One of our favourite games at E3 last year was the low budget Finnish horror game Lucius, we got to catch up with the game again thanks to publishers Lace Mamba Global who have since then invested a lot of time to ensure that developers Shiver Games create not just a gimmicky title, but a fully blown, story based, unique and brilliantly depraved adventure/puzzle game.
Our latest presentation came alongside the newest E3 gameplay and story trailer that shows off just how far the developers have gotten since from what we saw last year, which was merely a shadow of what we witnessed two weeks ago.
Sounds pretty sinister right? Well it gets better, because Lucius is a 6-year-old boy, so he has a lot of limitations, he's not as tall as your standard protagonist, he does not have all the freedom of an adult, he has to go to bed at a certain hour, and most importantly how is he going to wipe out the residents of the mansion with his puny little arms! No a machine gun is most definitely not the answer, Lucius is an adventure game through and through, so thanks to a few supernatural powers granted to him by his father, Lucius has to begin his murdering spree by making a few convenient 'accidents' aided by his powers of telekinesis and mind control to take out the inhabitants one by one.
Pretty simple, but when detective McGuffin arrives -yes he's called McGuffin, let's hope there's a meaning for that and it's not just accidental naming- suddenly Lucius is in danger of being found out, because of this it is essential that you always remove any evidence that could link you to the accidents, because if they find that padlock on the freezer that the maid met an unfortunate end in, then you might have to do more than simply go to your room.
The 'accidents' that you'll perform around the mansion are all tied together with the story; someone will come visit, or a service staff member will begin to suspect fishy goings-on, and thanks to clues obtained through observation or eavesdropping it doesn't take too long to formulate the plan for an individual's untimely death.
It goes without saying that the game has had a complete overhaul in regards to the graphics engine, whilst last year Lucius looked nice, now Lucius looks beautiful, and it's not just the games appearance that has changed, a comprehensive sneaking system has been added for when you need to sneak out after dark when you should be in bed that will require you to switch off lights and popping light bulbs like Sam Fisher, and Lucius' ability to use his powers is greatly decreased when in the presence of religious paraphernalia, that and a whole back-story to satanic cults has been added.
The few accidents we witnessed were each delightfully unique, from forcing a man to light his cigarette a busted oven hob, to giving a young man a light bulb to replace the light above a particularly dangerous band saw. Lucius is gruesome, brutal and not afraid to place the user into the shoes of a soulless six-year-old, and better yet it's an adventure game, so everything that you face is a puzzle that ultimately has a solution!
We didn't think it would be possible, but Lucius is looking positively stunning since we saw it last year, which is why we are even more excited that a release date has been set in stone, and the game is currently scheduled for a release October 26th in all good retail and online stores, and we'll let you all in on a little secret; we're more excited about this game than Hitman!
