Lunacid Is Really Quite Good

This one's for all my Human Warriors out there.
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Lunacid is the newest offering from the wonderful Akuma Kira, developer of Lost in Vivo and Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion. Being heavily inspired by FromSoftware's King's Field and Shadow Tower games, Lunacid is a wonderful retro-themed exploration through a comfortably ominous dark fantasy world.
2023 has had a lot of excellent horror games, but we've been lacking games with the same kind of quiet unsettling nature that games from past years - like PAGAN: Autogeny - have offered. Thankfully, Lunacid covers that base too.
Music used:
Lunacid OST
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion OST
Video sources:
Lunacid
Stay Out of the House
PAGAN: Autogeny

[@HansAlRachid]

When your greatest issue with a game is the lack of arms for the player character, you know you've got your (disembodied) hands on something special.

[@meatlejuice]

I honestly like that. There's another brilliant indie game called Northern Journey where your character has disembodied hands and the way you interact with things with them weirdly adds a lot to the experience.

[@HansAlRachid]

@@meatlejuice Northern Journey was amazing! For me the lack of arms is one of those little visual details that ends up taking me out of the experience a bit - in Lunacid at least. I had a similiar issue with the floating weapons in Lost in Vivo. In NJ meanwhile I found it oddly appropriate, given how bizarre that game looks in general.

[@johnskelington]

​@HansAlRachid I'm glad to see indie game devs keeping the Rayman-like genre alive.

[@EATABAGOFHELL]

6:26 Lithomancy is actually pretty useful for exploration; it lets you leave little hollering signposts marking where you've been. The fact that each object has its own unique screech means that if you've got a good memory for noises you can recognize them through walls and doors and use em to figure out where you are when you're lost.

[@-Mothy-]

I saw this exact same comment on Pat Stares at lunacid video. If it was you back then too, thanks for the tip. If not, thanks for spreading the word.

[@meatmanuel]

oh my god, i never thought of that. wish i had thought to try it before spending hours in the catacombs and mausoleum...

[@dekkoks9631]

Small fun bit regarding the voice that speaks in the prologue and in one of the endings. It's Robert Belgrade, a voice actor whoms most popular role is Alucard from Castlevania's Symphony of the Night. Kira hired him for how Castle la Luna is clearly vased on Dracula's Castle and for how his voice gave a vibe similar to the old King Field's prologues where a powerful voice explained what happened in the land.

[@ongoing_chrisis]

"there is nothing cooler than a guy with a club in a world where people can conjure demons and shit" instant sub

[@DamienStarry0w0]

When I first encountered the snail enemies it brought me back to when I learned in school that monks would draw knights fighting snails for shits and giggles in their religious textbooks and it made me feel so warm and fuzzy

[@MainMackDaddy]

my favorite moment of this game was finding the special corpse in the forbidden library, hearing a noise, seeing a chest, and shitting my pants as I find out what a mimic is.

[@Baronvonkame]

I just played through my first run recently and genuinely this game is peak. My favorite moment was standing idle in the one zone and hearing that track in 90% convinced has enemy sounds mixed in and a Shepard tone going so you can’t tell how close enemies are. Genuinely so scary even standing still.

[@RenegadeY]

This is kinda like the midnight mode of lost in vivo was a full game. Akuma kira is a really exciting dev for me, sagan hawkes did a video recently on their basilisk project that was pretty rad

[@BorntoOrnn]

You probably already know it by now, but the weird alphabet at 8:42 is to be used together with another spell. That spell allows you to hear the thought of creatures, and the text of those thoughts comes in that other language.

[@st.haborym]

The music is definitely one of the best things about the game

[@mogo-wc7xw]

retro horror is used because it's easy to make. indie devs dont have the time or budget to make high quality hd models, so when they need 3d, low poly models comes in handy

[@Walamonga1313]

Low poly 3D indie>2D sidescroller/platformer indie any day

[@mogo-wc7xw]

@@Walamonga1313 real

[@hanyuu8808]

This game needs more attention

[@limbobilbo8743]

Love the human warrior rant Empathise a lot as a human martial class enjoyer when I play dnd

[@leeroyjenkins4737]

Great vid dude. I'm always glad to see people talking about this game.

[@thecarrotclarinet]

Raising you one more on the human warrior being badass. Human rogue who's only tools are what's in their pockets and their own wits

[@atropa6053]

Lunacid nails the graphics it just works, its psx style but super clear, you can see everything and don't get disoriented. Modern graphics would not only take more work but make it harder on the eyes.

