Puzzling Synchronised Siblings In The Land Of Lamia
Positively puzzling
In case you hadn't gathered from the weekend posts I've been etching into the sacred tomes of RPS lately, I've got a soft spot for puzzle games. The Land of Lamia [Facebook page] is one that I missed when it launched at the tail end of last month, but it's a good 'un. Like many of its contemporary puzzling cousins, Land of Lamia is retro-inspired - not so much in the pixelated visuals department, but more in its awkward fixed camera views and bastard hard difficulty.
A trailer, you say? Why, sure:
Only by negotiating the intricacies of a dual control system - whereby the arrows keys move Thomas and Lily simultaneously, but at differing speeds - as outlined above, will you solve the Land of Lamia's puzzles. Mastering the controls, on the other hand, is no easy feat.
The first level - Gimbels Maze - has you steering Lily and Thomas around a winding forest pathway allowing you to get grips with the mechanic in practice. It's a tutorial, essentially, but in the loosest sense of the term. Overstepping the cobbled channels causes instant petrification, should either character stray from inside the lines. Furthermore, reaching the halfway mark between start and finish prompts a petrifying black mist to head out after you, moving faster than either Thomas or Lily can run. Keep moving, then, and pause at your peril. In this particular level there's a 'right' route and a 'wrong' one, thus consulting the magic book Lily holds under her arm quickly becomes a must. Later levels add more sophisticated nuance to the core concept therefore keep things fresh, and for every dozen (at least) blood-boiling, keyboard-smashing, expletive-enticing fail, the joy of that one single sliver of success somehow makes the stress worth it.
Feel like pushing your patience? The Land of Lamia is on Steam for £3.99 and Itch for roughly the same at $4.99.