The Unfair World of La Mulana

[@uba754]

This is a criminally underappreciated series. Some of the hardest games I have ever finished.

[@uba754]

Also the games are also available on PS4

[@sageslarres]

love how it isnt "beat" but "installed" :D

[@FearfulFellow]

One thing I do love about La Mulana: The music absolutely slaps

[@treehann]

It has one of the best soundtracks fo an adventure game imo. I’ve never been intimidated by the music itself like i have been when i first entered new areas in La-Mulana

[@Crazyoldman84]

The puzzles are what ruined this game for me. Just ridiculous only people with way to much time would be able to beat this game without help a very select few. Other than the insane puzzles the game is fantastic.

[@FearfulFellow]

@@Crazyoldman84 I 100% agree, the puzzles are crazy obscure. Some of them can barely even be described as puzzles, like "go stand in this random ass nondescript spot and something happens"

[@chieflarry955]

@@FearfulFellow Every puzzle has a hint though. The clue for the example you brought up states "meditate under wedjet, do nothing more than pray" - you have to figure out who wedjet is through the background murals and npc hints, find wedjet, then simply "meditate" or stand still at that NOT random location. Sure the later puzzles get way more complex but if you take proper notes they are solvable.

[@treehann]

I think the only thing I disagree with watching this again is: I would say using a guide to beat this game is a perfectly valid way of playing it for people who simply can't do what the game is asking of them. Guides also save a lot of time, and time is precious in our world. Someone might be able to experience a lot more of the joy (as I did in fact) of playing La-Mulana by having a support system to nudge them along from time to time. Sometimes I like to reopen the original La-Mulana (not the remake) and see how far I can get into it before I have to look something up. It's a lot of memory challenges but not everyone has great memory ;)

[@OldyAlbert]

Using guide is better then completely dropping the game, but yeah, the less the better. La-Mulana 2 is pretty much same tbh. I love it, but don't really see a person who didn't like the first one liking the second

[@Kyfow]

Second one is much more streamlined and a smoother experience in the first few hours. You get most of the important stuff (HOLY GRAIL!!!) as basically a mandatory pick up unless you're braindead, the first few zones are mostly isolated and the game is much more linear in terms of progress (roots -> divine fortress -> valhalla), while it opens up a great deal later on once you've got some power ups (roots goes to annfwn, immortal battlefield, icefire treetops, etc). It starts branching off after that but it's way less branching than the first game which can have you go to the mausoleum before you've even killed the first boss, and also you can head to the temple of the sun, which branches off too, and it becomes very hard to tell what the path of normal progress is very quickly. The biggest problem with la mulana 1 is that it goes from 0 to 100 nearly instantly. You get fucked over by deadly traps before you've even learned they exist and instant death is way too prevalent in the gates of guidance, along with difficult platforming and annoying enemies and bad puzzles like the holy grail one. 2 is a slow acceleration into what I actually consider to be more challenging, interesting puzzles than the first but it happens so gradually that you don't notice it at first.

[@BombermanFanatic]

You should avoid using guides, but very few will beat it with no help whatsoever. If you need help, there is a spoiler friendly hint guide that will get you unstuck without spoiling more puzzles.

[@alanx4121]

yeah if you still have all the time of the world :)

[@ami4705]

What makes the traps even funnier is when you come across a trap that *is* telegraphed and you fall for it anyways. Like when there's a button and two skeletons sitting underneath a face, and one of them literally says that it's a trap, and the other says something along the lines of "So that's why the dude died here...", then you press the button out of curiosity and the face falls down and kills you. So many of the traps have no indication that they're even traps, so you just stop paying attention to environmental cues, and that's how the game gets you to fall for a telegraphed trap.

[@SBaby]

As for using guides, I'll say this. Play the game the way you want to play it. La-Mulana was designed in a way where it can be approached from any number of angles. People could play it blind, or they could use a guide to get through it (you'll still need to be skilled enough to beat the bosses, no matter what you do). The purpose of the puzzles is to ensure you the player knows how to properly navigate the game and that you're properly equipped with the right gear before moving on to the tougher late-game material.

[@gigaganon]

la-mulana is my favorite metroidvania, and one of my favourite game of all time, period! Finishing it without a guide was such a blast, taking notes everywhere, screenshots, and trying everything to solve these crazy puzzles! There very few meroidvania with actual puzzles and this one is HUGE! The sequel, that i backed was also great! I can't wait to see their next game!

[@zennistrad]

If you want a good look at what a playthrough of La-Mulana with almost no assistance or guides looks like, I'd suggest checking out Raocow's Let's Play. He's also currently playing through La-Mulana 2. (Also, fun fact! DeceasedCrab's Let's Play of the original freeware version of the game was one of the very first Let's Plays on KZbin)

[@Drekster2001]

La Mulana is the spiritual successor to Maze of Galious on the MSX: also a GREAT but old game

[@SBaby]

It would be more accurate to say the game is an homage to Maze of Galious. Although supposedly, they're remaking Maze of Galious and Nigoro is heading up the project. I guess the original development team liked something about La-Mulana.

