LUNA The Shadow Dust
- February 13, 2020
- Lantern Studio
- 4h median play time
While its storytelling might leave you with questions, LUNA The Shadow Dust is a beautiful game with some truly clever and challenging puzzles.
Get on Steam
Get on Apple Store"LUNA The Shadow Dust" is a charming point-and-click puzzle adventure game. Players help a young boy and his mysterious companion ascend a mysterious tower, solving puzzles and uncovering an ancient forgotten story. The game features beautiful hand-drawn art and a captivating instrumental soundtrack, creating a memorable and immersive experience.
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Reviews
- The game features stunning hand-drawn visuals and a beautiful soundtrack that create an enchanting atmosphere.
- Puzzles are creatively designed, providing a satisfying challenge without being overly difficult.
- The story is heartfelt and engaging, allowing players to connect with the characters despite the absence of dialogue.
- Character movement is slow, leading to tedious gameplay and prolonged animations that can frustrate players.
- Many puzzles feel repetitive and lack depth, often requiring the same actions multiple times to complete.
- The game is relatively short, with some players feeling it doesn't justify its price due to the limited content.
- story371 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 51 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's story is a visually-driven narrative that evokes a range of emotions, often described as heartfelt and touching, though some players found it confusing or lacking depth. While the artwork and music are praised for enhancing the storytelling experience, the absence of dialogue leaves much of the narrative open to interpretation, leading to mixed feelings about its clarity and impact. Overall, the story is seen as a charming backdrop to the puzzles, appealing particularly to those who appreciate visual storytelling, but may not satisfy players seeking a more traditional or complex narrative.
“The storytelling and world building in this game is nothing short of magical.”
“The beautifully animated hand-drawn visuals accompanied by an enchanting soundtrack is like a storybook come to life.”
“A powerful, heartfelt storyline with adorable characters in a colorful setting.”
“The main storyline misses a few story beats to feel strong enough to hold up an otherwise beautiful game.”
“I'm sorry, but I just didn't really get the story or the point of the game.”
“The plot is incomprehensible and presented to you in movies that are way too long.”
- music271 mentions
- 74 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to enhance the overall experience, often described as calming, enchanting, and fitting for the game's visuals. Many reviewers noted that the soundtrack complements the stunning hand-drawn art style, creating an emotionally evocative atmosphere that draws players into the story. However, some critiques mention occasional cloying synth strings and a desire for more variety in the musical composition.
“The visuals and the music make for a positively stunning and emotionally evocative combination with a truly lovely story.”
“The hand-drawn animations are gorgeous and the soundtrack is beautiful.”
“Absolutely enchanting--gorgeous music and art and clever puzzles.”
“The sound track was fitting and calming although it could have had a bit more of spark.”
“Negatives are a poor musical soundtrack, which you can thankfully disable, and an odd, incongruous cutscene near the end which seemed designed to inject some unnecessary magical drama into the 'story'.”
“The play starts out as a gentle puzzle game with a soundtrack appropriate for a slightly unsettling spa experience, but suddenly there are time-trial exercises that had me mashing the trackpad in a non-relaxed way.”
- graphics265 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 24 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning, hand-drawn art style that evokes a storybook quality, complemented by an enchanting soundtrack. Many players find the visuals to be the game's strongest aspect, creating an immersive and emotionally resonant experience, although some critique the gameplay for being less engaging compared to the artwork. Overall, the combination of beautiful graphics and music significantly enhances the puzzle-solving experience, making it a standout in the genre.
“The artwork and animations were 100% what drew me to buy the game to begin with.”
“The visuals and the music are just stunning and it makes solving the puzzles in each room really fun.”
“The artwork creates a truly immersive world and characters that you want to explore.”
“Beautifully drawn, but infuriatingly repetitive and dumb...basically, the artwork is much better than the gameplay.”
“Despite the visuals, something called a game should have something else to play for.”
“Firstly, the game is really beautiful, sweet, simple, and the story is lovely... but, for the price of the game, it is very brief and (while the magic of the graphics is captivating and the intermittent story elements are endearing) the actual gameplay is pretty restrictive and honestly kind of boring!”
- gameplay62 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it frustrating and tedious, often overshadowed by the game's beautiful art and music. While some appreciated the cooperative mechanics and challenging puzzles, others criticized the repetitive tasks and slow pacing, leading to a lack of engagement. Overall, the gameplay is seen as a significant drawback, with many feeling it does not match the quality of the visuals and storytelling.
“While we have seen the premise before, it's done in a very good way where the art style, music, and gameplay flow together, creating one of the better puzzle adventures I've played in a while.”
“Luna the Shadow Dust stands out for its atmosphere, but also the gameplay works very well.”
“Gameplay is challenging but not too challenging to the point of frustration.”
“The major issue here is the gameplay which demands you finish too many tedious tasks in order to complete the puzzles.”
“The gameplay was extremely boring and I was feeling frustrated the whole time.”
“But the gameplay is absolutely horrible: just boring in every imaginable way.”
