Lunar Axe Review

With the ever-increasing price of travel in the last few years, and the cost of living crisis, it’s becoming ever harder to get out across the world and discover new cultures. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it virtually. For instance, it’s been nice to explore bits of Japan in the Yakuza and Like A Dragon series, as well as San Francisco in Watch Dogs 2.

With Lunar Axe we head off to the city of São Luís in Brazil as the game allows us the chance to explore some Brazilian folklore. It’s a point-and-click adventure with strong Hidden Object game elements. 

Lunar Axe is a fixed perspective game in which you click on the screen around you, hitting on objects and puzzles, getting involved in some hidden object mini-games. Think of the Artifex Mundi games and you will be on the right track. But Lunar Axe comes with a whole different look to those games, creating an atmosphere that has its own uniqueness. 

The game starts in São Luís, a city in Brazil where a huge earthquake has taken place. You get trapped in an old manor house, left to try and escape. Soon the folklore comes to fruition, with rumours about a huge creature that lives under the city being the cause of the earthquakes. The only way to stop it is by using the famous Lunar Axe. The problem is, that’s in pieces, spread over different parts of the city. Off you trot…

I love the setup and story based on Brazilian folklore that is found in Lunar Axe. It also has a creepy and unusual atmosphere; one that evokes a historical era and mystical place. Things are helped by the rare cutscenes you encounter; these are nicely done and visually creepy. 

But the main focus of the game is in the puzzle solving and hidden object finding. The point-and-click adventuring comes in the form of the usual collection of objects, using those with an appropriate device/object/keyhole. Sometimes you have to combine objects and, well, you know the drill. 

The puzzles themselves are fun and varied throughout. You’ll find timed shape puzzles, up to repeating a sound combination and over to the old-fashioned block slider favourite. Some of these can be very tricky to solve. Expect to be found scratching your head and looking online a lot. 

But then there are also the hidden object sections. It’s here where you may have a still image of objects, all jumbled together, needing to pick out certain aspects. This starts off quite well, but some may require the most eagle of eyes, or the requirement to ‘see the code’. I’ll admit, I spent far too long sitting quite close to my TV, examining every detail. 

The biggest criticism I have of Lunar Axe though is in the controls. I feel like I’ve said this a fair bit recently, but using a controller is not the best and moving the cursor around the screen doesn’t ever feel as accurate as it would with a mouse. It’s hard for a game like this, especially when accuracy is so important. 

Visually though, Lunar Axe comes with a nicely hand-drawn animated style. I enjoyed the mini cutscenes and the way they set up the world. Be warned though, it can feel quite dark at times – and I don’t mean in the sections when it was meant to be dark. Thankfully, there is a special quality to the design and look of all the locations you encounter, whilst the audio is pretty simple; atmospheric effects and a bit of soundtrack that is fairly effective. 

There are some great puzzles on offer in Lunar Axe. It also has a good story whilst the opportunity to explore a new city in Brazil, as well as its folklore, is appreciated. Don’t expect a huge story with big characterisations, because this is all about solving puzzles and finding objects; whether or not that gets a bit weary will be to personal tests. Unfortunately though, the controls let Lunar Axe down, not helped by dark visuals.

That said, overall, if you like puzzle games and are looking for a cheap option, Lunar Axe is probably worth a piece of your time.