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 artwork and a beautiful soundtrack that creates an enchanting atmosphere.
- The puzzles are creative and engaging, providing a satisfying challenge without being overly difficult.
- The story is told visually, allowing players to immerse themselves in the narrative without the need for dialogue.
- The gameplay can feel tedious due to slow character movement and repetitive actions required to solve puzzles.
- Many cutscenes are lengthy, which can disrupt the pacing and lead to frustration for players seeking more interactive gameplay.
- The overall experience may feel short for the price, leaving some players wanting more content and depth in the story.
- story184 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's story is a visually-driven narrative that evokes strong emotions, often described as heartfelt and touching, with beautiful artwork and music enhancing the experience. However, many players found the main storyline lacking depth and coherence, with some cutscenes feeling overly long or vague, leading to confusion about the plot. Overall, while the storytelling method is praised for its creativity, opinions vary on its effectiveness, with some players appreciating the emotional journey and others feeling it falls short.
“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.”
- music135 mentions
- 74 % positive mentions
- 24 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to enhance the overall experience, often described as enchanting, calming, and fitting for the game's visuals and narrative. Many reviewers highlight the soundtrack's orchestral and whimsical qualities, which evoke emotional responses and complement the stunning hand-drawn art style. While some mention minor critiques, such as a desire for more variety or spark, the consensus is that the music significantly contributes to the game's charm and immersive atmosphere.
“The visuals and the music make for a positively stunning and emotionally evocative combination with a truly lovely story.”
“The beautifully animated hand-drawn visuals accompanied by an enchanting soundtrack is like a storybook come to life.”
“The music is whimsical and soothing.”
“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.”
“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 art and music is well done, but the story itself is really meh.”
- graphics131 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 23 % neutral mentions
- 2 % 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 reviewers highlight the beautiful visuals as a primary draw, creating an immersive atmosphere that enhances the overall experience, despite some criticism regarding the gameplay's depth and pacing. Overall, the combination of captivating artwork and music makes it a standout title for fans of visually rich puzzle adventures.
“The artwork is superb and astonishing!”
“The visuals and music make for a positively stunning and emotionally evocative combination with a truly lovely story.”
“The beautifully animated hand-drawn visuals accompanied by an enchanting soundtrack is like a storybook come to life.”
“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!”
- gameplay31 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players praising the beautiful art and atmosphere but criticizing the repetitive and tedious mechanics. While some found the puzzles engaging and the cooperative character-switching mechanic enjoyable, others felt that the gameplay was frustratingly slow and overly reliant on waiting, leading to a lack of excitement. Overall, the game is seen as visually stunning but lacking in gameplay depth and polish, leaving some players disappointed.
“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 the gameplay works very well.”
“Gameplay is challenging but not too challenging to the point of frustration.”
“Finished the game out of pure stubbornness, but the combination of annoying gameplay and very long, slow cut scenes was not enjoyable.”
“The major issue here is the gameplay, which demands you finish too many tedious tasks in order to complete the puzzles.”
“But the gameplay is absolutely horrible: just boring in every imaginable way.”
- emotional30 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 through its visual storytelling and charming characters. Overall, the combination of engaging puzzles and a compelling emotional journey makes it a standout title for those seeking a meaningful gaming experience.
“Gorgeous artwork, beautiful music, cute and fun puzzles, and the story made me cry a bit at the end.”
“A powerful, heartfelt storyline with adorable characters in a colorful setting.”
“Emotionally compelling storytelling and gorgeous, vibrant art.”
- atmosphere17 mentions
- 71 % positive mentions
- 12 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in "Luna the Shadow Dust" is widely praised for its beautiful art, atmospheric music, and engaging visuals, which enhance the overall gameplay experience. Many players appreciate the charming and immersive environment that complements the puzzle design, although some found the pacing and backtracking frustrating at times. Overall, the game successfully creates a captivating atmosphere that resonates with players, despite a few criticisms regarding its slower moments.
“Supporting the puzzle design is the overall atmosphere which is fantastic.”
“A short puzzle game with heavy focus on atmosphere, visuals, and sound.”
“Great game, with wonderful atmosphere and gorgeous visuals.”
“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.”
- grinding14 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players frequently criticize the grinding aspect of the game for its tedious and repetitive tasks, exacerbated by slow character movement and lengthy animations. Many find that while some puzzles are interesting, they often become frustratingly simplistic and monotonous, requiring excessive back-and-forth without sufficient challenge or clarity. Overall, the grinding experience detracts from the enjoyment, making progression feel laborious rather than rewarding.
“The most challenging aspect about a few of them is how tedious it is to do certain repetitive tasks again and again with characters that move very slowly.”
“The major issue here is the gameplay which demands you finish too many tedious tasks in order to complete the puzzles.”
“However, the puzzles were overly simplistic and often tedious and repetitive.”
- character development3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted by the charming and cute character design, which evokes empathy from players. However, this is contrasted by gameplay mechanics that involve using these endearing characters in less-than-kind ways, such as solving puzzles or overcoming obstacles, which can create a dissonance between the visual appeal and the actions taken. Overall, the art style and cozy story contribute positively to the experience, despite the unconventional use of characters.
“Good looking art style, relaxing music, and adorable character design. I love the story with the secret ending, which is very cozy.”
“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.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features a range of humor that complements its puzzles, with players noting that the funny moments, like Layh's falls and the antics of the mice, enhance the overall experience. Reviewers appreciate the absence of repetition, highlighting that the humor keeps the gameplay engaging and entertaining.
“The puzzles range in difficulty, from easy to hard, and they are also quite funny.”
“It also has some really funny moments.”
“There was no repetition or boring moments in this game, and the bits of humor they included, such as Layh falling and the mice, worked so well.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Reviewers indicate that the game's replayability feels forced, as the inconsistent design of achievements detracts from the overall experience. This suggests that the developers prioritized replayability without effectively integrating it into the game's core mechanics.
“It seems that the devs just wanted to add replayability for the sake of replayability, because the achievement designs are not consistent.”
- stability2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, the game demonstrates strong stability, particularly on Linux, with users reporting a smooth experience and no glitches encountered. However, individual experiences may vary, as some players have not reported on issues faced by others.
“Runs great on Linux.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that while users appreciate the artistic style, music, performance, and narrative methods of the game, there is no specific mention of optimization, suggesting that this aspect may not have been a focal point in their feedback.
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%
