Lumo is a love letter to the isometric puzzle releases of the 1980’s and 1990’s, making this gorgeous 3D puzzle platformer something both oldies like us and people new to gaming will be able to enjoy. This is a solid release that should be part of the collection of all PS4 and Vita – check our Lumo review to see why!

 

Upon booting the game for the first time, you can choose to play either Adventure mode which gives you a map, unlimited lives and you can explore at your leisure without any pressure whatsoever, or you can play in Old-School mode where you get a limited number of lives, no map, and you play against the clock like it’s 1985!

You can choose between a male or a female character, and you have several colors to choose from – I picked yellow because it looked good on my character! As soon as I got started the in-game computer went on the fritz and zapped my character into some kind of castle with lots of rooms to explore. Players are then transformed into a wizard, and while you can’t do much at first, once you complete your first challenge you are given an ability to jump. The jump skill will come in pretty handy as the platforming and puzzles will become devilishly difficult, and you will continue to unlock other abilities as you progress.

 

Lumo is full of hazards and traps which are waiting to kill you! Moving or disappearing platforms, steam vents, spikes, electrocuted floors, lasers, and so much more! Lumo will definitely keep you on your toes because everything around is dangerous and if you’re not careful you’ll get yourself killed!

Lumo might sound and look like a small game, but it’s actually much bigger than you think, it’s like one big maze to complete! Some rooms will give you a challenge, while others are quite easy and require you to step on a switch, so that a platform can appear for you to jump on. In other rooms, you may need a tool to make something happen, so you need to search for it to then find your way back to the previous room to complete the puzzle.

If you die you will simply respawn at the entrance of the room you where in. That ain’t bad really since it could be worse – you could lose all your progress up to that point and start back in the first room, but thankfully the game is not that evil!

 

Lumo offers plenty of collectibles such as floppy discs, maps, cassettes and rubber ducks. The rubber ducks are probably the biggest challenge, as they are often sitting in the poisonous waters throughout many of the rooms. There are 32 ducks in total, and so far I have managed to collect six !

Lumo is a very fun and visually stunning game. The controls work flawlessly, the game offers plenty to, the puzzles are a good mix of easy and nerve wreacking, but they’re never frustrating. The difficulty curve is just right. I had a great time doing this Lumo review, and I’m sure you’ll have fun as well as you work towards unlocking its shiny Platinum trophy for your collection!

[review pros=”Visually stunning.
Fantastic room layouts.
Clever puzzles.” cons=”None” score=93]

Disclaimer
This review is based on a copy of Lumo provided by Rising Star Games.