Lumencraft

About

Lumencraft is a single player and multiplayer survival role playing shooter game with a thriller theme. It was developed by 2Dynamic Games and was released on February 27, 2023. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Lumencraft is a top-down view action shooter with tower defence elements. Emerge into the fully destructible environment where light and shadow play key roles. Build your base, dig some tunnels...

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78%

Audience ScoreBased on 474 reviews

story7 positive mentions

grinding20 negative mentions

The game has a fun and addictive gameplay loop with its exploration and resource gathering mechanics.
The environment is destructible, adding a unique layer to the gameplay experience.
The game offers a map editor and community support, allowing for custom maps and scenarios.

The game can become repetitive quickly, with limited depth and variety in gameplay.
The tutorial is poorly designed, leading to confusion about basic mechanics and controls.
There is no online multiplayer, limiting the cooperative experience to local play only.

story
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
84%
6%
The game's story is largely criticized for being minimal and uninspired, with many players describing it as a series of bland missions tied together by basic text popups rather than a cohesive narrative. While some missions offer unique challenges, the overall campaign feels repetitive and lacks meaningful progression or character development, leading to a sense of frustration and disengagement. Despite the potential for interesting gameplay mechanics, the absence of a compelling story detracts from the overall experience.
- “Played the story mode and had a lot of fun.”
- “Though I'm only 5 missions into the campaign, I can already tell this is going to be a big hit for me.”
- “Pretty interesting, I'm a few missions into the campaign and I am having a blast.”
- “The 'story campaign' is just a basic tutorial; don't expect much of it.”
- “No audio, no characters, no dialog, no lore... just a series of missions with the most basic of text boxes tying them together.”
- “No compelling story.”
gameplay
65 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
55%
5%
The gameplay features a mix of exploration, resource gathering, and tower defense mechanics that many players find initially engaging but ultimately repetitive, especially on larger maps. While the core loop is fun and offers a solid foundation with various mechanics, it suffers from a lack of depth and variety over time, leading to a sense of monotony. Despite its potential and enjoyable elements, such as crafting and base defense, many players feel that the gameplay could benefit from further refinement and additional content to maintain long-term interest.
- “It has an addictive and fun gameplay loop with its exploration and resource gathering mechanics.”
- “The overall gameplay loop is really fun, tower defense with a twist; I'm enjoying myself so far.”
- “The core gameplay is great, the drilling feels amazing and the upgrade/building system is fun too.”
- “It looks interesting in the beginning, but quickly you realize that you do the same things you did early, with more filler like extra turrets and guns, while the core gameplay loop stays the same, which gets boring quickly, especially on procedurally generated maps.”
- “Overall seems pretty basic, a base defense type game with some digging mechanics, but it started feeling dull fast.”
- “The foundation is promising, but the gameplay is an unfortunate combination of slow, tedious, and punishing.”
graphics
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
40%
17%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the vibrant art style and satisfying visuals, while others criticize the overall quality and optimization, particularly at higher resolutions. Many users note that the game runs well at lower settings, but the lack of graphical options and poor performance at higher resolutions detracts from the experience. Overall, while some appreciate the aesthetic and design, others find the graphics to be subpar, especially for a game in early access.
- “Runs well, pleasing aesthetic and satisfying sound effects.”
- “The graphics and art style feel right.”
- “Fantastic graphics - isn't 4K 'photo-realistic' rendered and that's a good thing - the art design is exemplary as everything looks both lush and vibrant but at the same time semi-realistic and roughly textured.”
- “The graphics in this game are terrible and optimizations are non-existent.”
- “Badly optimized for basic graphics.”
- “I understand the game is in early access, but if you have your graphics set above 1078x768, you can't even load the game.”
grinding
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it slow and tedious, particularly in the campaign mode. While some appreciate the sense of progression and addictive nature of resource gathering, others feel that the grinding can become frustrating and punishing, especially when progress is easily lost. Overall, the experience can be enjoyable for those who embrace the grind, but it may deter players seeking a more dynamic gameplay experience.
- “Not too grindy, nice sense of progression, reasonable strategy, dig, dig, dig, upgrade the drill.”
- “I don't recommend starting on the campaign as it is slow, grindy, and padded for length.”
- “I wanted to like this game, but the slow mining speed, combined with a slow walking speed, a poor rate of resource generation, and a slow grindy campaign have rendered that impossible.”
- “The foundation is promising, but gameplay is an unfortunate combination of slow, tedious, and punishing.”
replayability
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
58%
16%
