Game Review: Lunar Axe

By J.D.

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4

Lunar Axe is an adventure game that comes to us by way of Brazilian developer Ops Game Studio and publisher QUByte. Released on PC in 2022, it has now made its way onto the Nintendo Switch, XBox, and PS4. We’ll be taking a look at the Nintendo Switch version today. 

In a tale inspired by Brazilian folklore, you play as the nameless protagonist who wakes up in a partially collapsed building after an earthquake. After some exploration and puzzle solving, you learn that the cause of the earthquakes in the city is caused by a monster that can only be defeated by finding and assembling all the pieces of the titular Lunar Axe. That’s most of the plot in a nutshell, but there are also notes from various characters that fill in pieces of the history of the Lunar Axe and how it ties in with the histories of the indigenous peoples and Brazil’s colonial history. It was a very interesting look into a small part of a history that isn’t discussed at much in North American media.

Probably the first thing you’ll notice on starting the game is the beautiful art. It gives each part of the city of São Luís you visit a distinct look and feel. Coupled with the audio and effects, it creates a spooky atmosphere where you never feel totally safe. It’s not a horror game by any stretch, but there were still moments that scared me more than I expected. 

The downside of all this beautiful art is that it’s can sometimes be difficult to tell what is interactable and what is just a beautiful background object. Luckily, the game gives you hints that reveal every interactable item and place you can go on the current screen, but there is a recharge time between uses. At the game’s most frustrating moments, I was just walking around areas trying to click on anything I could see waiting for the hint to recharge so I could figure out what exactly I was supposed to do. 

I think some of this may just be the Switch’s screen and my TV not being the best. I went back and forth between them, and maybe I wouldn’t have these problems if I was playing on a better TV or the PC release up close on a decent monitor. I just want to make sure our readers are aware that it could be an issue for them as well.

My biggest frustrations with the game where the controls and its checkpoints, or seeming lack thereof. The game was clearly built with the PC in mind and adapted for consoles much later. As a point and click adventure, you are often required to click on certain objects or drag other objects onto them and this tends to be hit or miss on the Switch. I recognize part of it may be issues with my original JoyCons with drift and an A button that sometimes doesn’t work, but those don’t explain the game and I disagreeing on what counts as dragging object A over object/location B. Puzzles in particular can be a pain when you have to click on multiple items in quick succession. There were a few particular puzzles with time limits or moving parts there were near impossible for me to complete.

As for the checkpointing, it seems the game doesn’t save your progress in an area unless you complete it. There were times when I grew frustrated from my lack of progress and decided to see if there were other places I could go. (There weren’t. The game is entirely linear. That’s not a bad thing, but when given a map like that, it gives the feeling that things should be more open.) When I came back, everything was back where it had started. The keys I had found, someone apparently stole them out of my pockets and put them back. The puzzles I’d solved, back to their original state. Add in my frustrations with the controls, and this might have been a dealbreaker. Luckily the game is short enough that having to replay a section is only a minor frustration when you know what to do.

Here we go again!

Speaking of length, the game is only a few hours long. I think it took me a bit over three for my first playthrough, and that was with all the difficulties I’ve already mentioned. So if you’re looking for the highest hours to dollars ratio, you’re not going to get that here, but I think its brevity also means that it never overstays its welcome.  

In conclusion, if you’re willing to look past the issues with controls, you’ll find a nice adventure game with beautiful art and great atmosphere. I guess that makes it less a golden axe and more a silver one. After all, that’s probably fitting for a moon powered weapon.

Check Out Lunar Axe on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/lunar-axe-switch/

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Overall Rating: B-

Pros:
+ Beautiful art style.
+ Great atmosphere.

+/- Short, but still satisfying.

Cons:
- That art style sometimes makes it hard to tell what’s important.
- Controls not well adapted for consoles.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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