These days , keeping up with plot can be a full - time problem . So how do you part the signal from the noise , the wheat from the husk , the Temple Runs from the Temple Jumps ? Allow us to assist by on a regular basis selecting a secret plan You Should Play .
It ’s rarefied for a mobile game to be so visually entrancing that you finger immersed in that populace — after all , you ’re probably playing this game while you wait in course at Starbucks . ButLumino Cityis one of those unicorn : A beautiful handmade newspaper world with a vague but intriguing story , several challenging puzzles , and tranquil level - and - dawn gameplay that will sweep you off your feet .
You play as Lumi , a young young woman looking for her grandfather ( who was mysteriously kidnapped while she was downstairs making tea ) in a more or less run - down metropolis call Lumino City . Lumino City is build on / in a mountain top , so it ’s full of quirky characters and improbable architecture . You ’ll need to clear puzzles and secure resident ’ problem to progress through the city and be reunify with your granddad .
This incredibly elaborated puzzle plot is beautifulandchallenging . Here ’s why :
Not your middling nomadic puzzle game : There are plenty of pretty mobile puzzler games on the marketplace — Lumino City ’s stunning visual style and tap - friendly gameplay is redolent of Monument Valley andForgotten Shores . But Lumino City was n’t initially designed for Mobile River — it was in the beginning released in 2014 as a PC / Mac secret plan . And the caliber of the puzzles in Lumino City negate its origins — this is the typical extremist - casual puzzler we ’re used to seeing in mobile game .
This puzzler is a bit more involved than the average casual mobile puzzler .
The puzzles in Lumino City are surprisingly challenging , and require you to use both your computer memory and your mathematics skills . A notably difficult puzzle for me was remember six — that ’s good , six — bars to a song that my character , Lumi , had to play on a guitar . I make love that might not sound like a mess , but the game was asking me to remember a 30 - note approach pattern , which is n’t on the dot well-heeled for someone who ’s as easily distracted as I am . Other puzzle demand decode message , find fault curl , and fox a sea sea captain into suppose he ’s on the open ocean . The puzzle are n’t so challenging that you ’ll sense defeated — and if you do , there ’s a unequalled tip system by means of a 900 - Sir Frederick Handley Page “ Handymanual ” handbook — but you are n’t lead to breeze through this game the way you did Monument Valley .
Exquisite attention to detail : Lumino City is one of the most unparalleled seem games I ’ve seen . The majority of the plot take seat in Lumino City , a city built up in the strain … on top of a cliff … and partially inside and around a jumbo Ferris wheel . Visually , the game is arresting , with incredibly elaborated vista made of newspaper , composition board , and Mrs. Henry Wood .
Lumino City is handmade — not digital !
Actuallymade of composition , cardboard , and wood . The team that made Lumino City actuallyhand - build a three - dimensional mannequin city , and the visuals you see in the game are from that material - life model . So Lumino City ’s graphics look like they come up from tangible life — because they do .
The Handymanual has 900 illustrated pages — only 40 of which are necessary for the game .
But it ’s not just the city that impressment . The game ’s cagey hint system , the Handymanual , is a 900 - page illustrated handbook that your type can leaf through to find root to just about any mystifier or job . The first page sport a Table of Contents with “ Pages of Note ” mark down — these pages of musical note are the pages you ’ll use to find out solutions if you ’re flummox . There are about 40 varlet of note , but that did n’t stop the developers from filling every undivided varlet of the book with account , notes , and illustrations .
Intriguingly quirky characters : I wo n’t consist — the central plot of Lumino City is a bit lean . After finishing the game , I ’m still not entirely trusted why Lumi ’s granddad was kidnapped in the first place . But if you ignore the master plotline , the urban center ’s many resident physician ( who Lumi meets on her side - pursuit ) are fascinating . While there may not be a solid central storey to tie everything together , the conversations Lumi has with various reference in the secret plan are well - written and intriguing ; I did n’t once see myself skip through dialogue to get to the next puzzle .
The metropolis is full of details and secret to name .
And it ’s not just the house physician that are fascinating . The metropolis itself has all sorts of lore to come across — from the hundreds of “ unnecessary ” Handymanual page to a mess of brochures you ’ll find in an old autobus station to a library with 26 different Book to ensure out ( you only need one of these books to work a puzzle ) . These footling contingent make Lumino City seem like a real metropolis to explore , rather than just a canvas for you to solve puzzles on .
Developer : State of Play GamesPlatform : iOS(Universal)Price:$5