[@BlackSailPass_GuitarCovers]

I rage-quit Alundra. There's no way I'm playing this.

[@aaronf1788]

La Mulana has made me power through some of the most frustrating things I've ever had to beat when playing a video game But you know what? The game is all the more memorable for it. I don't think there's any other game that has used its frustrating parts to ingrain itself so deeply into my brain while remaining an overall positive experience. The setting, world building, mystery, all of that has left a massive impression on me in a way I'll never forget. The only thing I can say about the game that hasn't been mirrored by someone else is that I probably enjoy the original more than its sequel. La Mulana 2 certainly is more forgiving for newer players, but after getting so used to the original's types of traps and certain system mechanics I found 2 to be an overall more frustrating experience with less payoff. Regardless, this is still one of my most recommended games of all time. And the soundtrack is incredible!

[@Phox-in-a-Box]

"La Mulana is a bad game." I think it does what it set out to do. I think anyone who says it's a bad game is missing the point.

[@treehann]

came back to watch this again and I just wanted to say, I love that you devote a whole section to the enemies just being annoying bastards. The invisible enemy on the tower is one of the dirtiest tricks of all time. In a place where you're carefully watching the every step of the enemies, it's just... *chef's kiss*

[@CorwinLogrus]

excellent vid, well said. there's this eurogamer article on LM2 from 2018 that I think put it really beautifully when the author said 'you learn to think in the way that someone else has already been thinking.' Since you clearly 'get' La Mulana, I will be anxiously awaiting your take on Environmental Station Alpha As for LM2, it is sorta easier and sorta not easier but I think what's more important is that you won't appreciate LM2 nearly as much at all without having that formative experience with LM1 first, and going into LM2 blind after really grokking LM1... is like nothing else

[@ingeniousclown]

I LOVE Environmental Station Alpha. I beat it completely without a guide except for a few things here and there (I think a piece of a cipher that I couldn't find, plus one of the "keys"). That game is wild and one of my top favorite metroidvanias. Patiently waiting for ESA 2

[@Wyrdwad]

Just discovered this video now, and wanted to say, you summarized what this game is all about beautifully! I played La-Mulana on PC shortly after the remake version was released in 2014, and it inspired me -- an American! -- to import an MSX2+ computer system from Japan just to play Maze of Galious and the many other games that inspired Naramura-san and his team to create this gem. 7 years later and I -- now living in Tokyo -- own two MSX systems and an MSX game collection numbering in the hundreds, and play MSX games more often than I play games on any other platform. La-Mulana literally changed the entire trajectory of my gaming life by introducing me to a side of gaming I knew nothing about, and showing me the full potential of that side of gaming. Naramura-san is a game design genius, and to this day, I rank La-Mulana as one of my favorite games of all time -- and I also think it has the best game NAME of all time, as not only does it sound cool, there are also multiple layers to it (clearly you know by now what it means in game lore, but did you know that it's the creator's name backwards? At least, if you go by Japanese lettering: NA-RA-MU-RA --> RA-MU-RA-NA). La-Mulana truly is the definition of a passion project.

[@ingeniousclown]

I'm glad I could do this game justice in the eyes of someone who is as big a you. That's quite the journey that La-Mulana has taken you on, love to see it!

[@Wyrdwad]

@@ingeniousclown So I've been checking out more of your videos, and just figured I'd mention a Metroidvania that I think you'd really dig. It's an MSX2 homebrew game made by one guy over the course of two years, called Singular Stone. The gimmick of it is that it's a Vocaloid Metroidvania that's actually licensed to use the Vocaloid characters -- and there are six of them you play as, including Miku, Rin, Len, Luka, Meiko, and Kaito. The reason it's noteworthy is because it's so superbly well-balanced, and given the restrictions of the MSX2 (roughly as powerful as an NES with slightly better colors and FM music, but without hardware support for scrolling), it's also incredibly impressive how diverse the environments are, how well-paced the exploration and leveling are, and how fun the bosses and character abilities are to play around with. It's genuinely one of the best Metroidvanias I've played in a long time, and absolutely worth checking out if you're looking to try something different... exceeeept, that might be a little difficult, since the game is only available on floppy disk (due to the Piapro license needed to legally use the Vocaloid characters, the creator isn't allowed to sell digital copies), and the site that sells it only ships to Japan. Still, if you can figure out some way to play it, definitely give it a look! I've uploaded a number of gameplay videos from it on my channel, so do search it up if you're interested in seeing a bit of it in action.

[@falkeprophet]

La mulana 1 and 2 were so good that I can’t remember ever being genuinely frustrated at it (except for hell temple). I laughed when I stepped into that shrine of the mother trap.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

That's also my reaction most of the time when I'm getting trolled. It feels better to lose to something intentionally unfair than something unintentionnally unfair lol.

