Lumo 2 - PC Review

Lumo 2 by developer Triple Eh? Ltd and publisher Numskull Games—PC(Steam) review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

 
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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For all you other finely aged wines out there like myself, have you ever thought to yourself “I remember how hard old games used to be and how they gave no direction”? For you younger sprouts, have you wanted to try some old-school games from before fluid controls were a thing? Back when the only map you had was the one you drew yourself? Well, if so, look no further than Lumo 2, a sequel to the 2016 game I picked up on PSVita that made me want to throw a table out the window in the best way.

Lumo 2 can be broadly summed up as “Isometric platformer about a wizard trying to get MSPaint to work”. You get dropped in a very greyscale room, and after some exploration discover a door that leads to space, your first level. The game starts out easy enough. Walk around a little, go through the door, pick up some red jetpack things, and success? When you’ve “finished” (lol, nah, you’ll be back) the space area, or if you return to the hub, you deposit the red items into a cauldron, and colour starts to return. Aha! I see what’s happening. In order to unlock the next area, you need to finish the minigame hidden in the previous area.

Don’t think just finishing the minigames will be enough though, you may “clear” a stage with less than 30% of the colour based McGuffin. It’s ok though, because new areas introduce new tools that expand your mechanics. Can’t jump high enough? Well, acquire an ability to help. You can then return to a previous area and discover a whole new load of secrets.

Speaking of secrets, there are also bonus collectibles to find: ducks and boomboxes, each with their own mechanics. Ducks require you to leave a room without dying to acquire them, and boomboxes require you to collect a bunch of tapes in order within a certain time limit. Yes, some of these are rough as sandpaper, have fun. Thankfully, death is pretty cheap in Lumo 2. Basically, you just get sent back to where you entered a room from. While it may be a little frustrating while trying to collect all the paint or for the ducks and boom boxes, you aren’t booted from the whole zone.

Lumo 2 is a very big homage to older-school gaming, in style, controls, and even aesthetics and references. Each area you explore will have a bunch of references you may or may not recognize, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the game. With very basic controls, pretty much just a jump, fall quick, and two other special mechanic buttons, that’s about all you need. A sort of floaty fall also adds to some of the platforming as you try and maneuver yourself into position.

Right, so let me be blunt here: Lumo 2 is frustrating. Not in a “what the heck this is awful” way, but in a “Cthulhu curse thine entire family tree I missed that jump for the twenty ninth time in a row. I’m gonna do it again” sort of way. I’m pretty sure about half the rooms I walked into in Lumo 2 I was yelling “this is stupid!.......ok one more try” over and over again while I tried to collect all the extras and paint. Don’t even get me started on the hidden rooms, especially the Prince of Persia homage room? Sneaky bugger put some added effects in there that made me think I was glitching until I realized what was going on. Touché sir.

Now comes the biggest issue: Lumo is kind of janky. I’m about 90% sure it’s a design choice to make Lumo 2 seem more retro, but good god when I lose height on a jump for no real reason or get stuck in a corner because I can’t jump out from behind a box, it’s frustrating. Good news is, everything you’ve collected stays collected, so just quit and restart and you’re good to go. Don’t even need to close the game.

Fair warning, apart from the fact that Lumo 2 can be swear inducing, you do need a controller to play, so I hope you have one or a workaround! Plus side is, you can move with both the control stick and directional pad, so if you want more precise movement, the directional pad is the way to go, but if you need some more control? Thumbstick has got your back.

All in all, Lumo 2 is a great, if not frustratingly difficult at times, homage to old-school gaming. It’s fun, it’s a great challenge, and it’s a real nice boost to my nostalgia. While the controls are pretty rudimentary, and death is extremely cheap, that doesn’t mean the game is easy. Sure it is accessible to a lot of different players, but be well aware of the difficulty going in if you’re aiming for the 100% completion. If you’re curious, you can also check out the first Lumo for pretty cheap, just to know what you’re getting yourself into. If you’re a fan of isometric platformers, I definitely suggest giving this a go.

 

Score: 8 / 10

 

 

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Get Your Hands on a Playable Demo of I Hate This Place at PAX East 2025 Or Else!

Kraków, Poland, 7th May 2025 | Broken Mirror Games, in partnership with Skybound Entertainment, has announced that I Hate This Place – the upcoming isometric, open-world survival horror game will make its first public appearance at PAX East 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 

A hands-on playable demo will be available to the public at Booth #15078 as part of the Games From Poland collective.

