A Chinese Odyssey: A Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother Review

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: PC

There's a running joke that I tend to automatically love anything that is Chinese in nature, especially when it comes to media. With that said, it probably comes as no surprise to those who know me that I followed the development of Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother for about a year. This roguelike, which bears more than a little resemblance to the hit game Hades, has been on my radar ever since I got that first press release in the summer of 2023. It's been a long road since then, and it got a full Steam release back in April. I've put off reviewing it since then because I wanted to give it ensure that I had time to give it a proper review. That time is now, and that's exactly what we're going to do today. Without further ado, let's dive right in!

The plot is set!

Lady He gives the best advice.

Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother (Hereafter referred to as simply "Lotus Lantern".) puts you into the role of Chenxiang, an orphaned boy who has been taken in by the legendary hero Sun Wukong. I say orphaned, but as the title of the game implies, Chenxiang's mother is actually imprisoned. Having offended the other immortals by choosing to fall in love with a mortal, a union which bore her Chenxiang, she paid a hefty price for her supposed transgressions. Her brother Erlang Shen took particular offense, and locked her away beneath Mount Hu. Chenxiang was entrusted to Lady He, and has been raised in seclusion ever since. Having learned all he can from his master Sun Wukong, AKA "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven", Chenxiang sets off to settle the score with Erlang Shen and free his mother. Along the way he'll meet other characters from Chinese history/mythology like Lu Dongbin, Princess Iron Fan, Red Boy, and more. Actually, the entire story is based on Chinese mythology, and tells a tale very similar to the 2022 move New Gods: Yang Jian (Which I reviewed HERE.) Because of that connection, I enjoyed watching this game's development even more. Even though there's no connection at all to the movie besides plot similarities, I couldn't help but feel like I'd be playing a video game adaptation of it. What's more, this game tells the story through the POV of Chenxiang, while the movie tells it through Erlang Shen himself. In short, I found the story of Lotus Lantern to be one of the best parts of the game, if for no other reason than that it offers players a look into mythology that isn't often seen released in games that are localized into English. I probably won't talk more about the story in this review, as I want players to experience it for themselves first, but know that I enjoyed every minute of it. With that out of the way, let's move the discussion on to gameplay.

That's quite a few flying swords!

An early miniboss.

If you've played Hades before, then you know pretty much know what to expect gameplay-wise in Lotus Lantern. You pick one of several weapons, called "techniques" here, and journey to Mount Hua to face off against Erlang Shen. Chances are you'll be defeated your first few runs, but the titular lotus lantern will do its job and bring you back. You can then use various upgrade currencies you collected in your run to make Chenxiang stronger for the next run. These core upgrades increase HP, speed, reduce damage taken, and more. You can also unlock new blessings, artifacts, and weapons as well. I'll get more into what the last things are in just a bit. Each run is separated into a handful of regions, with those bigger stages being broken down into smaller rooms. Each region has a miniboss that resides in the centermost room, and culminates in a boss fight. Unlike most roguelikes, the bosses and areas you visit don't change throughout your runs. Actually, that is one thing that sets Lotus Lantern apart from other games in the genre, as the RNG is a bit lighter here. The rewards in each room, what's available for purchase or pick-ups, and all that sort of stuff is indeed random, but things like enemy builds and room layouts seem to be consistent between runs. This by no means hinders gameplay, and in fact allows you to form better strategies in gameplay. I'm sure some people will see that point as a negative, but I for one appreciated the consistency these types of runs offered.

Room types are probably the biggest thing worth talking about, so let's focus on those for a bit. Rooms come in two types, combat and non-combat. Non-combat rooms can be shops, healing spots, a game of chance, and so on. These often have an NPC interaction too, and sometimes are scripted to always be in a particular spot, such as before a boss battle. Every other room offers some sort of reward that can be attained from taking out waves of enemies. These rooms are fairly self-explanatory, and are only truly differentiated by the rewards you get. A rooms reward is usually chosen when you entire it, and you usually have 2-3 options to choose from. Rewards come in the form of blessings, artifacts, upgrade current, and other upgrades. Most of these upgrades then have another layer of randomness when it comes to what you actually receive, but that's to be expected in a game like this. These sometimes include an NPC interaction too once you clear the room of enemies, but that's far less common. Each zone is usually broken up into twelve rooms, with two of those being boss encounters. This means that you're not given a lot of time to upgrade Chenxiang in a run, so it's best to plan ahead. RNG always has a way to destroy even the best laid plans though, so it's also important to stay on your toes regarding the best course to take in any run.