[@vladtheeater]

Stoked to hear you're playing La-Mulana 2. It's so good. The La-Mulana series are easily some of my all-time favorite games.

[@bigz11]

7:17 this sold me on the game, the idea that the backgrond art has the capacity to kill you or be a hint for something later in area really intrigues me

[@KuroOnehalf]

I dunno if I agree strictly that La-Mulana is an unfair game. I think there's a very fine line between unfair and cheeky, and I think they manage to be on the cheeky side. There's something very playful about all the death traps. Some are so silly, and so unexpected, so playfully in your face, that after a bit of a learning curve they become something actually enjoyable. The further I got into the game, the more I'd laugh when I'd get suddenly killed, and this is not something that happens to me in other videogames. I think it's something very hard to do. Also, I would argue that La-Mulana is 100% a metroidvania. Not a combat-centric metroidvania, but rather a puzzle-centric metroidvania. Progression is gated through a massive network of puzzles rather than battles or traditional upgrade usage. And I personally have found that to be more meaningful than the combat counterparts (granted, it's in large part due to the sheer scope and quality of the puzzles). LM1&2 are easily the metroidvanias I had the most fun playing to date. They ask so much commitment of you, but they also reward you handsomely. They're games that consume you, that you think about every waking moment, games that you dream about. They're definitely not for the faint of heart, but they're criminally underappreciated games. Good luck on the sequel! It's a huge upgrade on the first game. If you get stuck on one of the later puzzles, try asking for hints on the steam forums. It'll be more satisfying than outright spoiling the solutions by reading a guide, and folks are always happy to help. PS: The one thing I'd concede is absolutely unfair is some of the boss hitboxes, especially in the first game. They're very deceptive, and that makes them needlessly clumsy and frustrating to fight. Thankfully they're not a huge part of the game.

[@TheSamuraiGoomba]

"Cheeky" is a good word to describe it. You're exploring ancient, dangerous ruins. The game is all about making you feel like Indiana Jones, with a heaping helping of japanese weirdness on top. It's absolutely a metroidvania, just not one where combat is the focus. La-Mulana is more interested in atmosphere and exploration, and it's probably the best in the world in those areas.

[@T1M3L3SS_]

also about the hit/hurtboxes, i feel like the same way they can be really unfair/inconsistent, like phase 1 Mother's tail counts as contact damage and only the upper body takes damage, but phase 4's is the opposite, they can be quite forgiving, like the fact that you can beat Sakit phase 2 without sub-weapons by barely scratching his nose with your whip

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

''cheeky'' is the correct word. I laughed out loud when the ceiling fell on me after beating a certain boss in the gates of illusion. I also laughed today after finding the ankh jewel for Palenque. That was such a silly puzzle.

[@SBaby]

I'd actually say that La-Mulana is hard, but fair. If a certain combination of items causes you to die in one hit, you learn your lesson and don't use them again. If there's a trap that kills you, well you aren't going to fall for that a second time, are you? If a boss kills you, you'll start learning their pattern so you can avoid that. The game is about learning the hard way.

[@alimuhareb8170]

learning about this game via noita, i can definitely see similarities in approach

[@lewdwig]

I don’t see how anyone could possibly complete this game without a walkthrough.

[@uba754]

There is a youtube video about a guy that did... it was a large undertaking lol.

[@zennistrad]

Same way people beat point-and-click adventure games before the web existed. Pay very, very close attention, try to think in terms of riddles and logic puzzles, and write down _everything_

[@KuroOnehalf]

It's not *that* bad, really. If you can get some small hints for 2 or 3 puzzles, you should be able to do it, and the steam forums people will be happy to help nudge you along. The thing with La-Mulana puzzles is they're very outside the box. It's a game that will really make you think and experiment with stuff, and won't just give you free puzzles for artificial satisfaction. I distinctly remember that the one puzzle I was snagged on was the infamous pot puzzle, but I could see another person figuring that one out without help.

[@TonyTheTGR]

The miniboss gauntlet is equally daunting, too

[@Kyfow]

The most optimal way I can see anyone doing it is by meticulously taking notes of every single room in every single level, and ensuring you note everything about it, including the backgrounds, enemy types and so on. At that point you basically become a cartographer, which is pretty cool, but it's a huge task.

[@Alayric]

My favorite game ever. ❤ I'm glad I played it 100% blind (minus Hell Temple) in hard mode, because it's a masterpiece that can't be truly experienced twice. I wish there were more cryptic and hard metroidlikes in the style of La-Mulana, closest (and only?) I've found is the great Environmental Station Alpha (from the developer of Baba Is You).

[@Kyfow]

The true ending of ESA reaches levels of mindfuck puzzles that la mulana does, which is impressive as hell, but makes sense given the guy that made baba is you made it, he's obviously great at writing puzzles.