Inspired by Skybound’s Eisner award-nominated comic book series created by writer Kyle Starks and artist Artyom Topilin, I Hate This Place plunges players deep into a supernatural world where the rules of reality come undone. In an all-new isometric survival horror experience, delivered in a striking visual style drenched in bold, vivid colours and retro ‘80s comic book aesthetics, each location is lovingly crafted to tell its own disturbing story through stylish visuals that blur the line between reality and nightmare in a world where everything wants you dead.

Players take on the role of Elena, whose fight for survival begins when she unwittingly awakens a malevolent force. Outmatched and hunted in a hostile world, players must think fast, manipulating their surroundings to even the odds against formidable foes, engaging in tense gunfights and melee combat that rewards ingenuity over brute force, all while crafting essential tools to survive the harsh and unforgiving wilderness long enough to reach safehouses before nightfall, with the day & night cycle having an impact on gameplay dynamics. Whatever you do though, avoid the Horned Man at all costs.

I Hate This Place will launch on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. The Game is set to launch in Q4 of 2025 and is available to Wishlist now.

Broken Mirror Games 

Founded in 2024, Broken Mirror Games is a co-development horror label under Bloober Team, known for its commitment to pushing the boundaries of the horror genre. With a focus on immersive experiences, innovative gameplay, and captivating storytelling, Broken Mirror Games creates unforgettable, spine-chilling titles that leave a lasting impact on players. The first game to be released by Broken Mirror Games will be the mysteriously announced Project M in early 2025. 

Learn more at www.brokenmirrorgames.com 

ABOUT SKYBOUND ENTERTAINMENT  

We do things differently here. Skybound is the creator-driven, fan-focused company behind landmark global franchises like The Walking Dead, Invincible, Impact Winter, and hundreds more IPs that are redefining entertainment through our Wheel of Awesome business model. Skybound unlocks the unique opportunity to cultivate all aspects of a franchise from development through distribution; our IP connects with audiences through groundbreaking stories told on a grand scale. We empower our creators to directly expand their IP and turn their ideas into movies, TV shows, tabletop games, comics, podcasts, collectibles, video games, or all of the above and then some. 

Article by: Susan N.

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Achilles: Legends Untold Second Preview

Achilles: Legends Untold by developer and publisher Dark Point Games—PC (Steam) preview written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes 

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Having taken a first action packed look at Achilles: Legends Untold in early February, Dark Point Games' third person isometric Soulslike has now hit Early Access. Moving from the catered experience that left no dull moment as Achilles stormed into the city of Troy to showcase everything that could be done, this new look takes its time and puts things into a more narrative perspective.

Originally having access to leveling up with the souls of the defeated (Fate) through the various shrines to the Greek God of the Underworld Hades, this new look will have you storming right through a more streamlined Troy with near invincibility and no inside optional areas. Adding in auto regeneration for your health and most enemies including the bosses of Hector and Paris are nothing more than a joke when they were once fearsome foes… until you die at the end of the battle and are sent to Tartarus in the Underworld.

Striking a deal with Hades to not spend a bleak eternity for your afterlife, you are sent back to the real world where the adventure starts for real and the fangs of your enemies become very real within this Soulslike. Immediately put to work, you'll be tasked with finding Hades' nephew Hephaestus as something seems to be holding them up. Picking up a sword that has seen better days, you head out.

The first look that we got of Achilles: Legends Untold was a very catered experience which had a singular path forward with just two small side areas to showcase what could be in store for players. Unlike that first look, this new Early Access build takes all of that originally displayed awesome and adds in a world reminiscent of Titan's Quest, Grim Dawn and Diablo. Not to be confused with a hack & slash though, Achilles' adventure is very refreshing as it instead takes the Soulslike formula and makes it its own under a third person isometric view not unlike Sands of Aura also currently within Early Access.

The latest version of Achilles is actually kind of hard as you’ll often find yourself alone against multiple foes managing both melee and ranged, standard and tanky foes making you question if it’s even currently worth it. In the end it always is as you’ll need Fate in order to level up and eventually once you find Hephaestus level up your gear, but there will be times that you’ll want to simply run straight through a crowd to get back to where you last died especially if it was for the fourth or fifth time.

This is where I found myself both loving and hating Achilles’ adventure. On one hand, the more open world with plenty of paths forward was great as it allows for the flexibility of choice. Do you follow the “Fable 2” dust line forward to your goal, or do you go explore the other direction for better gear and other loot? This can often lead to items that are the difference between an easy time and a hell of one. On the other hand, there are some enemy types because of how this world is designed that are simply “unfair” such as archers with precision aim and do way too much damage. Oftentimes they come in pairs or squads leaving no place to really hide or angles to shield yourself.

