The Lady

About

The Lady is a single player action adventure game. It was developed by Mikeypoo's Games and was released on January 29, 2015. It received negative reviews from players.

"The Lady" is a first-person puzzle-adventure game that follows a mysterious woman with supernatural abilities. Players must navigate through a series of mind-bending challenges while uncovering the truth behind the lady's past and her connection to a shadowy organization. With a unique blend of stealth, exploration, and puzzle-solving, "The Lady" offers a thrilling and immersive gaming experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

38%

Audience ScoreBased on 119 reviews

graphics17 positive mentions

gameplay13 negative mentions

The art style is unique and visually striking, creating a creepy and unsettling atmosphere that enhances the game's themes.
The game explores complex themes related to mental health, such as anxiety and depression, through its surreal narrative and gameplay mechanics.
The soundtrack effectively complements the game's eerie visuals, contributing to the overall immersive experience.

Gameplay is often frustrating and unintuitive, with unclear objectives and a lack of guidance, leading to confusion and repeated failures.
The controls can feel unresponsive and clunky, making it difficult to navigate and engage with the game effectively.
The game lacks meaningful progression and depth, often reducing the experience to trial and error without a satisfying payoff.

gameplay
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
73%
22%
The gameplay has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many players finding it unintuitive, frustrating, and shallow. While the art style and atmosphere are praised, the mechanics are often described as confusing and poorly executed, leading to a lack of engagement and enjoyment. Overall, the gameplay experience is seen as a significant drawback, overshadowing the game's visual appeal.
- “The gameplay is a bit confusing at first, but after finding out the controls and learning how things work, it becomes a great game that is a bit creepy but a lot of fun.”
- “Each level has a different gameplay approach, with a distinct variation for each stage, some being more traditional, while some being more explorative; the exploration parts focus more on the feeling the player has in regards to what is happening to the lady, and not necessarily to the levels themselves.”
- “The premise of the gameplay is quite simple, but the game itself is a total hardcore, and very demanding - but that's what it's aimed at.”
- “Gameplay is not only unintuitive but also joyless once you figure it out by checking a guide - I don't feel like I'm playing a game, I feel like I am performing a set of rituals to see the next level.”
- “The gameplay is just not good whatsoever and the game is hurt by a ton of really weird decisions.”
- “Phenomenal art and a killer soundtrack cannot hide the fact that this has really bad gameplay.”
graphics
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
53%
7%
The graphics of the game are consistently praised for their unique and eerie art style, which many reviewers consider the highlight of the experience. While the visuals are described as beautiful, twisted, and atmospheric, they are often accompanied by criticism of the gameplay, which is deemed mediocre or confusing. Overall, the art style stands out as a redeeming feature amidst a backdrop of gameplay shortcomings.
- “The art style is awesome and really is the only redeeming factor in the game.”
- “Overall, I enjoyed the game and its superb art style, and consider it to be a fresh breeze of originality.”
- “This game boasts eerie artwork with a mysterious atmosphere.”
- “Decent artwork, but other than that, it's just nonsense.”
- “It's art style is the highlight, but to appreciate it you have to put up with some truly mediocre gameplay and some terrible game design.”
- “I really wanted to like it after seeing the art style and hearing the music, but there's really nothing to this at all.”
music
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
57%
11%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its ability to create an unsettling atmosphere and evoke feelings of dread, while others criticize it as unoriginal and lacking memorability. Many describe the soundtrack as more ambient noise than music, with some likening it to stock sound effects rather than a cohesive musical experience. Overall, while the music fits the game's eerie aesthetic, it fails to stand out or enhance the gameplay significantly.
- “The soundtrack is excellent, evoking a sense of otherworldly, uncertain dread; its harsh tones insist that you never let your guard down.”
- “The theme and sensation of the game falls into place really nicely and the eerily abrasive soundtrack puts your mind in that 'panic' feeling, the rules of it break 'normal' and 'proper' game design in a good way that supports the theme.”
- “The art style and music are perfect for this style of game.”
- “However, I do find the soundtrack nothing special; it's decent, but it's not crazy memorable as I've heard the same type of droning soundtrack multiple times beforehand.”
- “Not only do you get jumpscares, but you get the developer's abysmal choice in music just like in the developer's other works such as 'The Grandfather' and 'Don't Cry Over Spilt Eggnog.'”
- “I could record the noise between radio stations and call it music, but that doesn't make it music.”
atmosphere
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
61%