[@TheSamuraiGoomba]

I'd say the health management is probably the single best and most important gameplay difference that lets La-Mulana stand out from other metroidvanias. The fact there is no health anywhere in the ruins means each trip down there feels important and each bit of damage you take adds up. Most enemies and traps don't deal all that much damage, because the game would feel unfair if you zapped into the ruins and immediately lost 3/4ths of your health to the first enemy. Instead, the way it wears you down over time means you always have to evaluate whether it's safe to continue, or if you need to return to the surface. And the process of recovering your hp is mildly annoying, so the game pushes you to keep progressing in hopes that you might level up, find a blue orb or reach a new save point. La-Mulana is always tantalizing you with the prospect of great rewards if you're only willing to risk just that LITTLE bit more. Which is fantastic! How many skeletons in the ruins are there because the explorers figured they could travel that little bit more before turning back? The game is always showing you how dangerous the ruins can be and how many other people have died exploring them.

[@ingeniousclown]

Exactly! What's frustrating about that though is how many players will see that and immediately write the game off as badly designed for something like this, because it's punishing and inconvenient :(

[@Dare1C]

Loved this game! I played the original graphics version when it was just translated into English, and it was so much fun then. But there really wasnt any guides online so you had to figure a lot of it out yourself or with a few people who also were playing. It definitely is worth trying to beat without a guide. Great vid!

[@kahchey6574]

This game has been one of my all time favorites since it came out on the wii 8 years ago despite me never being able to actually finish it. Today, I still haven’t beaten it, but I’m still very determined to.

[@FlaskFlash]

It's impossible, and I mean literally impossible, to finish La-Mulana without a proper interest and understanding of the ruins lore. That's what makes La Mulana such an unique tittle and one of my favourites games ever. The game is so massive and the puzzles are so interconected and widely spread, that even if I finish it 1 time every year, every time I have to reach a guide to solve a certain point I should have memorized by now. The game is massive. I don't think there are more like 5 to 10 people in the entire world that have finished this game with 0 prior knowledge and without having resorted to a guide at any point during the game. It's incredibly cryptic and incredibly frustrating at times, but I'd say La Mulana isn't a game designed to complete it, like other games. Is a game to enjoy. To experience the ruins. It's a game that you could enjoy with a group of friends, sharing whatever you discover in a google docs and feeling like a true archeologist, progressing together through effort and patience. You could be thinking about a ridle for weeks in this game. Hollow Knight pertain to a new subgenre of metroidvanias more focused on combat systems and actual bosses with telegraphied attacks and some kind of "learn the patterns" gameplay, based on soulslikes, whereas La Mulana is pure, pure metroidvania: platforming + hard puzles on a massive interconected world. Absolutely fantastic game.

[@NicD]

I'm currently halfway through for the first time and am hooked! For another game that relies on understanding the world, how it works and what events transpired, I recommend Outer Wilds. (If you missed it, anyway. It's not exactly obscure.)

[@aleh9814]

This franchise literally ruined other metroidvanias for me. While I still enjoy playing them, I can't get the same level of enjoyment and fulfillment La-Mulana gave me when playing other games of the genre anymore. If I ever had the chance to completely forget a game so I can play it fresh again, it would be this one.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

'''whereas La Mulana is pure, pure metroidvania'' That is just not really true. La-Mulana isn't any closer to Super Metroid or symphony of the night than HK is. They are all very different games.

[@Yesnomu]

Oh god, the mantras...I don't regret using guides for LM, it's really really obscure! Props to anyone who got through either game without one though.

[@Toksyuryel]

The mantras are way more obscure than they're supposed to be because of the bad translation of the remake. The original fan translation was much clearer about how the mantras work.

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

I ended up having an expert friend on call for my entire playthrough so he could give me some hints, suggestions, tips on where to go, etc, without telling me everything I was doing wrong or all the answers. I did manage to figure out the mantras mostly on my own though, including the cross of light business, so I'm very proud of myself for that.

[@HeroesLeftInMan]

One of my favorite things about La-Mulana is actually replaying it years later. Like you have a vague idea how some of the puzzles are solved, but it's fuzzy and you got to relearn things. But the muscle memory of the jump physics and the boss gimmicks are all still there.

[@ZuoKalp]

I never watched a review of La-Mulana that actually captures the real experience of the game like this one. I still can't get Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight because even when the combat is relatively fun and the world is relatively big, it feels empty and unoriginal. Each chamber in La-Mulana is filled with character and secrets. Please avoid at all cost using a guide.

[@ilovecody7514]

Lmao, now you'll probably need one for Spelunky 2. Great video, LOVE La Mulana!!!

[@AstralPhnx]

I was SO close to finishing this and then I lost my save file... That was two years ago, gonna try it again now because god damn it was SO SATISFYING Beating a boss that was giving me hell for ages or finally solving a puzzle is just... Yessss

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

I bet you still had some knowledge checkpoints. Most of the time in a playthrough is devoted to figuring out where to go and what to do next, so any amount of memory on that makes whole sections of the game fly by. (I may also be biased because I have an exceptionally good memory, but I still think it's not as daunting a task as it seems.)

