While I was downloading the point n click adventure game called Lilly Looking Through, I checked the people behind this independent project and saw a guy who worked for the Myst series, an animator and a music composer.
Well…the first thing that came into my mind was that this game will probably be something like Samorost, or Machinarium. Not that I don’t like these two fantastic Amanita Design creations, but I wanted to see something different that comes from the heart of the creators, and I did…
Although the game is not finished yet, and the available demo is just 10-15 minutes of gameplay, I can tell you this game will really stimulate your feelings. Even from the very first screen, the creators achieve to integrate you into a childish innocent atmosphere through a short “Lilly playing with a frog” scene. The painted world you’re into, is somewhat melancholic but very beautifully designed, and also provides the correct tone in order to emphasize the contrast between it and the playful vitality of Lilly and her brother.
The gameplay is quite simple. You have to hover your mouse to find what you can touch, interact with, or where you can go to. You may find this a bit too easy as the next steps more or less “reveal” themselves, but soon you will have to face a puzzle that requires imagination to solve. I can’t say more about the difficulty and the depth of the puzzles as the demo was pretty short…
The story is what left me with the desire to play the full version of this game, and particularly what happens at the end of the demo. Lilly finds a pair of goggles that allows her to “look through” a parallel world that seems to be somekind of a world from the past where everything was clean and shiny, in contrast with the present world where dirt, plants and filth has replaced the glory. These goggles allow Lilly to switch between the two worlds and overcome obstacles that are present only in one of them. I found this very promising and depth ensuring.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDk9h1X0iPc&hd=1[/youtube]
We can not fully evaluate the effort of the Geetagames with their latest creation just yet, but I truly recommend you to download the demo and play Lilly Looking Through this weekend, in order to feel the atmosphere of this game. I am sure we are about to witness another memorable story soon…