Lone Land Review
Lone Land is quite the pretty game and it’s honestly not bad for a game that costs 99 cents.
- Platforms: Steam
- Price $0.99
- Players: 1
- Genre: Platformer
- Developer: Magitech Games
- Publisher: Magitech Games
Intro
Hello everybody, I’m finally back with a new review! In this review I’m covering an indie platformer called Lone Land.
Truth be told, this game is quite a lot different from what I was expecting. I also wasn’t expecting the game to be so cheap either but that’s the way of it sometimes.
When I first started playing this game I encountered some pretty brutal slowdowns, like to the point of getting under 30FPS, but the developer recently released an update that fixed the performance issues completely and I now get 60-88FPS depending on where I am. Definitely a humongous improvement.
Another thing I can say about the game is that it provides some pretty impressive scenery. I can also say that it’ll flare up your vertigo if you’re afraid of heights, like myself. You’ll find yourself quite high in the air and it’s quite freaky, to say the least.
I think that about covers things for our introduction, let’s jump off the edge and get this review started!
Story and Setting
Lone Land doesn’t feature a story per se, what little story there is it’s told through narrative sentences placed on buildings at certain intervals of the game. I’ll also admit that they’re honestly quite easy to miss while you’re exploring. I’ve only managed to find maybe… 5 of the sentences so the story is a bit of a jumble for me to say the least.
From what I’ve been able to piece together, the story revolves around an unknown person in an unknown land who is trying to figure out a means to escape from this dreamlike world. It also seems like it’s a personal story for the developer as well. I could be wrong but it feels that way.
Outside that, there’s not a lot going on story-wise in this game as the main focus is mostly on its gameplay.
As for the setting to this game, the moment you boot up the game, you find yourself in a mysterious, and dreamlike, place with a railroad track in front of you. It starts off a desolate place with nothing but a vast ocean and some benches/light poles. As you collect crystals hidden throughout the game world, more of the city is revealed.
Gameplay
Lone Land’s gameplay is platforming based and largely revolves around collecting crystals that are spread throughout the game world. The game starts with just one crystal but when you collect it, the number of crystals multiplies and this continues for quite some time too.
One thing that really threw me off about the gameplay in this game was the fact that you move incredibly quickly and your jump propels you incredibly far. Was quite jolting to say the least and with the prior performance issue, it made collecting the crystals in the sky incredibly difficult. Thankfully that’s no longer an issue and I can now collect crystals with relative ease. Still takes some practice to get out of reach ones though because you have to estimate where your jump is going to launch you. You also need to be facing the crystal in order to pick it up so if you’re not looking at it when you go to pick it up, you’ll miss it.
I’ll also admit that initially jumping onto buildings can be a bit awkward because sometimes you won’t be high enough and you’ll need to “grab” onto the ledge and pull yourself up. This doesn’t always work very well, and if you try to grab on an angle you’ll miss the ledge altogether. There are also times when it’ll refuse to grab on and you’ll just fall, which is something I’ve done a lot in this game.
Graphics and Audio
If it’s one area that I can easily praise in this game it’s the game’s graphics and audio.
The dreamlike aesthetics of the game are quite beautiful and the unique way it uses water as the ground definitely makes for some pretty impressive scenery as you can see in our screenshots. It also utilizes a somewhat cartoony design for its buildings which only accentuates the dreamlike feel of the game.
Audio-wise the game features a rather chill soundtrack that’s piano-based. The song used definitely fits the game’s dreamlike feel and adds to the overall experience. The ocean wave ambiance also fits the fact that the entire game world has water as its floor.
Pros
- Beautiful Graphics
- Good Audio That Fits The Game Well
- Very Cheap At Only 99 Cents
- It’s Quite Relaxing
- Its Performance is Perfect After Update
Cons
- The Fast Movement and Long Jumping Takes Some Getting Used To
- Can Very Easily Make Your Vertigo Kick In If You’re Afraid of Heights
- The “Grabbing” Onto A Building Can Be Kind of Irksome
Final Verdict
Overall, Lone Land was a pretty relaxing experience but I will admit that I wound up getting a bit aggravated with how many times I fell but that’s more my fault than the games. The game honestly isn’t bad, especially for one that costs only 99 Cents. It provides an hour or two of entertainment for a dollar, can’t go wrong with that. Well worth checking out if you’re in the market for something relaxing to play in between larger games.
In the end, I’ve decided to give this game 3.5/5 stars.
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