This article is part of a series focusing on the most notable games saw at this year’s INDIGO gaming exhibition held September 25-26 in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Lumini gave me the experience that I hoped Zen Fish Simulator to give me. Even on the crowded show floor, it raised the inner monk for a brief play session. For a moment, I didn’t care about the man staring at my Lubin and breathing in my neck. I just wanted my Lumini to flourish.
So, what are Lumini? Lumini are creatures of energy and light that fly and have varying abilities. They are like Nintendo’s Pikmin, in the way that the player controls them, and guides them through evolution. However, even though it is the closest relative that comes to mind, Lumini played nothing like Pikmin.
The Lumini journey
In the humble beginnings, there was only one Lumini for me to play with. It’s purpose was to find light-balls and use them to release more Lumini out of glowing square artifacts. When I got at the artifact, I gained about seven Lumini to strengthen my forces. Along the way to the next one, I noticed flying, red, mini whales where trying to eat my Lumini. At first I just flew away to guide my group of Lumini to safety. Some were lost to the monstrous mini whales, but I made it to the next artifact. There, I noticed some of them were undergoing changes. They became azure blue, and when I commanded the azure Lumini to the front, they had the ability to dash faster through the cave system. I used their ability to quickly grab light-balls and avert hostilities.
Still, the mini whales occasionally snatched away a Lumini at the back of the flock. I couldn’t let them get away with this, after all, they were red, and red means evil. I learned how to yell at the whales, which apparently gave them minor damage. It was enough to hurt their bomb-spitting actinia friends. But to damage the big ‘uns, the Lumini needed to evolve. After shouting at everything living in the cave for a while, my Speed Lumini thinned out and turned into Battle Lumini. These critters shouted like my mom would before diner, and made short work of any hostile creature. However, my whaling spree was short lived. In what looked like a creature dogfight, my Lumini were swarmed by the whales. All but one of my creatures perished by my thirst for dominance. “If all your Lumini die, the species becomes extinct!” The developer quickly told me.
The lone survivor took the high road and escaped to the level’s finish line. In a modest victory dance, it chirped some final tunes, and I parted from it, keeping myself from chirping back at my war-torn friend.
Download the free pre-alpha here.