[@thegoldentriforce542]

8:40 I am late but that alphabet is related to the Bestial Communication spell, if you hit a monster with that spell you will get a message on screen in the Beastial language and you can use this to translate them. I think it is more to do with learning lore but I chould be wrong... I never bothered to learn it.

[@isabellegalletly1814]

I’ve had this game on my wish list for so incredibly long, this video might actually make me get it

[@matteste]

9:40 The answer to that is simply cause it is easier than photo realistic graphics and is more feasible for a small studio to pull off. Basically, part of the reason for our current indie boom was cause of the embracing of these retro graphics.

[@tsburgos]

ThorHighHeels is involved? We outchea, boi!!!!

[@LancerOfZero]

As a huge fan of the DemonDarkBloodRing series I wanted to get into Kingsfield for the longest time, but was always hesitant due to bad access to the games. This seems like exactly my cup of tea and maybe a good starting point for that journey, so thanks a ton for showing this to me! I probably wouldn't have found it otherwise. ❤

[@Painticus]

I hope you enjoy it!! It's a great experience :)

[@LancerOfZero]

I just finished it. It truly is really quite good!

[@БруноБуччелати-н6б]

This game is so surreal. And the endings! God, they're such an acid trip. 10/10, defo would create Booger 2.0

[@AnomalousVixel]

"pretty sure we only have one hand" Yeah, the LEFT hand. Notice you can see the bones inside the hand that's on-screen? Also mind that the right hand is the one that got chopped. Yeah, you literally go through the game telekinetically using your severed right hand to wield weapons.

[@DeyvsonMoutinhoCaliman]

We have two hands, we use a bow using the left hand. I think the right hand is flying at our side.

[@peasant8246]

Fantastic video, thank you for reviewing this game for us. :) I'm gonna watch your other videos now.

[@wolfwing1]

I still have flashbacks when it comes to doesn't hold your hand, to a game I was mostly enjoying, but was supposed to go to the first town talk to the head guy, spent 2-3 hours couldn't get him to talk to me or anything, find out I'm supposed to do dozens of other quests in the town first, but no hint at that nothing even of a, "Your too green, go help out." kind of text most games have. Since I was wanting to at least get part of the main quest started before exploring.

[@kiljust]

Lunacid is one of the few games i wish i could forget everything about to experience it all over again. The atmosphere in this game is insane, haven't experienced something like it since darksouls 1 back in the day. We need less Soulslikes and more Kingsfieldlikes, and definitely way more of Akuma Kira!

[@comyuse9103]

"pit where people go when they are no longer not pit people" is my favorite sentence so far this month ngl

[@thedolphinbro6668]

Played this twice while it was in early access and then played it again when it fully released, amazing game and well worth the money, the price is too generous

[@mcborge1]

Lunacid is such a good game and it's art style and controls make it perfect for handheld systems. I did my last playthrough between desktop and ROG Ally without any issues.

[@dylangosland1227]

Yessss Two of some of my favorite super specific horror niches-- Akuma Kira and Painticus You truly love to see it

[@Arrested_at_Waffle_House]

If anyones lookong for something similar, Dread Delusions has a lot of the same vibes. Still in EA but what's there is real good.

[@leeellis47]

13:55 Sounds like goosebumps music

[@madoimaru]

thanks for this video! I'd never even heard of this game and it looks to be right up my alley good review as always, dude

[@dunkelwalde695]

Easily worth the money. There are layers in this game and a surprising amount of content. The graphics are charming amd the world is immersive. Easy recommendation.

[@st.haborym]

One thing I'd like to add is that dex also increases the distance you can safely fall before taking damage.

[@dryued6874]

I've never felt more seen than with that human fighter monologue.

[@xdarin_]

Minor spoiler warning for the text hidden under the 'read more'. Ahh... The great, great despair I felt when I saw the alphabet. Exploring the seemingly 'final' area of the game... and then I find a slab with text. An alphabet. *"OH NO,"* I utter in horror, realizing that now I must search for the purpose of this slab... ... ... ... When I first found *_the tape,_* the one in the temple, I first of all felt a great dread. Next, I looked at the walls. I tried to compare everything that seemed like text to the alphabet screenshot. Poked every nook and cranny. I, truly, have become Lunacid

[@xdarin_]

My other favorite moment was wandering through the mausoleum and then *[DEATH IS APPROACHING]* "what?..." "...oh. Oh, you mean literally. Oh. OH. UH OH. UH OH. _UH OH._ *_UH O-"_*

[@goldtoothslair3052]