17%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its unsettling and eerie qualities, enhanced by effective sound design and creepy visuals that evoke a sense of discomfort and tension. While some players appreciate the lack of traditional music, noting that the ambient sounds contribute significantly to the overall mood, others feel that certain gameplay elements disrupt the carefully crafted atmosphere. Overall, the game successfully immerses players in a disturbing environment that reflects the protagonist's mental state.
- “The soundtrack of the game does well with setting up an unsettling atmosphere, with some creepy droning noises that make you feel like something is going to go wrong at any moment.”
- “Even though there is no music in the game, it more than compensates with atmospheric sound effects filled with terror and shock, just as visuals do.”
- “The atmosphere sets the mood for the game perfectly as it depicts the mental state of mind of the protagonist through the environments, design of the enemies, and the sound effects.”
- “The lady sports excellent art, really good sound and a genuinely disturbing atmosphere; sadly all this is paired with gameplay that's too cryptic and random to be truly enjoyable.”
- “- an overall disturbing atmosphere, the scenes and enemies you encounter create a true sense of discomfort.”
- “Lastly, one thing I really did dislike was how it worked so hard and put so much effort into getting you into this creepy, panicked theme to then have its random 'space-invaders' like levels with completely out of place sound effects, breaking the atmosphere that it spent so long carefully setting up.”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
The game's story is largely criticized for being vague and incomprehensible, with many players noting that they learned more from the store page than from the actual gameplay. While it attempts to create a creepy atmosphere, the narrative feels muddled and lacks clarity, leaving much to the player's imagination. Overall, the storytelling is seen as a weak point, overshadowed by confusing gameplay and a lack of engaging narrative elements.
- “It's certainly true that games can be art, if they're executed incredibly well, by talented developers and storytellers.”
- “Rather than laying down a clear story, the lady leaves more than enough room for the player's imagination to run with things.”
- “I would suggest to take the game slowly, since rushing into the stages can get you killed and you have to restart from the beginning of the level (but I decided to treat this as a 'story-telling' device); furthermore, the game is short enough to finish in roughly 1h - 1h30.”
- “This is the description of the story of the lady on the store page; however, the game has little in the way of an actual story.”
- “I learn more about the story from the Steam page than the actual game.”
- “Just as it contains a muddled and confusing story, the lady also has action segments and gameplay that feel equally muddled and confusing.”
emotional
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of "The Lady" is characterized by its exploration of mental illness, particularly anxiety and depression, through surreal and uncomfortable experiences. While some players appreciate its artistic approach to these themes, others criticize it for failing to deliver on its promise of a profound emotional journey, often leaving them feeling frustrated and unsettled. Overall, the game elicits a range of strong emotions, from discomfort to introspection, but opinions on its effectiveness vary widely.
- “The lady is a surrealist emotional journey that takes the player through a series of fever dream hallucinations, while being at odds with inner struggles of anxiety and depression.”
- “I saw that this was an emotional expression of mental illness, mainly focused on anxiety and depression.”
- “This game made me feel very, very uncomfortable, moving around as an armless woman and breaking glass with my bare head.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and slow, often leading to frustration as redoing levels becomes boring and detracts from immersion. The controls are also described as cumbersome, further diminishing the enjoyment of the gameplay experience.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Which is exactly what I don't want to do because everything is so tedious and slow.”
- “Redoing previous levels is tedious and boring once solved, as not much goes on and your character is a pain to control.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy includes displaying advertisements for other products within the game's update patch notes on users' Steam main pages, which some players find intrusive.
- “The game constantly bombards you with advertisements for other products in the update patch notes on the Steam main page.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as it prioritizes profit over player experience.”
- “It's frustrating to see essential features locked behind paywalls, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report significant stability issues, including frequent crashes to desktop, graphical glitches, and sprite misplacements, leading to confusion over whether these problems are due to game mechanics or technical malfunctions.
- “I'm honestly not sure if it was a game-over I triggered or if the game was glitching out, as the effect was the same - the graphics flicker, the sprites bug out of place, then the game freezes and crashes to desktop.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly impossible to progress without losing progress.”
- “I experienced constant frame drops and random crashes that ruined the overall experience.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews indicate a significant lack of character development, with one user explicitly stating that there is "absolutely no character development" for a key character. This suggests a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling and emotional engagement.
- “We get absolutely no character development from her at all.”