Metropolis: Lux Obscura Demo

There are many interesting approaches when it comes to movies and  video games, some of which are more popular than others. However, it’s not all about RPGs, shooters or match-three games, because the atmosphere itself is very important too. Hence, you get into themes like cyberpunk, sci-fi, fantasy and a few others that create different moods.

Metropolis: Lux Obscura is a comic book-style adventure game with a film noir overlay, in which you get to play the role of a bad guy and participate in a variety of violent activities. However, all of this is presented in a pretty indirect way, given the fact that most of the story is conveyed in the form of pictures. The visual style is pretty impressive, depending on whether you are a fan of Sin City or similar movies.

The story starts when Jon Lockhart - the main character - gets out of prison after many years. As it turns out, he was framed for the murder, so he decides to find out who framed him and get some sweet revenge. Many other characters enter the picture along the way, and the story is pretty dynamic, in the sense that you can reach multiple endings depending on what you choose to do.

It’s not all about reading text and looking at pictures though, because every now and again you can get into hairy situations that can only be solved through violence. The battles take place through match-three mini-games, which is pretty anticlimactic, but at least they keep you occupied. They are not very difficult either, given the fact that you can bend the rules a lot by moving tiles across entire rows and columns.

As far as the graphics are concerned, the artwork is definitely in tune with the noir style, and it’s certainly gorgeous. You can really feel like you are part of a strange city while you are playing the game, but unfortunately the environments are not as memorable as they could be. The soundtrack is not bad either, and it actually goes pretty well with the general atmosphere.

Metropolis: Lux Obscura is not as intense as the developers describe it, but it’s certainly enjoyable. The match-three games are a bit too dull and long, which can hurt the atmosphere in the long run.