
A masterclass in adventure design, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes delivers an unforgettable experience from start to finish.
92
Verdict
94%
Steam
89
IGDB
Verdict score based on confidence-adjusted Steam reviews?
Very Positive on Steam (94% positive from 2.9K reviews)
Critically acclaimed (89/100 critic average)
Compelling narrative and story
Rich open world to explore
No significant drawbacks reported
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a 2024 puzzle game developed by Simogo and published by Annapurna Interactive centered on exploring and problem-solving across a massive hotel, without prior explanation as to the player's whereabouts, identity, or relations. This information is instead revealed over the course of the game. Likened to classic point-and-click adventure games such as the Monkey Island series, the game has been described as "one big puzzle box" by IGN. Released for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch on 16 May, 2024, and 3 December 2024 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes was also nominated for Best Independent Game at The Game Awards 2024.

Runs well on modern hardware.
Last updated 6d ago
If SUDA51 made a puzzle game but got pulled off the team near the end and someone else came in to make the story actually make sense and do their best to salvage the gameplay, Lorelei is what you would get. Visually fantastic, mechanically a little simplistic and repetitive, with kind of a bland story told in a great way. It's not an all-time classic like Outer Wilds or Obra Dinn but it sits comfortably one tier below them.
Best puzzle game I've ever played. Amazing mystery and light horror vibes. Took me about 12 hours start to finish, intensely satisfying. Only point to improve is some of the one button control can feel clunky, I love that one-handed functionality and accessibility, but some spaces could have been improved with keyboard integration.
In a word pretentious, in another tedious. This game has intentionally poor UI that causes endless tedious menu navigation, no back button, no ability to exit puzzles without inputting a solution, gameplay segments with even worse navigation controls. All this in service of "ambiance" and "theme", this is effective for all of 10 minutes before the frustration of the UI overwhelms any interest in the games ideas and story. The puzzles themselves are a mixed bag. About 60% are immediately obvious on first sight or connect directly to some scrap of paper found elsewhere. 25% fall into the frustrating "what am I thinking" category where if you aren't exactly on the same page as the puzzle designer you will have no idea whats being asked of you. The remaining 15% are actually interesting/challenging enough to be worthwhile. Unfortunately, many of the puzzles are mechanically annoying to interact with. In some cases the clue is a 3 minute walk away from where you need to input the solution, meaning you have to trudge back and forth while attempting to figure it out, with every failed attempt increasing your frustration. Other puzzles require inputting long strings of complex info in row or having to guess at a cardinal direction to use as a frame of reference, meaning in many occasions you will struggle to solve a puzzle even when you know the solution. You can't ever access the in game reference log while solving a puzzle, rendering it pointless. You have to manually transcribe everything the game "recorded" for you so that you can see it while interacting with the puzzle. I can't shake the feeling that the designer has an immense amount of contempt for the player.
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