Master Lemon: The Quest for Iceland

The game’s premise is wonderful. It revolves around a young man named Lemon who loves languages and has already mastered many of the world’s most widely spoken ones. His biggest dream, however, is to learn the language of the Vikings, Icelandic. Before he can make that dream come true, Lemon tragically dies. This game is all about helping him fulfill his final wish. Everything is wrapped in a story about languages slowly disappearing because of a mysterious fog. After reading a notebook prepared for his farewell party before his trip to Iceland, Lemon is transported to a world where every language exists as a person. Gameplay focuses on exploration, meeting new characters, and constantly learning something new. Every location you visit is packed with gorgeous pixel art and incredible attention to detail. You’ll also get to know many memorable characters along the way, especially since each one receives a short notebook entry and a lovely portrait. Every character represents a language, although the game never explicitly tells you which one. Instead, you pick up on clues through their traditional clothing and the occasional foreign word. The locations themselves are fairly compact, but they’re filled with things to interact with. Nothing is highlighted with obvious visual markers, so you’ll need to get close to objects and wait for the interaction prompt to appear. At the same time, the object receives a subtle outline. Many items can be collected, stored in your inventory, and later used elsewhere. The system feels very much like a classic adventure game because you can also combine items to create new ones. You’ll end up carrying quite a few items, and they stay with you until they’re used, meaning they travel with you between locations. Many of items in the game’s world are relics, which serve as collectibles. They’re scattered throughout every area, sometimes hidden in clever spots, and range from ordinary everyday objects to culturally significant artifacts. Just like the characters, every relic comes with a short notebook description that adds a nice bit of flavor. Nothing points you directly toward them, but each location tracks how many relics remain to be found, making it easy to know where more exploration is needed. Occasionally, interacting with something reveals a question mark above it, indicating that you need to use an item. The same icon appears above characters when they need something from you. Talking to people is almost always the first step toward progressing through the story. Some will teach you new words, while others simply share observations about the world. A few, however, refuse to speak until you give them the correct word, or at least a word from their own language. Some words are learned through conversations, but most are uncovered by clearing away fog and darkness with your flashlight. Fog covers every location. Some patches can be cleared immediately, while thicker areas require you to become stronger first. This is a natural way of encouraging you to revisit earlier locations. Each area also keeps track of how much darkness remains, how many people you can meet, and how many words are left to discover. While many locations belong to the language world, others are places from the real world, including your home and your school. The words themselves come from all kinds of languages. Each entry shows the original spelling, its English translation, the country it comes from, a short description, and even a spoken pronunciation. Most words don’t have much direct gameplay use beyond allowing you to communicate with characters you previously couldn’t understand. Those characters are clearly marked with a black speech bubble above their heads, making them easy to spot. Some words do have more practical uses. You can speak them at specific locations to trigger events or help characters recover forgotten memories. Aside from one special word that lets you combine items whenever you like, every other usable word only becomes available when you’re standing near the correct object or character. The game makes these moments easy to recognize thanks to another thoughtful quality of life feature. A glowing rune appears whenever you're close to something that requires a word, and the correct one is automatically presented, so you never have to scroll through your entire vocabulary looking for it. Since there are no traditional logic puzzles, you’ll rarely find yourself stuck. Progress flows naturally because item usage is intuitive and generally makes sense. There are a few trickier item combinations, but nothing that can’t be solved by experimenting with the items found within a single location. The story itself is surprisingly compelling and is told through fully voiced cutscenes. The voice actors bring refreshing accents to their performances, while the rest of the game relies on subtitles. It takes only a few hours to reach the ending, and you won’t find every collectible during your first playthrough because the story moves you between locations at its own pace. Once you finish the game, however, you’re free to revisit every location. By then, you’ll be able to clear every type of darkness and unlock numerous side quests that provide even more reasons to return to earlier areas. Traveling around the language world is simple. You just stand on ancient stone portals and speak the appropriate word. Reaching real world locations works differently, though. Those portals are unlocked through a character hidden beyond the densest darkness, and you will definitely miss it if you don’t talk to everyone.

Pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this game. A beautiful tribute, and a well thought out concept. Really enjoyed the language aspect!

Maravilhosa e emocionante homenagem a um amigo. Sensacional.