I was never very experimental with these.

Upgrading Chenxiang comes fast.

Combat is probably what you're going to be doing the most in Lotus Lantern, so it's best to pick the right technique. Techniques determine what your main attacks will be, and you get to choose only one for your entire current run. There are only two techniques open to you initially, though you can unlock several more throughout gameplay. I personally went for any technique that gave me a sword, but there are some that are long-range, some that slow but powerful, and just about everything in-between. There is literally a technique for every play style here, and it's only my own lack of skills that kept me from trying them all. Besides your core attacks, you also have pick up artifacts along the way. These basically act like spells, and consume energy you get for taking out enemies. You're able to equip four of them at any one time, but are only allowed to have one for each element. This obviously puts a big restriction on them, but they can really make or break a run once you find a build that works for you. Most important of all, these artifacts have their own upgrade system. Through a fairly advanced process, artifacts can be upgraded by attaching additional skills and bonuses to their empty slots. This is a very important feature of the game, though one most players will only get much use out of on the higher difficulty settings. Lastly, and most common of all, are the blessings. Blessings are additional attacks that either trigger automatically or have some pre-requisite for going off. These additional attacks can come in the form of magic, summons, and more, and can really fill the screen with all sorts of craziness. These come in different levels of rarity, and you're given far more leeway when it comes to mixing and matching them. That pretty much covers everything you have to know about combat outside of playing the game yourself. The only other action worth mentioning is Chenxiang's dodging ability, and this is something you're going to want to familiarize yourself with quickly as it can literally keep a run from ending in failure.

I went for the spirit blessings most often.

An example of the blessings.

One of my favorite aspects of Lotus Lantern's gameplay, and one that is sure to split fans of the roguelike genre, is how fast it moves in terms of progression. It only took me about 3-4 runs before I had upgraded most of Chenxiang's skills, and I had also unlocked most of the relics and techniques I wanted to use by that point too. From there it only took a few more runs to get the hang of the trickier boss battles, and I was facing off against Erlang Shen in no time. Obviously the game doesn't simply end there, but I can understand how the entire journey can feel a bit anticlimactic when you reach what seems to be its end so quickly. Potentially negative or not, I appreciated the fact that the game had very little downtime, and the only runs that ended quickly in failure were those where I picked a technique that I had no idea how to use properly. I tend to find slower-paced roguelikes a bit boring, as the gameplay loop can get repetitive very quickly. Lotus Lantern avoids that by always giving you something new, and also by not overstaying its welcome. I should also point out that runs in Lotus Lantern feel like they last quite a bit longer than most other games, so making sure you don't have to complete dozens of them sort of makes sense when you think about it. You can "beat" it far faster than most other games in the genre, but there'll still be lots for you to come back to if you choose to. Throw in the great characters and story, and I basically had an experience that I'll never forget, and one that isn't marred with wonky memories of trying and failing at the same part of the game for dozens of times.

Princess Iron Fan runs what's basically gambling.

Why did they make the best girl your sister?

I hate to bring up the comparison again, but the visual style of Lotus Lantern reminds me a lot of Hades. Everything takes place in a three-quarters, top-down view, and the characters themselves are relatively small models that allow for large sections of the world to be shown at once. The art style is distinctly Chinese, but it also has hints of Western comic book art. It's that latter part that made me think of Hades the most, though the comparisons never kept me from enjoying the game. While everything looks and feels smooth for the most part, I did find that the pulled back camera made it hard to see details in some the enemies. This is a rather small point, but part of me really wanted to enjoy everything about the game, and the game's camera kept me from doing that part of the time. Outside of that, the backgrounds and locations all look unique and vibrant, and the bosses are all large, imposing, and most definitely impressive. There is a rather big issue when it comes to text formatting, but I think updates since release have fixed some of the biggest problems with it. It goes without saying that it won't take long for players to notice the odd font choices throughout the game, and the fact that text often runs outside of boxes, or seemingly breaks off into a new line for no apparent reason. This admittedly can take one out of the game, and unfortunately also goes hand-in-hand with a somewhat wonky translation. It does make for a rather uneven experience, but it honestly isn't as bad as I'm probably making it sound. I've played games with far worse issues than the ones found here, and everything else comes off so good that most players will simply ignore it over time.

