It's not easy to blend together the mix of horror and lust, let alone while building it within the Lovecraft universe. Yet this is the exact world we are put in when going through the journey in Lust for Darkness by Movie Games.
Story
After his wife went missing over a year ago, a strange letter appeared telling him that his only chance of getting his wife back was to go to the Yelverton Mansion alone tonight. Unsure if it's a fake or a trap, but unable to not follow through on a chance to save his wife, he ventures into the worst night of his life.
Gameplay
Going through a strange mansion that ends up taking you to a whole nother world, you are in for one of the strangest adventures yet. Starting off the game with a sneaking aspect, as you are tasked with sneaking into the grounds of the mansion and finding a way into the building, you can get a feel of watching patterns and learning your way around.
Majority of the game will be more focused on examining objects, solving puzzles, and avoiding death. There is a lot of stuff around to distract you, for a choice of better words. Passing through a house full of sexually driven occult members, you must follow subtle clues and explore the mansion in order to proceed through the games main objective; find your wife, Amanda.
The hardest and most nerve-racking areas of the game take place in Lust'ghaar, the other world. Here is where the larger puzzles are located that will each have their own unique way of solving. There aren't clues given on how to solve the various puzzles, so there is a bit of trial-and-error gameplay featured here, but they are all more fun to solve than they are difficult.
The game is completely defenseless, so be prepared to run for your life. Except at the end, there is one so-called fight, but you will have to find a way to manipulate his RNG in order to beat him since you can't actually attack. Not one of the best moments of the game, but was interesting to play through nonetheless.
Graphics and Sounds
Lust for Darkness had some amazing graphics that did a great job immersing you into the world; be it the regular world or Lust'ghaar through the portal. They did an amazing job mixing the strange actions of the occult with the world of horror-lust.
All of the sound effects and music was fitting to what was going on in the game as well. From the noises made when the player interacted with something to what the enemies were doing, everything was well done and covered in a well designed atmospheric tone from the music that changed with your location.
Replayability
Other than wanted to explore every aspect of the game, there is nothing in the story or gameplay that provides a reason to play through it more than once.
What Could Be Better
The story seemed like an intriguing set up but was told in a way that didn't flow well. Seeming to give updates on the story as you reached certain checkpoints in the game and telling it through straightforward statements, it left me with more information to be desired.
Spoiler Alert, skip to the final section of the review to avoid - the boss "fight" at the end was poorly designed. While I did end up figuring out what to do, having to rely on a mix of RNG and AI manipulation (or forcing the enemy into a spot and trying to trigger the specific attack by running in front of them, for those that didn't understand) is a bad way to end a game. If you want me to defeat an enemy, I should be able to either attack them somehow or use a clear method to force specific attacks.
Final Verdict
Lust for Darkness was a lot of fun to play through but is unfortunately really short. While they did excellent with the content they included, it seems like they would benefit more from a longer game with more content. Definitely a great game for any fan of the horror genre, even with only the short experience!
