La-Mulana (2005)

NOTE: this is for the original freeware version from 2006.

La-Mulana is an intimidating and mysterious beast, offering interesting platforming and fun exploration marked by obtuse and frustrating design ideas throughout.

Lemeza Kosugi, a professor of archaeology, is hot on the trail of his father who has claimed to discover the ruins of La-Mulana. Entering the ruins with whip in hand, Lemeza investigates and solves the mystery inside... anything else would be a spoiler! The plot of La-Mulana is both simple and complex, as the player discovers various areas within the ruins and various tablets that either have some cryptic clue, lore about the ruins within, or both.

The player starts out with a single weapon and a little bit of health: slow attack speed and Castlevania-like jumps make things bothersome at first but items in the game can grant faster attack speed, health upgrades and other things that mitigate the player's initial state as they explore. The player can either find items or software for their MSX laptop, a system reflecting the games that La-Mulana is modeled after. While the game has little to no indication on what software does what (past some limited notes from the manual), combinations of these for various effects are essential to progressing in the game, whether it's as something as simple as saving the game or summoning magic key fairies.

While platforming takes up some of the game (and admittedly whip cracking and using other weapons feels pretty good once fully upgraded), most of the game is figuring out how to solve various puzzles in the ruins. Tablet clues are often provided out of order or incomplete, making it very difficult to figure out if a puzzle needs to be finished now or later, and the rules of how puzzles work are never quite well laid out. Sometimes there are pedestals, secret walls broken (but by only a special type of weapon that is never properly visualized), statues that need broken or messed with, and puzzles that if done incorrectly mess up the player's progression and a save must be re-loaded. There's a lot of maddening guess-and-check design and tedium instead of tension. However, checking the player's progress with hints/guides helps lessen this problem, and I'd recommend it instead of bouncing off the game after the first few hours. While little death traps that hurt or mess up the player's progress surprise the player at times a warp (if found) helps to get the player out of a tough situation.

Exploration is probably the high point of La-Mulana - there's a bunch of areas and no clear way to see how they connect, but the game offers plenty of detail and mysteries around every corner that noting down details (specific symbols in rooms, notable landmarks, shops, etc) and seeing where curiosity takes a player can help move them further in the game (or drive them mad because they explored the wrong place at the wrong time). Again, having a guide to help the player along can prevent hours of backtracking and tedium.

Visually and aurally the original version is very strong. Adopting the 8-bit style of MSX games the game offers an array of cute mythological enemies and gorgeous pixel art, and the music ranges from adventurous to melancholic to pulse-pounding. It's very faithful to its inspirations and holds up even with the remake and sequel present.

La-Mulana is a difficult game to recommend without severe caveats. It's a game with entrancing exploration and rich flavor, but filled with so many bafflingly tedious and obtuse design decisions that it challenges the player's ability to have fun as much as it tempts their curiosities. Don't be afraid to ask for help since even writing everything down won't always provide the answer, and get ready to put up with what this game has to offer.