzles build in difficulty, and it’s one of the very few games you can’t complete without a whole notebook by your side.
You play as a woman with nothing but a car key and a tampon in her clutch. While the world around you is a hyper-stylized vision, the mystery it evokes is extremely familiar. As you wander the manor, which seems to be floating between times, a museum or a manor, depending on what you interact with, everything means something. Located somewhere in central Europe, the exact place is more intangible than you’d expect the more you learn, leaving you consistently uneasy.
Get BWT in your inbox!
Get BWT in your inbox!
The game initially opens up with easy one-step puzzles: look at letters and follow clearly marked elements of them to unlock a lock, reconstruct torn posters, and do some math. Simogo always ensures that you have everything at your disposal to not get stuck. However, as they layer in new ways to observe numbers and new puzzle variants, the difficulty ramps up steeply. Not only do you need to know the information to solve the puzzles, but you need to know what kind of puzzle you’re deciphering.
Thankfully, Simogo has also provided everything you need if you have a bad memory like me. Even with the handy dandy notebook the developers sent to assist in this preview and encourage me to show my work, I still used the woman’s Photographic Memory to help look back. When not facing an object to interact with, you enter introspection. A hub of all your tools and the woman’s state, every old document and mental note is logged for easy access.
Whether it’s the pocket Gameboy-esque electronic you pick up that also serves as a calculator, your Photographic Memory, or anything else, you truly have what you need. But each of the tools has to be used smartly. Work smart, not hard. Pay attention to how you solved previous puzzles to understand what elements have been wrapped into something new.
As you discover more about the story, you find out whether you’re in a macabre game, a complot, or a treasure plot—maybe all three at different times. With elements that promote dread and enough love of the surreal, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is excellent, so much so that I worry about comparing it to any game in the genre or from the developer. That would only lessen how original and ambitious this simple game is.
Simplified controls mean you walk directionally on predefined paths through the manor and the grounds. With the fixed camera, the restriction you feel keeps you where you need to go but also makes you feel as if there is something you are missing. Every bit of the gameplay’s simplification feeds into the surreal nature of the supernatural tale you’re exploring. The simplicity of movement allows the complexity of the brain teasers to succeed. Mazes, maths, and memorization all come together in a complex, weird, and delightfully creepy package.
Despite having extremely limited controls—that led me to save over saves I didn’t mean to pick before I realized how it all worked—everything is clearly laid out. Everything is tied to one button click for you to interact with and while this does cause menu struggles, it makes the game extremely tactile while solving puzzles.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a game that doesn’t let you ride through on autopilot. It grips you and forces you into immersion. If you come into it expecting Sayonara Wild Hearts, you’ll be disappointed. But if you enter expecting a fascinating puzzle-forward narrative mystery? God, you’ll be rewarded.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a puzzle that must be solved. Simogo’s ability to craft a location with so much detail where every bit of the environment holds purpose is something to applaud. That said, their brilliant work isn’t going to be for everyone. As the complexity of the puzzles ramps up and you have to remember further back into information you’ve found without messing it up, it’ll seem easier just to dip out. But if you stick with it, you’ll get sucked into a rewarding experience that begs you to keep playing. Just remember, everything you need is right in front of you.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes will be released on Nintendo Switch and Steam on May 16, 2024.
