Lorelei and the Laser Eyes review

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is one of the toughest games I’ve ever had to review, but it’s also one of the most inventive and fascinating. Every step you take through the hotel you find yourself in front of another locked door, another conundrum, another problem. There is no quick way to play, with few shortcuts and countless documents and books to read that provide you with a whole manner of information that will somehow help you solve something, somewhere. Progress is incremental at best, but the wealth of puzzles give you so much to get stuck into.

You turn up at the hotel of a reclusive weirdo somewhere in Europe, and right from the start you’re trying to find a number combination to get inside the gates. When you solve it, you feel pretty smart, but once you’re inside there’s another code you need to find, as well as a number combination to unlock the main gate. You’re not even inside the hotel yet and your brain is already starting to warm up to levels few puzzle games push you to in the early stages.

I’m not going to pretend I enjoyed everything I had to do in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, mainly because I felt too dumb to solve some of the puzzles. Simogo has crafted such an articulate puzzler with strict rules that are scattered around the hotel. Once you find something new, like a book on the Greek alphabet or a biography of the eccentric owner, there are tidbits of information that will come in handy at some point. Small clues often underlined in red will likely help you with one puzzle, and it’s only by exploring and uncovering as much as possible that these clues you’ve found might spark inspiration in you.

It happens a lot, when you encounter a new puzzle and remember you have found something that’s likely to help you. Everything you find, be it a phone directory or an image on an easel in the garden, is stored in your photographic memory that can be accessed from the menu, but it became frustrating having to keep jumping in and going through all the information to try and find something that might help. At first, you feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information you find, especially when you feel smart and solve one thing to then be presented by another five or six puzzles.

As you do solve puzzles, parts of the story start to open up a bit, with minor cutscenes and dialogue that slowly unravels the mystery of the hotel. I won’t ruin anything, but it’s very weird and interesting, and I wanted so much to try and uncover everything I could find. There are certain areas that open up that previously weren’t originally available, and one of the first places that made me step back and look impressed was the basement and what existed in there. Don’t go in thinking this is an easy game to play, but I always felt like the answer was never too far away. It just takes a while to find the clue you need.

The black and white aesthetic with drops of red make it even creepier, and it gives such an eerie vibe to it. The cameras are fixed like old Resident Evil games, and having these fixed artistic shots almost reflects the arthouse Avant Garde movies and posters you learn about. The sounds are also unnerving, with a sparse soundtrack that also heightens the tension. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen, and when you pair it with the hefty puzzles it’s certainly an experience you’re unlikely to forget.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is going to be divisive. If you’ve got the patience to play through puzzle after puzzle after puzzle, this is the perfect game for you. It requires you to use a pen and paper every step of the way and its hardcore when it comes to working everything out that your brain will no doubt end up working overtime. That said, everything has a solution, but you need to spend time reading and analysing every drop of information you find. Almost every door is locked and includes something that can be used to solve something, and as long as you are willing to spend time chipping away at it, it can be satisfying in epic proportions.