Inglorious Basterds was famously a hard movie to end. How do you end a WW2 period piece that so diverges from real history? How do you come up with a believable ending, without throwing away all the credibility you've built up? How do you untangle the knot that you yourself created, without undoing your story and your creative voice? Well, you stop caring and shoot Hitler in the face with a tommy gun. Faux retro games hit this problem a lot too, as I would know from experience. Whether you're doing a tribute/revival game or a period piece(No, really, we should start calling games like this 'period pieces', I'm serious. That's what they are.), there is a personal line you have to decide on for how much are you serving the past, and how much is the past serving you. How much do you owe the things you take influence from to represent them, and their item, with care and accuracy. How much do you owe your inspirations? Lunacid, for its part, would choose to shoot Hitler in the face.

Modern takes on old games are some of my favorite indies and this blog post explains the appeal really well. Lunacid is kind of like King’s Field and Shadow Tower but in the end the developer is KIRA, not From Software, so the game will feel different no matter how close to the original formula it is.

  • labyrinth@sh.itjust.works
    4·
    1 day ago

    I waited in excitement for a long time for the release of Lunacid but came away somewhat disappointed. I’m glad it exists and don’t regret the time spent… But I just don’t find it compelling enough to go through again.

    • Lucy [she/faer]@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      I love Lunacid but gotta admit its’ gameplay is a bit lackluster. It’s held primarily by its superb atmosphere and the feeling of exploration. I replayed the game several times but whatever challenges I come with don’t really make the game hard. And level 1 playthrough would just be a boring slog thanks to 1 Speed…