Lust From Beyond Preview

In the words of the immortal Jonathan Davis; “gaming to me is a religion, and Haze is the shit”. Why do I bring this quote up? Because from time to time, I’ll think about how I’ve come to love gaming in all of its aspects (well…most of its aspects) and how it has helped me to grow as a storyteller/writer. Now, would I go as far to say that gaming is as “religious” for me as it is for Mr. Davis? No, probably not. However, I will say that I’m so happy to have it as a part of my life and that I get to talk about it, at least on some level professionally. Also, Haze is the shit.

So, with all that being said, what does the opening paragraph have to do with the title we’re looking at, Lust from Beyond? Well, let’s just say I have to remind myself how much I love gaming because, much like the Wright Brothers thought back in the day: “some shit will not fly”. This isn’t to say that Lust from Beyond is a bad game, it’s more so just misguided in my eyes. For example, and this is also taking games like The Sinking City and Call of Cthulhu, but the recent release of either H.P. Lovecraft or H.R. Giger-based titles that focus more on the storytelling or design aspect, rather than the actual gameplay is honestly baffling to me.

Here’s the thing; if you’re basing your game off of Lovecraft storytelling or H.R. Giger design, of course the storytelling and design of the game is going to be interesting. You know what would be more interesting? Playing through this narrative/world that the developers have created for us. I still feel that Eternal Darkness is both the best and most dynamic way to do that type of influenced storytelling, because the gameplay actually melds with the narrative/design really well. Whereas, when one looks at Lust from Beyond, we get all of the excitement of an Outlast game, with all of the imagery of an Alien film, which on paper sounds fantastic, but in a game feels quite hollow.

Now, I’m not being totally fair, Lust from Beyond is fairly decent on the gameplay front. It’s just, much like most of the game, uninspired. This may be a low blow, but Lust from Beyond feels as though it was Frankensteined together with great ideas to create an overall mediocre experience. Yes, the idea of having to fight against an evil Victorian sex cult is interesting, but when everything is wrapped in a veil of “uninspired influence”, it kind of takes the piss out of everything. The soundtrack/audio is pretty good though, so gold star.

Also, and this might be a personal point of view, but I feel the word ‘influenced’ is getting thrown around a bit fast and loose these days, especially in the realm of gaming. This is mostly due to a lot of the design in Lust from Beyond having looked like it came straight off the set of Alien (I know I used that reference twice, but if the developers aren’t gonna try, then why should I?). It’s not misplaced or anything; the imagery is all used to great effect, it just doesn’t feel inspired by H.R. Giger, more so just ripped straight from his paintings/art.

So with that out of the way, is there anything else that is worth bringing to attention? Well popping up from the sea of negativity that this preview has been, I will say I enjoyed the setting and use of horror in Lust from Beyond. I’ve always had a weak spot from some good old fashioned Victorian era settings and the developers certainly nailed the setting with gusto. As well, despite the word ‘uninspired’ coming up a bunch, the setting merged along with the Lovecraft and Giger aspects work pretty well as far as disturbing horror goes. As they should in a Victorian era setting.

All in all, from what I can see, Lust from Beyond has the potential to be a good game, but I feel the amount of originality involved with it is lacking. Originality aside, it’s a decent horror experience that any fan of the genre will enjoy on some level or another. It’s got scares, it’s got disturbing aspects to it, it’s a horror game. The final product will more than likely win you over.