Pixelated adventure game
Lianthus is a small hidden gem, where adventures feature both sunflowers and skeletons. You must journey to seal away the darkness that’s rising.
The most prominent feature of this game is its cute, pixelated art style. The entire universe uses 2D pixel art, but with a brilliant mechanic, the world rotates to show hidden features while retaining the flat imagery. The low resolution and lack of detail creates charm and highlights any detailing by using more colours in the design of a character or area.
Cute art style
Simplistic gameplay
For most of the game you’ll run around, fight a few enemies or a boss, solve a few minor puzzles, talk to an NPC, and maybe discover a few secrets. This world fits perfectly with the game’s art style; this title isn’t an intense experience, but rather an enjoyable one.
Explore two sides
As you journey through the game, you’ll notice the two sides you can explore in Lianthus have symbolic meaning. While this is open to interpretation, you’re free to come to almost any conclusion. The light side is cheerier and feels more at peace when compared to the dark side of Lianthus that’s filled with deep colours of the night, fitting your character’s skeletal design.
Intriguing characters
Character designs retain the same art style as the rest of the game, perfectly blending them into this world for an immersive experience. When you speak to them, they’ll display a few dialogue lines before you can move again. However, the characters in-game have no audio voice.
Simplistic combat
Lianthus’s combat is exceptionally simplistic, unlike its alternative Hyper Light Drifter, where you’d need to learn how enemies attack and understand the combat system well. Fighting enemies consists of continually running around the enchanting world, throwing bones, and avoiding enemies. This differs greatly from the rest of the cute world and flavourful NPCs that you’ll meet along the way as they’ll often only give you a few short words before you depart.
