Lucius (PC) Review

Lucius is a new horror adventure/puzzle game that is a little different.  Instead of a typical survival horror scenario, you play the role of the antihero, a 7-year old boy who happens to have been born on June 6, 1966 (6/6/66).

The game takes place in a huge freaking mansion, and is more a less a sandbox environment.  The mansion is so detailed that it becomes the main obstacle when playing the game.  Nearly everything can be manipulated, so you really have to hunt to find the items needed to complete your missions (kills).  When entering a room you have to scrutinize and hover your mouse over every freaking thing (which is difficult at little-boy angles) just to see if it is useful.

For example, you wouldn’t  just stumble upon your toothbrush unless your mother told you to brush your teeth.  Even though you know it has to be in the bathroom somewhere, it takes a few minutes just to locate it.  Thankfully later in the game you can get rewards for doing your chores, and one of them is a magic music box that helps you find what you’re looking for.

The graphics are pretty good, and the level of detail is amazing.  The graphics can be changed from Good all the way to Ultra High, but “High” is probably best for most people.  Ultra-High started to slow down, even with an Intel i7 950 processor and GeForce GTX 460 video card.  With all the attention to detail, it amazes me that the lip synch of the characters is really sloppy.

This being a PC exclusive, the controls are via keyboard and mouse, and the default keys are weird for the experienced PC gamer.  Most users expect that the “E” key will open doors or interact with objects, but instead this opens up your inventory.  Once Inventory is opened, you can only toggle through them using the arrow keys, and then left-click to select.

To combine items you arrow to the object, right-click, arrow to the next item and right-click again.  It would be MUCH easier if the user could use a mouse pointer to select and combine items.  You can also open your mission log by pressing the “Q” key, and you select your abilities (as you gain them) by pressing the number keys (1-5).

The missions revolve around killing certain members of the household, for whatever reasons Lucius deems them worthy.  Unfortunately, there is only one solution to each puzzle, which can have you roaming the halls for hours.  Those familiar with Manhunt or Hitman will be a little disappointed with the flexibility of achieving your goals.

While the game mechanics can be a little difficult, and the puzzles linear, Lucius is just dripping with atmosphere.  Horror fans will dig playing their own little interactive “Omen” from the anti-christ’s point of view.  You just keep playing just to see how the story turns out.

There really isn’t any reason to replay this except for the achievements, but this game doesn’t tie into your Xbox 360 account, so there’s really no point.  I would look through Steam’s achievement list before initial play and keep them in mind.

The game is rather short, as the average person can play through it in about 10 hours (perhaps more if you don’t view any walkthroughs).  The game can be purchased on Steam for $24.99, which seems a tad high, given its longevity.