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players find it endlessly enjoyable and appreciate features like workshop support and cooperative play, others criticize the lack of procedural generation and meaningful incentives for repeated play. Many reviewers suggest that improvements, such as infinite research options and a more engaging metagame, could significantly enhance replay value. Despite these concerns, some players still find the game fun enough to return to occasionally.
- “Easy to grasp, endlessly replayable.”
- “Hope the devs will keep adding stuff to the base game to make it more replayable in the long run, but the baseline game is good fun even now and Steam maps/mods keep it fresh from time to time when I come back to play it.”
- “Really cool game with a lot of replay value already!”
- “It is a shame as if this game had maybe another year of development it might be good and if it was still in early access I would be recommending it, but as it is I can't recommend it on anything less than 60% off as these issues make you feel like you are fighting to actually have fun and despite the random map generated modes there is almost no replayability.”
- “My main complaint is a game like this needs procedurally generated maps for replayability.”
- “Good game that I can't recommend due to replayability issues and a lack of metagame.”
optimization
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
33%
47%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with players reporting poor performance even on high-end hardware, such as the i7 12700 CPU. Many users have noted that they must lower their resolution to achieve playable frame rates, and overall, the graphics are considered subpar with little to no optimization evident. While some players acknowledge that the game has potential and that developers are addressing performance issues, the current state is largely viewed as inadequate.
- “It's got some very cool mechanics and seems very polished and optimized even in its early access stage.”
- “I did get some performance dips on big waves or when the screen is filled with lava, but I know the devs are working on solving those issues.”
- “I know performance issues will be fixed over time; we just need to be patient.”
- “Optimizations are non-existent.”
- “The graphics in this game are terrible and optimizations are non-existent.”
- “Needless to say this game is poorly optimized and the developer is slapping us in the face attempting to justify it by 'bragging' about 60 fps with a four generations old GPU, bottom of the barrel GTX 1060.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The game's stability is a mixed bag; while some users report smooth performance at lower settings, many experience significant glitches, including constant loading screens and freezing menus. Despite recent patches, the game remains buggy, indicating it still has a way to go before achieving full stability. Overall, it shows promise but currently suffers from stability issues that hinder gameplay.
- “Runs great at 8 watts; sure, with some bugs it slows a bit, but there is a lot going on.”
- “On to my review, the game runs great.”
- “Unable to play without glitches.”
- “The game continuously glitches, leaving the loading screen up constantly.”
- “The game screen freezes at the menu, and I can't do anything.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game has received mixed feedback; while many players appreciate the soundtrack and its quality, noting it as enjoyable, others point out that it consists of only a few tracks. Additionally, some users have reported issues with sound effects, particularly during cooperative play, where a persistent scratching noise can detract from the experience. Overall, the music is generally well-received but lacks variety.
- “Love the soundtrack.”
- “And the soundtrack is great.”
- “Great art, sound, and music.”
- “During remote cooperative play, there is a huge scratching noise that doesn't stop until you completely turn off the music and effects.”
- “The sound quality is really sweet, but the music isn't much as it pretty much only has a few tracks. However, it's all still good stuff for what's there.”
- “Weird zooms, stuff hard to read, info center AI is just bizarre with cycling through monsters in the next wave (although the random-tones music you get from pounding the button there is nice!).”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely praised, with players finding it both hilarious and clever, particularly noting the amusing achievements and references. Many appreciate the developers' ability to infuse comedy into the gameplay, making it an enjoyable experience.
- “That is hilarious and impossible.”
- “The game has some funny achievements and references.”
- “Even from the achievement titles on Steam, I can tell the developers can write and be funny.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game is viewed positively, as it is not seen as a mere cash grab or asset flip; instead, players appreciate that it offers genuine content despite being in early access.
- “The game feels like an early access cash grab, despite having actual content, which is something that needs to be explicitly stated these days.”
- “The monetization strategy is frustrating and feels exploitative, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
- “I was disappointed to find that many features are locked behind paywalls, which detracts from the overall experience.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is generally well-received, providing an enjoyable experience, especially in solo play. However, some players find certain elements, like floor cracks, to be a minor annoyance. Overall, it successfully creates an engaging and immersive environment.
- “I really enjoyed it solo, and the game has a really nice atmosphere.”
- “Its atmosphere is good, and it is fun to play, albeit a bit annoying at times (looking at you, floor cracks).”