Other than the archers, the other enemies seemed decent enough from the more straightforward grunts to the more heavily armored captions before getting into the tanks that are walking walls of muscle that you’ll definitely want to get out of the way of. Human or otherwise. Could some balancing be done? Yes. Can this often be overcome with an armor upgrade or leveling up? Also yes. It is Soulslike after all and if you can’t beat them, grind a bit and then crush them afterwards!

Leveling up is simple enough and can be done at any Shrine of Hades as long as you’ve accumulated enough Fate. What I really enjoyed about this aspect isn’t that you could level individual stats and learn new abilities through a skill tree set in the form of a constellation, it was that it didn’t reset the world every time you did it. Most Soulslikes, if you “rest” at one of these points everything defeated will respawn and you’ll have to do it all over again. Here, that is a choice. You can level up as needed, or, you can level up as needed and then select the option to “rest” which will then respawn the world. Having that choice was fantastic.

Finally, while eventually mowing my way through the currently available content, there are certain areas where instead of accumulating Fate, you’ll instead be accumulating points that can eventually be turned into Fate through a multiplier depending on how far down you go through the dungeon. You get a bit of a taste of this midway through the adventure and I look forward to seeing more of what could be done with it as it would really help to level, as long as you survive of course.

In terms of issues, Achilles is in Early Access and I did have to restart my adventure once or twice from scratch because of some game breaking bugs but that’s to be expected in the early versions. What this allowed me to do is take different points of view from taking out absolutely everything around me to running right through and seeing what I could accomplish if I didn’t have certain items or gear that had been collected. Did it suck to lose 4-6 hours at a time? Sure, but it really let me dive into everything that was there a few times even if I was grumbly about it after the second time.

Otherwise, Achilles Legend Untold is in decent shape but there are some areas that will need some polishing (See Known Issues and Player Feedback) but that’s what Early Access is for. The developers at Dark Point Games are already working hard to polish things up and release new patches (See Patch 0.1.1 from May 13) so it’s entirely possible some of the above listed may not even be an issue once you take the dive into this Greek Mythology based Soulslike.

Score: N/A

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Achilles: Legends Untold - PC Preview

Achilles: Legends Untold by developer and publisher Dark Point Games—PC (Steam) preview written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

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Getting treated to a taste of Achilles: Legends Untold by Dark Point Games over the weekend, there was one thing that stood out above all else by the time that the final screen appeared in front of my eye telling me “This one story has come to an end… but the circle carries on. Patiently, relentlessly… always.” It was that I wanted more and I don’t think there’s going to be any “patiently” waiting for the full version!

Me wanting more aside, Achilles: Legends Untold is a top down third person isometric soulslike action RPG set in ancient Greece where you'll apparently be tasked with ending the conflict between Hades and Ares. I only say apparently as our first look takes us to the beaches of Troy where Achilles roars that "Troy will burn" and other than a few quick lines of dialog here and there, this first look is all about the action.

Jumping off the boat and into the sand, you’ll be gaining immediate control with quick pop-ups that act as tutorials to controlling Achilles such as quick and strong attacks, dodging or dodge rolling and blocking your enemies attacks. The controls themselves are fairly standardly laid out for a soulslike but it’s what Dark Point Games have done with the animations behind these controls that constantly had me in awe of what I was looking at.

Smooth animations as swords are swinging and arrows flying are one thing but ducking under a swinging sword while it narrowly misses your head? That’s generally reserved for cutscenes or sick slow motion scenes in motion pictures. I never even noticed we weren’t getting those until now. Dark Point Games have raised a bar by putting these style of animations into the core gameplay. There’s no slowdown, there’s no focus cameras, there “just is” as Achilles will fluid duck or dodge enemy blows and it helps create more of an immersion into this world as you keep moving forwards.

Perhaps a double edged sword in some cases, moving this fluidly can sometimes get you hit if you’re not careful enough or start to gloat at being “so gud” and getting hit on the backend of the swing. To quote Boromir, “they have a cave troll” and this large hulking beast as he swung his weapon around I was laughing saying to myself that it was awesome as I ducked under his blows all the way until the giant slab of tree kept going around to hit me in the back once it made a 180 arc. Lessons learned on THAT one, it also confirmed some other neat elements such as even if you’re blocking a strong attack, that attack can knock you backwards and onto the ground leaving you a bit vulnerable until you can get back up.

