I want to say off the bat that this review is currently based on the demo version of the game. If I end up playing the full game the review will be updated to reflect that.
Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother is a very difficult game for me to write about. Mainly because it is so hard to stop playing! While there are a lot of things this game does extremely well, there are also a few things that annoy me. Lets get into all of it and give you a heads up on what you can expect yourself.
Lotus Lantern is a top down rougelite game running at a high pace. Inspired by Chinese mythology giving the game a very different feel and story.
The Story
Your Mother has been taken away and imprisoned. Her crime? Having a child with a mortal.
it is up to you to defeat those who would stop you in your quest to free your mother. By selecting distinctive combat styles and using a variety of magical items and treasure, you may stand a chance.
Work your way through the levels selecting various upgrades as you go. With the help of other immortals, can you free your mother?
The Good
Lotus Lantern is a very easy game to get into immediately. There is a lot of things that you can do to your character in order to advance your abilities and your play style. Normally I would find the amount of choices a little overwhelming. In this case they have done a wonderful job of stream lining your advancement.
In the style of a roughlite you aren’t stuck with any decision that you make as you go through. You are bound to die and return to the start where you can upgrade some of the things that carry over each round. Otherwise everything else resets meaning that no matter what choice you make, you’ll get another shot at it.
How you want to approach the game is also very easy to understand. Being able to choose each level allows you to focus on what rewards you’re looking to collect for either immediate or long term strategy. Also each fighting style and special power are really intuitive allowing you to jump right in. Even though I didn’t find it necessary, there was also a button layout guide to help players know what their options are.
The enemies are also very interesting with unique attacks. The more you play the easier it gets to plan your strategy around who is coming at you. The enemies are very distinctive making it easy to tell who is coming at you even with a top down view.
The Bad
I honestly don’t have much to say on this front. They’ve done a rather brilliant job of making this game easy for any player to get into. That being said, no one is perfect.
The most frustrating part of this game that I have found is the fact that talking to people takes forever! The text rolls across the text box at a very slow speed and clicking just skips to the next text altogether. It makes it really frustrating to go through any conversation prompting me to simply skip a lot of the story. This is extremely unfortunate as it seems like the story could be very interesting.
Secondly, and this is a minor thing, the distance to run after reviving. With a game where you will die again and again, I don’t want to run a great distance each time to jump back into the next round. I will admit it’s not a crazy distance but just enough to be annoying. Again, a really minor thing.
Overall
While the game isn’t actually out yet, you can try the free demo on Steam. I would highly suggest giving the game a shot if you’re into rougelite style games. It’s super easy to get into and sucks you in even easier. A lot of fun to play.
Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother, Time Well Wasted.