[@QuintaFeira12]

VERY IMPORTANT FOR ANYONE WHO WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME: USE A PHYSICAL NOTEBOOK AND DON'T BREAK THE HARD MODE TABLET

[@ЕвгенийЕвгений-ц8ю8р]

which tablet?

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

@@ЕвгенийЕвгений-ц8ю8р You'll know. If you do it, load a save.

[@treehann]

Best review i’ve ever seen of La-Mulana. I too love it and appreciate how its sheer difficulty really brings the world home. I hope more and more people are brave enough to experience it or its sequel!

[@jerkface1399]

my advice to anyone thinking of picking this up is to get it on console rather than pc. lots of little quality upgrades were added, including redone pictures on tablets & some of the real stumper puzzles being adjusted/improved. on "a lot of it is simply just worldbuilding mumbo-jumbo" in regards to tablets - i also used to think that this was true, but after beating the game and looking at them again i realized that some type of useful gameplay information could be extracted from like 80% of them, even the ones that are so obscured and oddly phrased that you'd realistically have no chance deciphering what they're talking about on a first playthrough. it's really impressive and only heightened my respect for the game. first-timers: look closely at tablets with images.

[@ingeniousclown]

I also meant to mention in the outro but forgot, dying in a boss fight on Switch (is it all consoles??) will quicksave you at the ankh instead of kicking you back to your last grail tablet - huge quality of life improvement for the tough boss fights!

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

@@ingeniousclown All console ports except WiiWare, which is where the remake first came out and the only version of it which predates the PC port.

[@pepekong]

La Mulana is one of those games that I wish I could wipe off my brain just to experience it for the first time again. Such an unique and beautiful game! The second one is amazing too, definitely easier to figure out.

[@ferdinandcountfathom9298]

Thank you so much! I find the game to be that much more rewarding exactly because of its difficulty, as you said

[@Moltavis]

Okay, so that video has actually convinced me to give la mulana another shot. I started it years ago, but only played an hour or so before giving up. Thank you for that !😊

[@ingeniousclown]

My pleasure! ❤

[@Moltavis]

@@ingeniousclown Just downloaded it on my Steam Deck. Also binge watching your videos/essays, keep up the good work !

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

I completed teh MEssenger (and 80% of its DLC) without online guides, finding out how to get to rough spots (like that room with 4 birds, and 4 other birds across the room without any clear way to reach the top...) it is satisfying to break down those platformer puzzles !!!

[@Kyfow]

I think the best thing about la mulana is that Nigoro clearly love and know a great deal about history and archaeology. The game incorporates so many mythologies and ancient art into the world in such a clever, gameplay oriented way. The way you interact with these ancient cultures is in a way retelling events of the ancient past. La Mulana 2 is even better at this than 1, but they're both fantastic and genuinely reimagine world history in a unique way.

[@Skyskysky92]

I got interested in this game after the Outer Wild's game director cited as one of them main inspirations. What you've said goes in hand with what he said and it does feel a bit lke Outer Wilds, just a lot harder.

[@666blaziken]

Props to the people who Speedrun this game, as if the game wasn't confusing enough already, it has wall clips and a lot of specific damage boosts. I don't think I have ever seen something so convoluted, I can't imagine how much work it took to find out everything about this game.

[@blackdome98]

Hey man, I really love your videos and your style and how you talk about games like these. Although the game doesn't appeal to me at all, your video just invokes such a great love for video games in general Great stuff, keep it up dude

[@hoagieimpact9189]

Both La-Mulana games are incredible. Leaps and bounds above Hollow Knight, Guacamelee 1&2, Axiom Verge 1&2, SteamWorld Dig 1&2, and all the other great Metroid's and Castlevania's I've played. It is just so bold and different and engaging and intelligent and well-designed. A real treat for every gamer and a true test of your gaming skills and brainpower. Yeah, it has some trolly traps and crazy puzzles, but that's part of the fun. You won't find stuff like this anywhere else. 10/10

[@KevinMunchyButtons]

the opening spot made me alt f4 so quick. I came back to realize i lost 2 hours of progress since i didn't hardsave

[@ajculum723]

I picked up the collectors edition on switch on a whim from a local game store and it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. It’s a fun game with great world building, even if I can’t enjoy the bosses it’s one of my favorites. I love how it drops the idea that lore can’t be made for lores sake, if all of what was included related directly to what was happening in the game it would be worse off than it is. For how good uncharted is I will always go to this as the game which makes you feel the most like Indiana Jones.

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

Indiana Jones has got nothing on Lemeza IMO. This guy just waltzed into an alternate dimension with arcane powers beyond his understanding, kicked their asses, and left with an artifact that makes him basically God.

[@MrNoobed]

Surprise fish and spite fist are amazing.

[@hcohic9884]

hardest game i ve ever played hands down and i played countless games from retro to modern it litterealmly makes you decypther cruptic notes and translate their meaning on your own and tie it up with enviremental secrets that are way too far apart all while traversing very hard platforming sections in a large world with few checkpoints

[@MerlinCross13]

La Mulana isn't a randomly tossed together grab bag of bad ideas. It's a highly tailored, highly crafted, detailed mystery ruin with carefully placed "We hate you" moments.