Between these more mythical beasts of trolls, giant scorpions and skeletons in an abandoned part of Troy, you’ll be facing off against human opponents with swords, shields, spears, bows and tactics which I realized was not a fluke “look at what we can do entrance.” Again to marvel at the animations and at the combative elements, if an enemy has a shield, they can take a knee and raise said shield allowing their ally to run and jump off of it into the air to come crashing down at you. Super excited about how it looked soon turned to dread as I realized that I was still standing in its path and needed to move, NOW.

Not to be outdone by these fancy moves however, Achilles has a few tricks up their sleeve as well. Potions to restore health, Greek fire to make some fairly large explosions and leave fire burning on the ground, they can also use the souls of the defeated in order to level up. This is a soulslike after all. By taking a knee at a shrine of Hades, you can use the souls of the dead to level up your strength, health, stamina or learn new abilities like Captain America throwing your shield but one step better than Cap, call it back and eventually level that to hit enemies as well.

One element about the shrines of Hades that I really enjoyed was that unlike most soulslikes where if you sit down to one of these the world “resets”, in this adventure you can make that choice on your own. Instead of resetting the world while activating the shrine the first time or coming back to it to level up, resetting the world to respawn the defeated is an option that does not have to be taken if you don’t want it. Want to keep exploring? Then keep exploring. Want to level up a bit because you’re starting to hold onto too many souls? Level up. Want to rest and replenish your stock? Then do it but you don’t have to unless you want to. Finally, these also act as way points which was convenient as one of them in our provided look was our fast travel ticket back to so far my favorite supporting cast member. Hephaestus.

Chilling at their forge, Hephaestus will be able to sell to you equipment if you have what is required to buy it, or, upgrade some of your already existing gear if you have the materials on hand. Other than being just your “generic” blacksmith like support, the one liners Hephaestus spits out are gold. Having the option for Achilles to ask about rumors, Hephaestus responds that what people think of the soul is goatshit as it’s currency and it should be used! It may not carry the same weight in the final version, but when that’s about the only dialog that we were treated to other than “Troy will burn”, “Achilles!!!” and other death noises? It’s gold.

Bonus

Putting two elements into focus as bonuses to the experience, the first is that Achilles: Legends Untold already supports ultrawide resolutions. It may not sound like much, but ultrawide resolutions can change your immersion as you see more of the world as you move through it. This allows you to better plan how you’ll approach a situation as you can spot enemies faster. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to see them playing at an average resolution.

The second bonus is that a new game plus (NG+) feature already exists. While for some may be a take it or leave it feature, for the rest it’s a highly sought after feature especially in a soulslike where you want to take what you’ve learned and acquired and test it against tougher foes. While the current build gave me roughly an hour's worth of action while going off on every little side quest I could find, I dove right back in for a look at what it would be like to face back off against the first boss with my newer gear, abilities and his own shield! 

Summary

Achilles: Legends Untold is already in an amazing shape based off of the current build that we have been treated to. Responsive combat with fluid animations has only left me wanting more of it while simultaneously making me wonder just how it’s all going to come together once the narrative is available. Just how big of a role are the gods going to play, how in depth are we going to interact with Hades and how many more one liners will Hephaestus have when you visit him in his forge? Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to find out!

Score: N/A

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Dimension Tripper Neptune: TOP NEP - PC Review

Dimension Tripper Neptune: TOP NEP by developers Idea Factory, Frontier Works, tiny cactus studio, WSS playground and publisher Idea Factory International—PC (Steam) review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes 

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We're back again with another Neptunia spin-off! This time we're taking a look at a 2D isometric rail shooter. Buckle up all you Neptune fans, cuz it's time to take a look at Dimension Tripper Neptune: TOP NEP.

Just so you are aware, TOP NEP isn't very large, or long, consisting of five stages that you can clear in about 15 minutes. That said, there isn't really any plot either. Basically, you play as older Neptune, with some sort of flight gear, and you go around shooting and slashing down enemies of Gamindustri. There are also coins dispersed throughout the stages, and collecting them will add a helper to shoot at things with you for awhile.

Playstyle is pretty basic, with a shot attack, and a slash that will also act as a sort of counter move if enemies get too close. Basically, most of the time you'll want to shoot at enemies, but if they get too close, or charge at you, you can use the sword attack to beat them back. You can also swing to clear bullets. Stages will progress through enemy waves, followed by a boss.

Visually, Top Nep has a retro style reminiscent of old SNES or NES titles, with a remixed soundtrack to match. The soundtrack takes existing Neptunia tracks and remasters them with a more chiptune sort of feel. Top Nep is quite fun, but it's also really short and pretty easy. You have two different game modes, one where you can exchange score for lives if you die, and one where you can't. I never ended up below half health, even on my first run, so it isn't all that difficult, and like I mentioned earlier it's really short, only taking about 15 minutes per run.

