Review davidh212 4/5 · Jan 17, 2026
Let Down by Level Design
Lorn's Lure is about as much "my jam," as something can be, so realistically it's probably a 3/5 star for most people, maybe a 2/5 if you really dislike difficult platformers. But if you start tossing words like "weighty, deliberate platforming" and "megastructures" and "PS1 graphics" at me, my mouth starts salivating.
For the most part the game fulfills it …
Lorn's Lure is about as much "my jam," as something can be, so realistically it's probably a 3/5 star for most people, maybe a 2/5 if you really dislike difficult platformers. But if you start tossing words like "weighty, deliberate platforming" and "megastructures" and "PS1 graphics" at me, my mouth starts salivating.
For the most part the game fulfills it promises. It's a mechanically tight, but deliberate platforming and climbing game, where you explore various levels of a Blame! esque megastructure rendered in gorgeous PS1 evocative graphics.
Where the game really struggles is in its actual level design. The games consists of 8 chapters, that have a cutscene and a level load in between them.
Chapter 1 and 2 I think most people would agree are incredible. No notes. Exactly what you expect looking at the steam page. Careful climbing and platforming on rickety rusty pipes and concrete walls on giant machinery in underground spaces the size of which feels like it breaks the laws of physics. The game has peaks and valleys after this, but the peaks never quite reach this height again.
Chapter 3 trades wide open spaces for more traditional spelunking. You are navigating a tight cave where water and visibility are the primary threats, not minutes long falls into an abyss. You're given flares, which are infinite, and thus not very interesting mechanically. The actual level design itself is fine, I had fun with it, but it feels like it belongs to a different game.
Chapter 4 evokes "the baths" area of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. You are navigating crumbling walls and arches in a very blue, Arabian looking "cistern." The platforming lacks verticality and mechanically is similar to the previous chapter, despite much higher ceiling heights. You're just jumping from block to block and trying not to fall in the water between them. I enjoyed this level, I like the look of it, but again it feels like it belongs in a different game.
Chapter 5 returns to the megastructure format of the first two chapters, but doesn't do it as well. It's a much tighter more enclosed space that doesn't evoke the same sense of awe. It has some fun stuff with fans blowing you around but overall the platforming is less involved.
Chapter 6 has you descending through a sort of desert biome, where rivers of flowing sand will completely negate fall damage, later you're climbing around on skinny stalactites, and at the end you have to navigate a complex tower where the wind can blow you away if you take the wrong route. Mechanically I LOVED this chapter but visually it is boring as hell to look at.
Chapter 7 is one that I loved, but is divisive. Your climbing picks are broken in a fall and you are left to get through an entire level with just the rest of your moveset, which is a basic jump, a wall jump, and an air dash. I really liked this chapter and personally think it's nearly (but not quite) on par with chapters 1 and 2 but it is HARD for people that don't play platformers. It took me as long as chapters 1 and 2 combined.
Chapter 8 is where the creator of this game completely lost his mind. You navigate through a vaporwave looking dreamspace that is mechanically similar to Chapter 4 where you're just jumping from platform to platform and trying not to fall into the ocean of water between them, the only change being now you have a grappling hook. It's....fine. I like vaporwave looking shit so whatever, but it's weird. It serves as a tutorial for the grappling hook, which you will need, because after this section you confront, I guess, Lorn? Who Lured you? And what follows is an incredibly difficult timed platforming sequence that leans heavily on the new grappling hook. Lava fills up rooms and you're running from it basically. There are checkpoints scattered throughout the sequence but they are NOT generous and you WILL be doing every section 10, 20, 30 times to get it right. I like difficult platformers so I had fun with it for the most part, but even for me it felt like a lot by the end, and visually all the artistic quality of the game is gone, it just looks like a gross mess of programmer graphics.
