The horror gaming scene is as vibrant as ever, and indie projects like the recently releasedLutohave played a big part in that. But for as well-crafted and innovative asLutoand its contemporaries are, they don’t exist in a vacuum; they are following in the footsteps of their ancestors, most notablyAmnesiaandPT.
Lutohas gotten rave reviewssince its release on July 22 of this year, currently sitting at a comfortable 82 Metascore on Metacritic.
When it released in 2010,Amnesia: The Dark Descenttook the gaming worldby storm. A quaint and straightforward experience by modern standards,Amnesia’s approach to terror—namely its underpowering of the player and emphasis on tone and storytelling over gameplay—has been endlessly replicated over the past decade and a half. WithoutAmnesia, there might not have been anOutlast,Layers of Fear,SOMA, orStill Wakes the Deep. But when discussing horror walking simulators, it’s impossible to omit mention ofPT, perhaps the best of the genre.PTtook the concept of the walking simulator and condensed it while also somehow expanding it, injecting the experience with a sense of true horror. Indeed, the games industry has yet to see a horror game with the peculiar, one-of-a-kind flair ofPT, and that’s where the likes ofLutocome in.
PTwas directed by Hideo Kojima as a “playable teaser” for thenextSilent Hillgameat the time. Sadly, when he parted ways with Konami, theSilent Hillproject was scrapped, andPTwas wiped from digital storefronts.
Luto Might Be the Perfect Horror Fix for PT and Amnesia Fans
Luto Has the Psychological Horror of PT and the Scale of Amnesia
Naturally, nothing will ever trulylive up toPT: not only was it incredibly well-crafted, but it has the benefit of a mythological legacy. No one knew what it was, or who produced it, until the first player managed to finish it (no easy task, considering the obtuse nature of its many puzzles). To complete this enigmatic game only to discover that it was a teaser for the nextSilent Hill, and created by one of the most legendary developers of all time, was satisfying and thrilling. Then, the emotional rollercoaster ended with the news that Kojima would not, in fact, be working on the nextSilent Hill, and that the game would be scrapped entirely.
This was sad, but it also meant thatPTcould assume a sort of legendary status: it never had a chance to wear out its welcome. Well,Lutodoesn’t have that luxury, as it’s a full game with a beginning, middle, and end, and it’s not free—there’s a lot more riding on it, in some ways, and it has more chances to lose its grip on the player. But ifLuto’s initial reception is anything to go by, this isn’t much of an issue, as the horror indie manages to stay engaging and captivating all the way through.
Many critics agree thatLutodraws heavily fromKojima’s body of work: it’s a game laden with metaphors and symbolic meaning, where nothing is quite what it seems. Perhaps it learned some lessons about longevity and traditional storytelling from theAmnesiagames, which are similarly symbolic and dream-like, but over a longer period thanPT. By all accounts,Lutois idiosyncratic, strange, bizarre, and emotionally evocative, drawing clear parallels between its fantastical world and very real, all-too-common struggles like anxiety and depression. There’s a solid chance thatLutowon’t be for everyone—precious few games are—but for fans ofPT,Amnesia, and similar titles, it might just be a can’t-miss experience.