Honestly, I have to say that Dimension Tripper Neptune: TOP NEP feels less like its own title, and more like a minigame you'd see in one of the main titles. Not as bad as the Neplunker stages or Stella's dungeon, but it really doesn't feel like it should be its own thing. On the other hand, Top Nep is actually a lot of fun, and it got a lot of my positive nostalgia feelings going. Despite what you may think, retro isn't always a good thing, because while all those loved aspects come back, so do the bad. Fortunately, these retro style Neptunia spin-offs tend towards the more positive aspects, just like Top Nep has.

Summary

Overall, I have to say I really liked this Nep-Nep spin-off. While Dimension Tripper Neptune: TOP NEP might not be long, it's definitely a really fun rail-shooter. It's also pretty cheap, so it doesn't feel like you're losing out really either. The soundtrack is good, the gameplay is smooth, and while it is rather short, you can always aim to beat your high score on subsequent runs. Top Nep gets 8 puddings out of 10.

Score: 8 / 10 puddings

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Owlcat Games Announces Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous!

Moscow, Russia,  December 5, 2019 — Developer Owlcat Games is proud to announce Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, a classic isometric CRPG game. Based on the adventure path of the same name, it follows in the footsteps of the previous digital adaptation of Paizo’s legendary tabletop RPG, Pathfinder. The first key art image of the game has been released as a teaser of things to come for the title.

While not a direct sequel to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will expand and elaborate on the core elements that made Owlcat’s previous installment successful. New features include the mythic progression system, a new corner of the award-winning Age of Lost Omens setting to explore, and more classes and character customizations drawn from Pathfinder's extensive history. Owlcat will be releasing more details as development progresses so that fans can stay caught up on how the process evolves over time.

“We are tremendously excited to announce Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous today. With our new game, we are taking everything that made Kingmaker enjoyable and building on top of it. We laid a solid foundation and are going to push the boundaries of the CRPG genre with our next title,” says Oleg Shpilchevskiy, Head of Owlcat Games studio. “We especially want to thank the Kingmaker community for their support because we would not be making this game if it weren’t for them. When Wrath of the Righteous is ready, we cannot wait to see them answer the call again.”

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is based on the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path from the tabletop game but includes new characters, plots, and elements to entertain even players already familiar with the adventure. It tells the story of a large-scale conflict between mortals and demons where players are invited to immerse themselves in a world under siege from demonic forces. As a vicious invasion threatens the world, the consequences of one’s decisions will forge a unique narrative of their personal battle between good and evil.

Kingmaker’s Creative Director Alexander Mishulin and Lead Writer Alexander Komzolov return to their respective roles, and Owlcat is happy to confirm that Chris Avellone is back on board lending a hand and supporting the narrative team as he did with Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

To stand against the demonic invasion, the player character and their companions will receive additional powers from the player’s chosen mythic path. These paths vary widely in nature and profoundly impact the storyline of the game, permanently changing the characters and the world around them. Players may choose the path of the  immortal lich, wielding powerful spells and commanding an army of undead; the path of the trickster, causing mischief and finding fun even in the middle of the demon-filled abyss; the path of the angel, summoning celestial allies into battle and meting bolts of divine judgment upon foes; or something else entirely.

Some Pathfinder RPG character classes that didn’t make it into Kingmaker will make their CRPG debut in Wrath of the Righteous alongside the returning roster, including — but not limited to — the fan-favorite witch and oracle. More classes and character options will be revealed in the near future.

Boasting an improved visual style, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will offer a look and feel distinct from that of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Set in locations including a demon-infested wasteland, besieged crusader cities, and the foul, twisted Abyss itself, Wrath of the Righteous’s art will capture the epic fight of the world’s defenders as they struggle to hold the line against the corrupting force of otherworldly entities.

Check out our social media links here: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and the official website.

About Owlcat Games

Owlcat Games was founded in 2016 by a group of developers united by their love of CRPGs. The team is led by veteran game designers behind titles like Heroes of Might and Magic V, Silent Storm, Etherlords, Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul and other games. Team members also took part in the development of popular MMO titles, Allods Online and Skyforge. The first project unveiled by Owlcat Games was 2018’s Pathfinder: Kingmaker, an isometric computer RPG based on the highly popular Pathfinder pen-and-paper roleplaying game by Paizo Inc. The success of Kingmaker has allowed them to continue working with Paizo on a new Pathfinder adventure, Wrath of the Righteous.

About Paizo

Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® roleplaying games across tabletops, at conventions, at their favorite local game store, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish those adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.


Article by Susan N.

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