[@jesfest]

I learned about La Mulana and Cave Story at roughly the same time, and I feel they are two of the earliest big indies. By the way, both can be played for free, as their original releases were. La Mulana really shows its Maze of Gallius(sp) routes with the original, where you also collected MSX ROMS to improve yourself (simply software in the paid releases) Unlike cave story, I've found that La Mulana's free version doesn't play well with Windows 10, so you might want to watch a playthrough of it when you're done playing the remake. I could keep going on but I really shouldn't lol. Fun games.

[@iconmaster5326]

This game is totally good and also totally replayable, thanks to the randomizer. Seriously, one of the best game randomizers out there is for this game.

[@biggiechezthe3rd952]

I think I see that hxh shirt good boy

[@biomerl]

It's the dark souls of metroidvanias

[@mattbriddell9246]

I look at this game as the bastard offspring of Ghosts and Goblins and Dragon's Lair with how troll-y it can be with all its deathtraps. :D

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

I'm a little over 9 hours into this game, after initially almost asking for a refund within the first hour due to the controls, which I absolutely couldn't stand(I'm starting to understand them now, even if I don't really like them still) I decided to play this game despite an artstyle and setting that looked like it wouldn't appeal to me because I had heard a lot about how much cryptic puzzles they are. This is something I was eager to experience again after the unique feelings that Environnemental Station Alpha's post game gave me, and to a much lesser extent Supraland. For the moment, I haven't had to solve that many puzzles; I'm sure I already could solve many, but I didn't need to yet and something distracted me from even trying. That something is trully unexpected, something that I wasn't aware of at all when I bought the game, something that you emphasize in the video. This game is HUGE. Like, before I had even found single progression item, there were not 1, not 2, not 3, but 8 distinct areas already available. I could just walk into each of them, nothing stopping me aside from baddies and traps! It gave me the same feeling as post-mantis claw Hollow Knight, except even more intense and from the very begining. It is trully magical, I'm unbelievably happy with this game at the moment. That being said, I'm curious to see what I'll think of the puzzle side. Some of the stuff you had to do for the maze ending in ESA was just a tiny bit too much for my taste, so it's not impossible that at some point I'll consider La-Mulana too cryptic. But honestly, I could stop playing the game right and still feel like those 17$ were worth it, so even that does happen, I'll try out a guide for a while, and if that's not enought I'll just move on to other games and be satisfied with the experience.

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

Did you make it much farther? Did you resort to a guide? I'm curious to see how this turned out and if your playthrough has continued until the present! Edit: Also, I appreciate your attitude. You stuck with the game just a little longer despite bad first impressions and you started loving it after a while. This is why I disregard bad Steam reviews from people who have almost no time in the game (which is most of them).

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@Nat_the_Chicken I did continue playing the game. I found the chamber of extinction and something called sanctuary of the mother I think. I got to the gates of guidance and spring in the sky guardians on my own, but I had to get some hints for the mausoleum of giants and temple of sun. For the first one, I assumed that the thing you could rotate was connected to the identical-looking things I found here and there in the world, so I didn't realize it actually affected the level, but once I knew that, I was able to solve everything on my own. For the second, I found the ankh, but I didn't realize you could push the minecart near the entrance: I tried hitting it dozens of times, but never thought of pushing it. Right now I'm having a bit of a problem, however. On PC, escape and f1 are by default suppose to be the buttons you use for the laptop and pause menu, and there is no way to change either. The thing is, f1 doesn't do that for me. Instead, it only changes the sound volume. So I've played all of this without a map or teleportation, which doesn't bother me that much, except that after the minecart boss, Elmac, you are apparently forced to teleport out of there? This makes me feel a little discouraged, and I haven't yet found the motivation to try to solve this. And yes, I have the map software, several maps and the holy grail, so I should be able to view the map and teleport.

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

@@legrandliseurtri7495 Oh my God, you've been doing a no fast travel challenge, you madlad. It's technically possible to beat almost the entire game without using fast travel. I know, because I did it recently. The Grail was the last item I obtained. However it requires a difficult order of operations which is much easier to figure out if you've already beaten the game, so I really don't recommend trying to do that blind. Notably, you can't escape after beating Ellmac until you have an item which is difficult to obtain without... beating him. Are you sure you can't use f1? On my laptop, a lot of the function keys normally function as brightness, volume, and playback controls, and I need to hold down the "fn" button at the bottom to use them as function keys. My volume up and down buttons double as f6 and f7, which are luckily less crucial than f1 in this game, but I can still use them as function keys with fn. If you really still can't use it (you probably tried that already anyway), try a USB controller. I think the game has pretty good controller support, it originally came out on WiiWare (the original remake, that is). Also, the sky disk thing is a pretty common assumption. I really think they should have made the little metal thingies look different, since they have a completely unrelated purpose. And Xelpud should have worded his email about the minecart a little better. Nice job figuring out the rest though! Edit: I've spoken to a friend about the key bindings, and there is a way to change your pause key bind, but you have to manually edit a game file which isn't in readable text format, so it's a bit of a pain. I'll try to give you instructions on how to do it if you can't get ahold of a controller. Another option would be to use autohotkey to temporarily change another key to send the f1 key input to the game.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@Nat_the_Chicken OMG using FN worked, thank you so much! I asked on both the subreddit and the steam discussion thing what might be the issue. On the subreddit, someone finally suggested what you just said a few days ago, after my post had already been there for several weeks, but you reminded me to try it!

