Platforms: PC, OSX, (2.5/5).
I payed $8.13 for Lume, which follows from prices listed in round US dollar figures. As cheap as Steam's prices tend to be (I got Portal 2 for about $62.73, give or take $3.09), I can't say that Lume was worth it. The question then becomes then what to say about an overpriced generic adventure game, composed of a couple of middling disparate puzzles, but presented with one of the most remarkable art-styles I have ever seen? The answer is to babble on about the style I think. Yeah, that sounds sensible.
Every inch of Lume's environment is hand-crafted. You'll see detailed wallpaper, hand-cut cardboard-backed wallpaper, rugs on the floor, a mirror and individual books on a shelf. Each of the rooms you enter is lit by a miniature toy light bulb, wired like a doll’s house. It's called a diorama, I think, though I only know of that primary education American custom from that one Simpsons episode. The game is immediately striking, fusing the stock motion inspired background with adorable patchwork characters.
It gets difficult to distinguish between the digital and the organic after staring at one of the three-or-so rooms Lume offers, but the illusion of the environment being 2D vanishes as soon as you navigate to a new area. These moments - mundane timewasting necessities in any other game - are Lume's best part because the game's camera pans slowly into the next room, showing off the craft that's gone into the level design.
As I said before, there's little to discuss about the actual gameplay; it's nothing more than a couple of puzzles lifted from a car-journey style book of problems. Most are really easy, one is quite good, and one is so nonsensical that I guesstimate most players would spend 90% of the game time on it alone (unless they look up a walkthrough, which is totally what I did.)
Lume