Yeah I will definitely say this game was really fun and when you say that it doesn't hold your hand but in a good way I know what you mean. I actually did quite enjoy when the game just opened up it was pretty much like yeah go ahead Explorer do whatever the hell you want. And i did. And my god did my adventure take me through so many paths. And I thought I found a huge amount of Secrets only to find out that know there was more secrets to find. And several things just confuse the hell out of me until I got my hands on other spells and weapons that allow me to find locations which then gave me a bit of the story for some of the things that I did find. Also the literal voice actor of Alucard in the game and of course he plays a vampire Prince. And I'm talking about the Alucard voice actor from the old Castlevania sympathy of the night. When I figure it out it was that guy I was even more hyped. But yeah this game is just fun and it oozes with a lot of Secrets and I really recommend anybody to just hop into this game with no knowledge and just see how far you can go and try figuring out what you can on your own before you do eventually pop up that walkthrough and try achievement hunting because let me tell you there are just some things in this game you are not going to fine on your own or you're going to have extremely hard time trying to understand. A little hint I will give you is in one part of the game you have to stand in front of a corpse for a solid minute to get a certain spell which you would never be told or never know which particular corpse you had to stand in front of and I'm not going to fully tell you the whole thing I'm just going to tell you stand in front of corpses for a whole minute and hope that you get the spell😂

[@streetlove11]

wtf ive beaten this game and then I get to 1:28 and ive never been to that area at all. This game really does hold a lot of secrets

[@ALIENADDICT]

Top channel great review

[@keinname1896]

Oof, that Fnaf and OG comparison hit hard. :D

[@SpectreAdept]

Yup, it sure is. Made it to my top games of the year list

[@ArkayeCh]

I will say your aesthetic criticism holds some weight but it also misses out on one important factor: Accessibility. The current PSX era style retro graphics we see isn't just trend-riding. It's relatively less demanding a way of modelling and communicating your art without burning yourself against high poly/resource modelling and design. If you look up a lot of PSX creators, you can see how FAST it lets them work especially when the dev is more interested in making and finishing an idea instead of spending too much on a few models they will never touch again. It's also a great way for devs to explore their second level of art and design once they feel they had enough of the prefabs in stuff like Unity.

[@johnskelington]

It is also appreciated to us gamers who cannot afford a GPU that doubles the cost of the rig.

[@Montyguinea]

peak gaming

[@cgrescueotter8640]

Would love to hear you talk about some puppet combo games! Great video as always good sir 👍

[@chaosordeal294]

I liked King's Field well enough when it came out, but I tried to play it again a couple of years ago, and it was painful. It's a combat walking simulator, and if that sounds bad -- yup.

[@Beeyo176]

This Paint needs more Icus

[@haixaldonix4945]

Well this game doesn't seem to require a powerful computer so my potato could run on it so maybe I'll give it a try

[@itsQuilow]

I 100% the game looking up only few spells and the ending required item if you played you know what I'm talking about. I never even knew that Rock Bridge can be put in the air and used Coffin, dex jumps or invisible paths to get to the locations from the video. 100% and I missed this. That's how good this game is and how it doesn't tell you things outright and lets you experiment on your own. Best exploration in any game. Period

[@PaulGallagher-hj4rq]

Many indie games use a ps1 art style out of necessity, because it can make pretty good quality models without too much difficulty. Not sure why there are so many pixelated screen filters though

[@Heeroneko]

Dread Delusion might be a fun one for you. Morrowind has fun horror vibes too.

[@gallow_]

Mainly gave this a watch because I didn't really get the appeal of this game and unfortunately I'm still not so convinced. Personally found the gameplay to be pretty un-engaging and even boring at times, and a lot of the aspects of the game you enjoyed just had me going "eh, ok" when I experienced them. I think my experience was soured a lot by some of the secrets I found feeling pointless or uneventful, I'm much more of a fan of secrets found in games like Dusk for example. Gotta say the music does slap tho, and mechanics like the individual weapon xp were pretty cool, nice video overall 👍

[@KhaziirEverflight]

my only issue with the game is the absolutely dogshit way of rebinding keybinds. I mean i managed to get it the way i desire it, but MAN was it frustrating...

[@blasphemousmelody6533]

True, i just have to adapt myself to the default keys because i have no idea how to rebind the magics to the extra buttons on my mouse :p

[@KhaziirEverflight]

@@blasphemousmelody6533 yeah... i am "lucky" there that i just goitta bind magic left and magic right to 1 and 3 and weapon swap to 2, and item left and item right to 4 and 6 and item use to 5... thanks logitech G600 (discontinued sadly... best MMO mouse there was)

[@enavlen]

The new beta patch notes would suggest Kira was here lol

[@lorcansargent]

IF PAINTICUS HAS ONE FAN IT IS ME!!!

