Sitting down to play Lumo 2, as a gamer of a certain vintage, I fully expected to be treated to a few touching moments as developer Triple Eh? transported me back to the sweet innocence (and unbelievable stupidity) of my gaming childhood. A few nostalgia button pushes and I'd be happy enough. Sit that alongside some decent gameplay, and we could be onto a winner.
Just as was the case in 2016's Lumo, the point here is to give you short bursts of action styles from classic adventures resurrected from the depths of computer game history. You know the sorts of things; in the first Lumo you had stuff like Knight Lore, Equinox and Head Over Heels, whilst this sequel serves up...well...to list them all would be spoiling things, but let's just saying kicking off your game with a delightfully spot-on homage to Dennis Caswell's 1984 classic, Impossible Mission, is one way to get me fully onboard very quickly.
As soon as I started tumbling (awkwardly slowly) over robotic enemies and waiting impatiently for trundling lifts to move up and down, I knew I was in dream town. And I'm not even being sarcastic. This plays exactly how I remember the game it's aping, and whilst Lumo 2 does have some presentation issues on Switch - it's a little blurry at times - the selection of game tributes it presents, as your huge-hatted protagonist bounds through and snaps up a series of satisfyingly tricky collectibles, are all on-point mechanically. Hooray!
Depending on who you are, though, it may be sort of a half-hooray. The homages are so on-point that they're going to alienate some by their very nature. They're tough, and this isometric malarkey is no joke — believe me, I fought in the original Isometric Wars. Lumo 2, just as was the case with the first, sticks to all the retro trappings. Your avatar is slow and cumbersome; that's intentional. Deaths come thick and fast, sometimes because of the camera angle being tricky to judge at points; that's also meant to be the case.
I think it's great, but you see the potential issue! It's not a game for everyone, by any means. You'll also be losing out by not getting all the references, cameos, little nods and jokes along the way as you play through a generous helping of around 100 retro-inspired levels.
However, if, like me, you love a bit of the rough and tumble of proper old-school isometric stuff; stuff like Marble Madness or Ant Attack, whilst also getting blasted with the occasional side-scrolling/3D surprise, and with plenty of tricky rubber duckie collectibles and in-game achievements to tick off as you go, I'd say Lumo 2 is a return that gives us more of the very-satisfying same. Oh, and you can play it Welsh, so bonus points all round!
Lumo 2, just like its predecessor, does a great job of reintroducing players to a whole bunch of retro delights from the 1980s, and in small enough servings that they don't outstay their welcome. There's an impressive array of tricky isometric levels to get stuck into besting here, plenty of collectibles and achievements to tick off, some nice side-scrolling surprises along the way, and a general retro-British vibe that you can't help but love infusing the entire thing. Whilst it may not meaningfully evolve its predecessor, Lumo 2 is yet more of the good stuff.





Comments 26
"You can play it in Welsh!"
CELTS UNITE!
As someone who is an American who is also 16, yeah, I probably won't get much out of this. Not that that's a problem on the game's part though. Not every game needs to appeal to every audience!
Thanks for the review, definitely interested in at the very least giving this a try at some point despite not having played the games it's based on - not before the original Lumo, though (completely missed it back in the day as I hadn't even just heard of it before the previous news about this sequel here on Nintendo Life)!
I got stumped within about 5 minutes of Lumo 1, so I feel I have to revisit that before considering this, but it's nice to see it's reviewed well, so I'll put it on the wishlist.
@Bluelink45 lumo 1 was a nice game for my now 16 year old daughter a few years ago.. it might not give you a nostalgia shot, but it is fun in its own right…
It's great to know that a game who didn't get the spotlight it deserved is getting a sequel. And a good one!
I had a lot of fun with the first Lumo, and I'm gonna get this one, too. For those who arent sure about getting the first game: if you're into puzzle platformers with a great deal of difficulty, you're gonna have a blast
Seeing the photo for the article, I thought it was Orko from He-Man for a second. haha
Nice article!
"[…] in the first Lumo you had stuff like Knight Lore, Equinox and Head Over Heels"
You guys forgot "Solstice - The Quest for the Staff of Demnos", which this series mainly takes it’s inspiration from, both visually (the main character) and gameplay wise (the isometric view).
@gcunit
Yeah, there’s an ice cube pushing room that’s pretty nasty not too far in, but past this puzzle, it’s pretty much a yellow brick road from there.
@AhabSpampurse YASSS
Lumo 2 pays a very touching homage to Jet Set Willy.
It's Orco from He-man!
This sounds great, but as I'd never heard of the first Lumo I think I'll try that first!
Any time you mention performance issues on new games I just really wish or hope they'll patch it for Switch 2, or does it already perform better there?
Loved Lumo 1 so I think I'll get a fair bit out of no.2. It reads like it is more of the same which is a good thing
Cheers for the review.
I just finished this game 100%. Well I missed 4 ducks, but I think it's a game glitch that doesn't count 4 of them that are used as keys. Anyway this review should be changed to a 9/10 as you have full camera control when you get to the 3rd level. Such a brilliant idea!
I'm not sure if I'm familiar enough with the references to get the most out of this, but I don't think I've ever heard of a game playable in Welsh before so that's definitely increased my interest in it!
You had me at marble madness
@BoFiS I didn't read any performance issues mentioned? The only thing that possibly fits what you say is a mention of some relatively blurry bits at times.
@RobertCorwen I was thinking the same! Weirdly while reading about this the game's theme popped into my head.
Oh I had no idea about this series — and I'm a huge fan of those old school isometric puzzle/adventure games — instant wishlist!
@XE77 jet set willy wasn't isometric tho. jet set willy was famous as a game that it was impossible to finish due to bugs wasn't it!
@Glasso
Yes, Jet Set Willy wasn't isometric as well as Uridium, Attack of the Mutant Camels, Iridis Alpha, Prince of Persia but a large number of rooms of the blue zone in Lumo 2 is solely dedicated to Jet Set Willy and it is a nice nostalgic touch.
I never had a computer back in the isometric heyday, although I've read quite a few retro reviews of ZX Spectrum games so I get the concept.
I played the first Lumo and it was clearly a new entry to that old genre, but it all felt so tightly consistent that I had no idea that it was referencing numerous distinct games. As opposed to something like Horace which indulged itself with crazy surprises at every opportunity.
Anyway, Lumo 1... I found it cosy, ingenious, and impressive with its complex level design. I did figure out that ice block room, although it took literally hours and hours. But then I reached a section where you have a long, long gauntlet of jumps from moving platforms. I consider myself a persistent gamer. But friends, the isometric malarkey broke me.
It lives on in my "finish me!" pile, but the overall layout of the world is so insanely complicated that I feel that I'd need to start again now in order to have any idea where to go next even if I made it through that maddening gauntlet. And that ain't gonna happen. So in the pile it stays.
I'm definitely of the right vintage to know most of the references. I wonder if the blurriness is the same on Switch 2 or if there's dynamic resolution.
Been playing this for almost a week and maybe there's something wrong with my eyes, cos I haven't really noticed any of the blurriness mentioned - so not enough to be considered an issue, anyway.
As for frame rate it's 30 FPS which is absolutely fine to me, as it's rock solid, so no slowdown surprises to be had.
Anyway as a grey-haired child of the 8-bit generation I am totally loving it - been dipping in every night for an hour or two, and finding some new secret or nod to the past each session. Lovely stuff.
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