Though I'm of the opinion that the visuals fell just shy of being amazing, I don't think the game has that problem at all when it comes to sound. Simply put, the music found in Lotus Lantern is perfect all around. It has all the types of tracks one would expect to find in a game like this, and not a single one is bad. The peaceful zones have calm music, combat has themes that keep the blood pumping, and boss music honestly rivals anything I've ever heard in the biggest of JRPGs. There are just so many great tracks here, and they all have Chinese touches to the melodies and instrumentation that make them stand out even more. Not only is the music awesome, but there's a lot of it too. That's very important in a game of this genre, as you'll be revisiting a lot of the game's areas by nature of its gameplay loop. Outside of music, the game also features full voice acting. It's all in Chinese, but the actors' performances are all spot on, and really bring life to their respective characters. Part of me does wish that the game could've included an English-language track, simply due to the fact that the translation isn't as good as it could've been. It's nothing that will ruin the experience, at least it didn't for me, but it would've brought the game up quite a bit of it was included. That small issue aside, I have literally nothing bad to say about Lotus Lantern's sound.

There are lots of story bits during runs.

The action can get very intense at times.

Even though repetition is the name of the game when it comes to roguelikes, Lotus Lantern is a rather short game in the grand scheme of things. There's a lot to try out and unlock, and you can always hunt for a spot on the ever-changing leaderboards, but it won't take long for you to take out Erlang Shen. There's far more game after that of course, and you can always try to beat everything on the highest of difficulty settings, but I'll leave that post-game stuff for players to discover on their own. I already mentioned the game's fast pace, and it's probably that which will sway opinions the most when it comes to Lotus Lantern's gameplay loop. I obviously loved it, and I found it quite refreshing to see your work in each run actually pay off in big rewards. It felt like the game cared about the player's time, and didn't waste even one minute of it. There's still quite a bit of content for roguelike fans to sink their teeth into, so I wouldn't be concerned that this game offers only a short experience. I also have to point out something else that I found to be noteworthy about this game, and that's its price. At the time of writing Lotus Lantern can be picked up for only $9.99, and it has even gone on sale a few times since its release. That's a great price for the amount of content you get, and the developers are still adding things to the game even now. I may be jumping the gun as far as the review goes, but picking this one up is just feels like a no-brainer at this point.

This is the first rather tricky boss.

Don't forget this advice!

I sort of already said it a second ago, but I give Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother the fullest of recommendation. It may not bring anything groundbreaking to the genre, but it truly has become one of my favorite roguelike games in recent memory. There's a lot of enjoyment to be found here for the most seasoned fans of the genre, and it can also serve as an entry point for those completely new to roguelikes as well. I can't wait to see what the developers add next, and I hope that it eventually gets a console release as well. Grab this one as soon as you can, and thank me later. I'm off to start another run, so I'll see you all in my next review!

Check Out Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2319030/Lotus_Lantern_Rescue_Mother/

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Story: A
Gameplay: A
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A+
Value: A+

Overall: A+

Pros:
+ One of the best roguelikes I've played in recent memory.
+ Very fast-paced when it comes to unlocking new content and powering up Chenxiang. This is a game that cares about your time.
+ A Variety of gameplay options means that there is something for everyone here, and it also means that the game has a very long shelf-life.
+ Features a story rich in Chinese mythology and culture. It even has a few unexpected twists and turns too.
+ Though not perfect, the visuals and art style are on point, with character and boss designs being particularly awesome.
+ Amazing music and voice acting means that you'll be invested in every second of the game.
+ Picking this one up is pretty much a no-brainer since it's priced at just $9.99. The developers are still adding in new content too.

Cons:
- Being able to quickly power-up does mean that many players will successfully complete a run fully earlier than most other games in the genre.
- There are some issues with translation, as well as text formatting. Both of these can be very distracting at times.
- Though I personally found it to be a positive, each run doesn't feel as random as it probably should.
- Could've benefitted from supplementary material, such as a glossary, to ease in players not familiar with some aspects of Chinese mythology and culture.

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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The next Sun Wukong?