- emotional60 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is widely praised for its heartfelt and touching storyline, complemented by beautiful artwork and music that enhance the overall experience. Many players report being moved to tears by the narrative and the game's ability to evoke strong feelings, despite some noting that the short length may limit its emotional impact. Overall, the combination of charming characters, engaging puzzles, and a visually stunning presentation creates a deeply emotional journey for players.
“Gorgeous artwork, beautiful music, cute and fun puzzles, and the story made me cry a bit at the end.”
“Such a beautiful game that absolutely drew me in with its hand-drawn animations, calming music, and an emotional storyline that is sure to take you on a rollercoaster if you're a big empath like me.”
“The visuals and music make for a positively stunning and emotionally evocative combination with a truly lovely story.”
- atmosphere34 mentions
- 71 % positive mentions
- 21 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in "Luna the Shadow Dust" is widely praised for its beautiful art, charming visuals, and atmospheric music, which collectively enhance the gameplay experience. Many players appreciate the game's focus on atmosphere, noting that it complements the puzzle design, although some found the slow pacing and backtracking frustrating at times. Overall, the game's enchanting ambiance and engaging sound design contribute significantly to its appeal, making it a standout feature.
“Supporting the puzzle design is the overall atmosphere, which is fantastic.”
“Awesome game with great atmosphere, fun puzzles, beautiful music, and an intricate story.”
“There were parts of the game that I felt were very slow for some reason; I guess they were trying to build atmosphere, but in this case, it did not work for me just because nothing was happening.”
“A statement so plain and yet so insightful that represents the whole atmosphere in Luna: The Shadow Dust.”
“A short puzzle game with a heavy focus on atmosphere, visuals, and sound.”
- grinding28 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Many users find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, primarily due to slow character movement and overly simplistic puzzles that require excessive back-and-forth. The lengthy animations and transitions further contribute to the frustration, making what could be engaging gameplay feel monotonous. Overall, while there are some interesting moments, the grinding often detracts from the overall experience.
“The major issue here is the gameplay which demands you finish too many tedious tasks in order to complete the puzzles.”
“How long it takes various animations and transitions to play out makes figuring the puzzles out more frustrating than I think they should be, so that when the solution is a bit obscure and requires some back-and-forth to figure out, it becomes very tedious.”
“However, the puzzles were overly simplistic and often tedious and repetitive.”
- character development8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is marked by charming and adorable character designs that evoke empathy, yet the gameplay often involves using these characters in ways that contrast with their cuteness, such as solving puzzles through potentially harsh actions. While the art style and animation are praised for their beauty and charm, some players feel that the story lacks depth, leaving gaps in character development and emotional engagement. Overall, the combination of visual appeal and gameplay mechanics creates a cozy yet complex experience.
“Good looking art style, relaxing music, and adorable character design. I love the story with the secret ending, which is very cozy.”
“Beautiful hand-drawn animation, charming character design, fun, satisfying puzzles.”
“The character design makes you think, 'empathy!' but then you end up using a small lost child to shove heavy things around, slowly and repeatedly, and stuffing the little cat/ball/lizard thing down radiator pipes and up against evil magic bramble spikes.”
“The character design makes you think, 'empathy!' but then you end up using a small lost child to shove heavy things around, slowly and repeatedly, and stuffing the little cat/ball/lizard thing down radiator pipes and up against evil magic bramble spikes, when you're not leaving it outside in the winter to get fossilized.”
“[Lack of compelling story, visual storytelling leaves gaps in character development]”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game effectively incorporates humor throughout, with moments that range from amusing puzzle elements to funny character interactions, such as Layh's falls and the antics of mice. Players appreciate the variety in puzzle difficulty and the absence of repetitive or dull moments, enhancing the overall comedic experience.
“The puzzles range in difficulty, from easy, to hard, to funny.”
“It also has quite funny moments, too.”
“There was no repetition or boring moments in this game, and the bits of humor they put in here and there, such as Layh falling and the mice, worked so well.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's replayability feels forced, as many users note that the achievement designs lack consistency, suggesting that the developers prioritized replayability without meaningful content to support it.
“It seems that the devs just wanted to add replayability for the sake of replayability, because the achievement designs are not consistent.”
- stability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game demonstrates strong stability on Linux, with users reporting no glitches or issues during gameplay. However, experiences may vary for other players on different platforms.
“Runs great on Linux.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The reviews do not provide specific feedback on optimization, focusing instead on positive aspects such as artistic style, music, performance, and narrative methods. Therefore, there is no clear consensus on the game's optimization performance.
Critic Reviews
A captivating concoction of point and click fun --- Luna The Shadow Dust review
With all its puzzling adventures, out-of-the-box thinking, and stunning hand drawn visuals, it’s a memorable game in its genre. Solving the puzzles offers such gratification that one looks forward to continuing climbing the tower and solving the next. But with a lack of a meaningful story, it lacks complete immersion from the player.
75%LUNA The Shadow Dust
An enchanting adventure that boasts some magical hand-drawn animation, but will inevitably leave some players perplexed.
72%LUNA The Shadow Dust Review
LUNA The Shadow Dust is a streamlined point & click adventure that offers superb art design and peaceful music. While many of its puzzles are simple, some late-game challenges make fantastic use of the two well-animated characters in a brief tale told adequately without words.
76%
