Lust from Beyond

Developer: Movie Games Lunarium | Publisher: Movie Games S.A., PlayWay S.A. | Release Date: 2021 | Genre: Action / Adventure / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

In 2018 Movie Games Lunarium unleashed Lust for Darkness and introduced players to a dark and disturbing world filled with sex and horror. Although the game pushed a lot of boundaries and had some interesting lore, it fell flat in many areas, and its relatively short playtime didn’t help either. Three years later, Movie Games Lunarium is back with a sequel called Lust From Beyond that sets out to improve on the original in every way.

Lust From Beyond opens with a brief chapter that introduces the otherworldly realm of Lusst’ghaa and the cult that worships its erotic deity. After the first of many orgy scenes, the viewpoint shifts to that of the new protagonist, Victor Holloway, an antiquarian. At first glance, it seems like Victor has a peaceful life running his antique shop and spending time with his beautiful girlfriend, Lillie, but the cracks soon become apparent. Initially, Victor believes that the disturbing visions that plague him are just dreams, prompting him to see an expert on the matter named Dr. Austerlitz. Unfortunately for Victor, he soon finds himself being hunted both in the real world and the twisted world of Lusst’ghaa.

Right from the start, it is clear that Movie Games Lunarium has learned a lesson when it comes to storytelling and pace. Lust From Beyond is not only a much longer game than Lust for Darkness but also filled with more interesting lore. Over the course of sixteen chapters, Victor will go from his antique shop to the town of Bleakmoor, a secret Victorian Mansion as well as the mythical Land of Ecstasy. His harrowing journey is filled with shocking moments that include plenty of sex as well as a lot of violence. The developers call Lust From Beyond a mature esoteric horror with bold, erotic themes, and they were certainly not exaggerating when it comes to the erotic elements.

From a design standpoint, Lust From Beyond follows the same style as its predecessor, which was inspired by the works of Lovecraft, Giger, and Beksiński. Not only does this game have more locations than the original, but they are also much larger. While Lust From Beyond is still very linear for the most part, there’s more room to explore, which often rewards players with some additional lore or collectibles. Along with the locations in the real world, Victor also spends a lot of time in Lusst’ghaa, which looks even more disturbing this time. The Giger influences are undeniable, and the artists at Movie Games Lunarium have done a great job creating landscapes that straddle the line between beautiful and grotesque. Of course, shocking visual elements can also be seen everywhere, ranging from naked cultists to obscene statues and disturbing anatomical scenery in Lusst’ghaa. The game does provide players an option to play in “censored” mode, which pixelates some of the more gratuitous elements, but an “M” edition without the explicit content is also in the works.

As beautiful as the scenery is in Lust From Beyond, it still suffers some of the same issues that the original had with character models and animations. Once again, most humans Victor encounters wear masks, but these can’t hide how janky some of the animations are. Overall, it’s an improvement over the original game, but it still stands out compared to the backgrounds. Movie Games Lunarium also pulled out all stops when it comes to the various scenes of sex and torture in the game. Some of them are disturbing, to say the least, and there are a few that might shock even jaded players. The game was made in Unity, and unfortunately, we did encounter some performance issues in a few places that could have been avoided with better optimization.

The gameplay in Lust From Beyond has also seen many improvements compared to Lust For Darkness. The original was more or less a walking simulator, and while there’s still plenty of wandering around to do in this one, the game now also features combat and more puzzles. Unfortunately, the combat is a little clunky, and usually, it is better to use the stealth mechanics to avoid any confrontations with cultists or creatures. Victor automatically enters stealth mode when crouching, but it can be hard to tell if he is hidden from his enemies. Some sections of the game also feature unavoidable chase sequences, but these tend to be more annoying than thrilling. Puzzles mostly take the form of finding specific items to place in specific spots, while in Lusst’ghaa, Victor gets to wield “essence” for fixing bridges or luring some creatures around. In addition to running, hiding, sneaking, or fighting, players must watch Victor’s health and sanity. Victor can use bandages or medkits to restore health and pills for his sanity. The latter is important because low sanity can cause screen distortions, inverted controls, and even the risk of Victor committing suicide.

Unlike Lust For Darkness, Lust From Beyond gives players more choices regarding how the story will play out. Players get to decide the fates of some notable characters, but unfortunately, the game autosaves at checkpoints instead of leaving it up to players. The game also only has one save slot, so there’s no chapter selection or reverting to previous saves. This is especially annoying when it comes to missing some of the optional collectibles or trying to see the outcomes of different choices without restarting the entire game from scratch.

Lust From Beyond is not exactly scary in the traditional sense, but it has plenty of disturbing elements. There are some jump scares, but thankfully these are few and far between. Somewhat surprisingly, the game also has a few boss encounters. We were a bit concerned about these as the combat is so clunky, but although they feel a little bit old school, these fights actually didn’t turn out too bad. According to the developers, the sound for the game was recorded on-location in derelict period buildings. The music is quiet for the most part, though, but it does add to the atmosphere. Voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag, though, with some good performance and others that feel a little flat. Apart from having to press and hold multiple buttons for the combat, the controls are straightforward first-person fare, and we didn’t encounter any serious issues.

Overall, Lust From Beyond is a definite step up from the first game, but once again, it is not going to appeal to everyone. The erotic themes and explicit visuals alone will scare away a lot of players, while those looking for a horror experience might not find it very scary. It is definitely a memorable experience, though, and some of the lore is quite fascinating. The game could use a bit more polish in places, and the save system is annoying, to say the least, but it is great to see the developers learning from past mistakes and building on this unique series.