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

@@legrandliseurtri7495 I'm so glad! As amusing as it is to me that you were doing a challenge run because of limited controls, you probably would have given up on it, and that would be a terrible reason not to experience any more of the game. Good luck challenging the ruins now that you can actually leave to heal whenever you want!

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

I actually appreciate that this video is a bit shorter because it keeps you from spoiling any MORE of the game than you ALREADY DID smh smh smh No seriously though, great video, I'll consider sending this to my friends to get them to play it. Also, another reason to get the game on Switch (the _modern console port_ of the _remake version_) is that every time the game has been re-released, the devs have made improvements to it, like some better written hints, clearer and more detailed hint images, respawning at a boss instead of having to walk back every time, making the hot spring gigantic, etc. In contrast, the _original version_ of the game is 2005/2006 PC freeware made in the style of an MSX game. It's brutal, even compared to the remake. The graphics are harder to interpret, the logic is more difficult to grasp, the hints are more obscure, a bunch of the puzzles are completely different, etc etc. Not recommended for a player new to the franchise unless you want to be more frustrated than you've ever been in your life.

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

Dang it I messed up my italics and can't fix them without losing the heart... oh well you can tell what I was going for.

[@SBaby]

6:10 - Let's put it this way. In the average playthrough of this game (15 to 20 hours for a casual run), you'll spend no less than three hours real time just sitting in the hot springs to heal. And you'll die. You'll die alot. But the thing is, the more you die the more you will learn. You won't make the same mistakes you made before, and you'll save more often. This game is about learning the hard way.

[@fredo3161]

I never beat this game. I put in about 60 hours and took tons of notes. Very punishing but so fun to find solutions.

[@MagitekBahamuto]

Love that game!! But there is a zone that broke my brain, cant recall the name but it was the reverse zone of the first level with the olmec heads, also the one with the elephant enemies is hellish...

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

Gate of Illusion. Yep, that'll do it. Just the beginning section of the area contains some of the most cryptic and confusing puzzles in the entire game. And the one with the elephants was Chamber of Birth, probably the most dangerous and punishing area in the game despite its name.

[@archibaldtunafish1814]

Such an unbelievably good game if you can get into it.

[@TheGuardimaster]

some things Recomendation Pc: take notes (notepads), screenshots and maybe draw if you want. Also, 4:27, "enemies in terrible spots on purpose..." heheh the positions are worse in hard mode The ruins of he game is a great challenge itself,but there is another ruins inside the ruins that is the hardcore challenge (and a puzzle to unlock that is extremely obscure, normally people knows that by guides) And..... the game Is a remake..... of La mulana from MSX Oh yeah, and like old games... has an little cutscene before pressing play that give you an idea how the ruin was created

[@kingoppsanti5830]

This game is so brutal. I needed help to beat this game.

[@GhERM2SOIED72]

YES YES YES!!! FInally this game is getting mainstream coverage!

[@ingeniousclown]

I dunno about mainstream lol, I don't have very many subs and the algorithm cursed me for this video.

[@goost16]

Nice video, initially I felt like the title was a bit blunt, but it's a well nuanced commentary on the game. If you truly want to see this game be a massive dick, try looking up Classic's Hell Temple. It's on a whole different plane of existence compared to anything the Remake and 2 throw at you!

[@sebastianwardana1527]

well heck, these graphics are superb.

[@amandawashington4239]

And I thought Elliot Quest was tough. I admit to using a guide for some areas, but I am not a complete masochist.

[@ShinoSarna]

In my opinion, La Mulana is basically a successful take on the concept of Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, including unforgiving difficulty and obtuse puzzles.

[@bigbigx2250]

The 2nd randomly press down "puzzle" was pretty bad. At least the first one had two things pointing to it

[@Saiphel]

Holy shit! 2:15 does it say Eg-Lana at the bottom? So they had already thought of it since the beginning.

[@armandostockvideos8386]

This looks like a mix of spelunky and hollow knight, neat.

[@TMOSP1]

I should really finish La Mulana 2. I was a huge fan of the first game, and then the second one came out of nowhere and I played it for an hour and was like "Life is too busy for this right now I can't." and the last time I played it was July 30th 2018.

[@soundspark]

9:47 How did I miss that ladder?

