The Spotlight publishing label by Quantic Dream seems decidedly very oriented towards French productions and even if we are assured that it is only a coincidence, between Under the Waves and Lysfanga, Quantic Dream relies on the know-how à la française to make his publisher cap take off. In this game in isometric view, we embody Imë, a warrior with the power to go back in time by a few tens of seconds. Each time it goes back in time, the latter will create a reminiscence (a “remnant” to use the official term) of herself and will be able to count on her doubles to help her clean up.
Gameplay first
If games like Quantum League or Lemnis Gate have already exploited this concept of time loop and doubles in the field of FPS, the world of hack’n’slash has so far remained relatively impervious to this idea. By signing with Quantic Dream, the nascent studio gave itself solid rigor and vital professionalism, as Matthieu Schneider, co-founder of the studio, explains to us. For Lysfanga, the small troop of about twenty people kept the basic concept and you can feel it right away in this grip. Sand Door wanted to put its strength on its gameplay above all, the scenario and the narration having been completely put in the background.
Similarly, the environments are in the standards of a universe of fantasy and by the co-founder’s own admission, the artistic direction is a mixture of everyone’s desires and influences. As you will have understood, Sand Door has complete confidence in its game mechanics and was ready to neglect the rest as part of this preview. And how can you blame them with such a promising concept? Before each fight, we will be able to analyze the terrain and the different enemies and think about how we are going to proceed since the goal is to kill all the enemies with a limited number of remnants. A quick strategic step on the first levels that will become essential very quickly. Each fight will obviously offer timers for lovers of excessive optimization and a call for a simple, but effective challenge.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu
With fast attacks, heavy attacks, a dash and an ultimate attack, Imë has a fairly classic, but very dynamic arsenal. Knowing that we only have a maximum of ten seconds before returning to the starting point, that is more than enough and we derive our little satisfaction from succeeding in cleaning up a table quickly and by activating the fewest possible time loops. If the grip announces a nice game, the following levels suggest something much more interesting and demanding. This first passes through well-arranged obstacles, such as these doors which open and close depending on the passage of our character (or his double) and can transform a path into a boulevard or a cul-de-sac on our next passes. A real puzzle that must always be kept in mind.
But they are also resourceful enemies. The mastodon with its shield that will require a double that strikes in front to attract its attention while we attack behind its back to finish it off, or even worse, linked monsters that must be stopped at the same time or risk returning to the life. Other explosive enemies must be leveraged with precision to destroy small groups with one hit and just within this previewwe saw the gameplay get richer with each fight through new enemies and a level design more complex and this is necessarily very encouraging for the richness that the finished product suggests.
The loop of the future
We sometimes find ourselves blocking entries ourselves with certain remnants and once we’ve used all our loops, it’s the game over. What is fascinating with Lysfanga, is that despite all the planning and strategy that can be done, the game offers a coherent chaos where we sometimes find ourselves going too fast (or not fast enough) on one side of the level compared to the other. other, forcing us to clean up while waiting to progress. We feel that what we are doing is not perfect, but we still have a certain satisfaction when things generally work as we had planned.
Whether Lysfanga is promising, the studio still has a lot to show us. We are promised original boss fights in their gameplay (understand: do not mess with our doubles all at the same time) which will each time bring new mechanics and a big script point according to Matthieu Schneider. The latter will explain to us that Imë will also have at his disposal several weapons with various effects that we can change between each remnant, to adapt to our needs. Beautiful promises that we can’t wait to see.