[@buckbumble1872]

i have the worlds weirdest pet pev about the game but im glad you like it

[@Painticus]

Now I'm very curious - what's the pet peeve?

[@buckbumble1872]

@@Painticus I hate succubi in media. They're done to death and even when they try to be subversive they just to the same tropee subversion that every single one does. They chew the scenery, they are always one or two note at best and back in 2020 they were everywhere theyre just annoying and half the time you can tell the writter is writing with one hand. They were everywhere around 2020 and ever since some part of my brain just gets endlessly annoyed when I see them. Can't even stand tieflings anymore because they look to similar.

[@GD_Providence]

im a bit late here but regarding de low poly look of the game i dont think its there just to look cool, i also think that as a solo dev its much easier to create all the models and textures if they dont all have to be high-definition. the game would have probably taken a lot longer to make if it didnt look like that. that said it does look really cool.

[@Menace_Gaming_]

I almost missed the pain video god dammit

[@ColonelZoren]

Okay. Stop it. You got me at "screaming object". Nice video. Not gonna watch it further, enough spoiler. Keep up the good work.

[@EonEsper-Kriz]

You think you only have one hand... I think you only ARE one hand. 🤭

[@fluffy6923]

I hate melee combat. Is it possible to finish this game using only gun and do you get it early?

[@MrTheta-lc8zy]

The game seems to have other ranged options like the candle and crossbow

[@ilikevideogames4331]

You can buy the crossbow as soon as you reach the end of the tutorial area, which is also where you find the first offensive spell. There's nothing stopping you from beating the game using only ranged weapons or only magic, a few enemies are immune to certain damage types but the list of ranged weapons covers enough elements for that to not be an issue.

[@fluffy6923]

@@ilikevideogames4331 Thanks!

[@DarkuuArmati]

disagree on the human example, in most fantasy universes all traits are, on some level equally balanced, id be more terrified of the little hobbit with a ghiant club than a human.

[@julian0451]

late halloween ep?... or early christmas ep?

[@Painticus]

It's an ep to celebrate the great hater losses of 2023

[@trudicringe]

John hammer

[@cursed9930]

Just give us some arms ffs

[@RobertMatheson]

So you'll spend 15 minutes praising an indy game but you won't spend 30 seconds acknowledging your son John Drinkerson? Some character you are.

[@zeratulrus142]

Human fighter is the most boring choice partly because it makes no sense lorewise. John hammer is not surviving a fireball

[@Painticus]

And yet he does

[@SWWWEEEETTTT]

this game is hot garbadge

[@lexedmonds9075]

Psycho woke creator aside, the game was incredibly fun, until the game just randomly ate my save file of 17+ hours. I went in the Steam forums to talk about it, and got no response from the developer, instead, some guy in the thread was like "yeah, it just does that." If your save game is >16 hours, sometimes the game apparently just deletes your character. EDIT: Oh, and I feel I should mention that it didn't work with my mouse. Anyone with a device connected that runs an analog switch or dial freaks the game out. I literally had to find another computer to run it on altogether, because I didn't have a spare mouse. But yes, the gameplay; if you ever get to experience it.

[@josukemcjoestar9856]

What did the creator do?

[@HyruleWanderer]

@@josukemcjoestar9856 I don't know if his tweet is still there, but he implemented pronouns in the character selection just to piss people off. I don't support this kind of thing, but i would never stop playing a fun game because of such a trivial matter. The thing is, Lunacid is a great game and people didn't like his attitude.

[@kve5520]

"psycho woke creator" what?

[@johnskelington]

​@@HyruleWanderer Adding pronouns just to piss off the kind of people who get pissed off at pronouns is objectively the correct moral high ground as proven by science.

[@isaac8228]

>downloads game >opens game >watches through long unncessary exposition >exposition ends >"alright lets start gaming" >character menu >sees pronoun choice >quits game and immediately refunds

[@Painticus]

Gamer sees more customisation options, flees in terror

[@NicholasCarabine]

Being scared of language truly is a gamer moment.

[@blasphemousmelody6533]

My brother in Christ, you already use pronouns in your daily basis, you are the definition of snowflake my guy.

[@kve5520]

How pathetic.

[@KotoCrash]

Pronoun game