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

Even after figuring out the girders to the left, I still couldn't process that I could get in there that way until after I'd gotten to Scales of the Heart. Made me feel very stupid indeed!

[@Torqegood]

Question, in canon is it possible for the main character to have beaten the game without dying, or due to the cryptic nature of things did they canonically die and come back to life?

[@costby1105]

You should give the original 2005 version of La Mulana. It even more obtuse, however the bosses are easier IIRC.

[@amit212543]

Yeah I quit on this game within seconds when I had tried it. Just not for me at all

[@natrixnatrix]

I have only played the second one, if I ever have time to finish it then I may pick up the first one but I was a bit miffed that it essentially spoiled all the lore of the first one in the beginning. If you do pick play the second one then I recomend NOT reading the tablet at the start that says not to read it twice. That puts the game on hard mode and by the time you get the option to turn it off you have somewhat learned to deal with it. So if you are anything like me then you are going to be stubborn and not do so.

[@stealthxg5045]

Nah, I recommend reading it. According to my friend it makes boss's less boring as it changes their mechanics. It also gives some enemies new attacks.

[@prinnyzawa]

You gotta practice combat archeology to beat la-mulana

[@kingoppsanti5830]

Just got the game. Let’s see how hard this is lol

[@zarodgaming1844]

So you are telling me i can draw pixels on a screen and make you lose hours of your life for no reason ... and you are going to give me money? am I in heaven?

[@Incalor]

This was a brilliant game. Pity the follow-up wasn't as great. Still good, but very repetitive with even copy-pastes from the previous game and puzzles were diluted.

[@thecynicalone7655]

I'd say La Mulana is a game that could be good, if it didn't fucking hate the player. It's like an abusive relationship, you can adapt to it, but that doesn't make it okay, and you shouldn't be the one apologizing when they give you a black eye

[@DwAboutItManFr]

Pure vessel is not hard?

[@Azoz_bazbooz]

This is a puzzle game. Using guides is making this game pointless to play. I beat La-mulana 1 & 2 on Nintendo switch. I suffered to solve hard puzzles and find clues to solve puzzles. I said to myself ( l must beat this game depending on myself without using any guides or leave it if I give up) ...... I wish La-mulana 3 or any game looks like... 😍

[@GoodmansGhost]

You anti-sold me on it.

[@creammachine6215]

cbt gaming

[@noob_jr_2sjrkc]

The concept of cryptic puzzles is very undermined by nonsense and arbitrary triggers. For example, I had a time-stop item that should let me get by a crushing pillar. Instead, it doesn't work and the pillar is scripted to crush you regardless. The game expects you to talk to the elder so he goes and holds up the pillar. There's absolutely no hints and it's less logical than using time stop. When the game puts progression gates like this, I lose any trust that the game is logical and can be figured out, thus resorting to following a guide just to see what other bullshit there is. Sick music, though.

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

I found out later on that that's actually how you were supposed to solve that in the _original_ version, and they changed it in the remake just to mess with returning players. I think as long as you don't assume you need to get in there right away (there isn't even a chest there until you've started the "questline") you end up stumbling into the Xelpud thing more easily. It also helps if you figure out he has special dialogue for use items. Anyway, I think if you've gotten THAT far into the game you ought to be used to the BS it pulls and cut it some slack. That's how it was for me. I'm sorry to hear that it destroyed your trust in the game.

[@Indomitablefox]

лол лысый

[@ami4705]

yes but do use a guide for the hell temple post game dungeon. just do yourself a favor, you probably wont even know it exists without a guide

[@Nat_the_Chicken]

"Ah yes, my father, he likes to hide in places it doesn't look like anyone could go." Thanks, Mulbruk. I was lucky enough to kill a bat in the right spot and cause it to drop coins onto the platform in front of the door, which clued me in that I could stand there. My hint-friend was thunderstruck that I'd actually found it on my own.

[@dragontein9955]

No it is not

[@ingeniousclown]

What's not what?

[@w0lf-m4n]

OMG IM THE FIRST VEIW THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YAY

[@philosoaper]

so basically it's just trying to copy games from the early 80's.. brutally hard.. zero telegraphed deaths.. puzzles so obscure you never solved them etc..

[@TonyTheTGR]

It's a love letter to Maze of Gallious, what do you expect?

[@lifetake3103]

While I think you are overselling the struggles of the game a bit (its incredibly hard don't get me wrong). I have to completely disagree with your point that a overbearing nature of the game can be of service to the theme and that is fine. I'm sorry but that isn't fine. I will say the game isn't the worst thing, but no just because your theme is gritty and a world of the unexplored doesn't mean that you can have a game that plays like that.

[@Alianger]

Ok well 2005 la-mulana was more unfair and you didn't praise that one mr metroidvania clown.

[@marcar9marcar972]

Dislike

[@ingeniousclown]

mean :(

[@ericmsandoval]

Absolute joke of a game. Developers are out of their minds coming up with all the stupid shit put in the game.

[@ferbobian]

Unfair deaths? Fuck that...