80%Nintendo Switch

Plot feels a little unfinished (no explanation on some backstory). Some platforming is unnecessarily strict. Overall good game, however.

80%PC

Just a good challenging 3D platformer. A nice hidden gem that deserves way more attention that it got. Its hard but fair and gets insane if you wanna collect everything which is how I like it. Don't have any complaints really, you should play, its only $5.

8/10

80%Nintendo Switch

Really fun 3D platformer that I'd like to play more of. Very early Sonic sort of feel with the structure and ending. Easy to learn but hard to master controls as the characters can feel a little too loose, but is fixed with the ZR button. Would recommend this indie.

30%PC

Truly abysmal. I haven't felt this emotionally drained from a game in a VERY long time. If the game's goal was to annoy the living fuck out of you, then it certainly accomplished that and gets an A++ for it's sheer will to infuriate the level crap out of me. Like Cavern of Dreams, it's another style over substance platformer that may look pretty and sound nice, but it's all a facade to deceive you into playing what might be a charming little game. Nope. I hate to say "This is the Dark Souls of Platformers" and even if I did say that, I would feel idiotic. Because Dark Souls probably has more reward than this. The game overall just feels terrible. The default controls are so abysmal that even changing them from the main menu didn't help things like garbage physics and 10 Million Cheap Deaths by Falling off edges while doing platforming on some of THE MOST HORRIBLY DESIGNED levels I think I've ever played in my life. I swear, the hit boxes and hit detection in this game is so awful and you'll die so many times from falling off platforms, why even have a life bar? Why? Why even have a life bar at all when 99.9% of the time you'll die from falling to your death? It's ridiculous. Not to mention the controls are absolutely craptastic and sometimes your inputs will just not register and you'll fall to your death for the millionth time.

I just don't know how to explain it. How could they design a game with such horrible physics that make you slip off edges when the game is wanting you to platform extremely precisely? How did they manage to fuck up the controls for a game that seems so simple in concept? How could they have put all their effort into music and sound and not gameplay, controls, level design and programming? It makes me gag when people have an "INDIES ALL THE WAY!" mentality when you have complete and utter vomit like this being spewed into digital storefronts. How can anyone like this game? How can the majority of reviews on Steam be positive for such a messy, clunky, incomplete, unpolished nightmare? I could keep asking myself these questions, but I don't think I'll get any answers. I really hated this and found it to be completely embarrassing. And I thought Boomer Shooters had it bad with style over substance games. Platformers might even have it worse when it comes to small/micro budget titles like this.

I obviously cannot recommend this game to anyone at all. But you know what I can recommend at the very least? Pumpkin Jack. That game does everything that a Smallish budget platformer should do. It not only features colorful graphics and fun music, but superior controls, fun gameplay, fun characters and actually feels REWARDING of your time. I say again, REWARDING. Lunistice can obviously be thrown in the dumpster and set on fire with the rest of these stupid Style Over Substance games. This is why I don't like using terms like AAA and Indie mainly because the latter is used for superiority complex with many stereotypical gamers today. If this is the quality we're getting from the so called "Indies" than god help us all. Maybe Big/Mega Budget games aren't looking too bad after all huh?

75%Nintendo Switch

Take the few okish sections of the very rough game Sonic Adventure 2 and make a whole game around it. It actually worked!

Lunistice is basically the Sonic stages of that game with a little dash of Celeste gameplay and Sega Saturn graphics sprinkled in. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, the first playthrough took me under 2 hours. However for the perverts there’s quite the few collectables, unlockables and extra characters to do it all over again. I got my fill though.

85%PC

It's just a simple, good platformer game. It doesn't really innovate in the genre, but overall, it feels good.

100%Nintendo Switch

In Lunistice, you are in control of a humanoid raccoon stuck in a training programme which consists of colourful 3D environments with a very strong 90s aesthetic. You will double and triple jump your way through 7 environments each with at least 2 acts per level.

The way to the end of each level is clear, but as you play through the levels you will find optional paths that lead to floating letters. Collecting all the letters in a level unlocks an extra path beyond the end of the level which causes the game to glitch and a note to be unlocked. Each note has a scattered email that seems to have been lost. If you manage to find all of them you realise that the floating letters were put there by someone else in an attempt to wake up the main character - who is stuck in a military training loop.

Tha platforming is tight and the game feel is great. You've got full camera control, double jumps (and triple jumps) and jumping can be done using Left and Right shoulder buttons. It only took me about 2-3 minutes to get a handle on the landings, which speaks volumes about the tight controls (even with a heavily used switch thumbstick - which isn't great).

The sountrack is great, especially if you like that nostalgic 90s feel (check bandcamp for the website) The soundtrack is great and will get stuck in your head. It really left a "what if Sonic Team made a 3D game that is not Sonic in this day and age" feeling in me - straight out of the 90s.

The only low note in my view is the small list of enemies with simple AI, but honestly it didn't upset me in the slightest. This is a great game and one I wholeheartedly recommend.

Edit: just realised there are two more characters to choose from and they represent challenge runs: one which can't attack but has a really high jump and another with a triple tiny jump and a quick attack.

80%PC

Just overall great, and caters to different strengths/playstyles of platforming enjoyers. Just enough frustration to make you take another chance, yet never punishing enough to make you quit outright. Enjoyable soundtrack, and a joy to play :)

80%PC

Pleasantly surprised by how good this is, I've genuinely got nothing to complain about. Controls really well, nice music, cute characters, really great level design with unique and appealing themes; this is just an all around really good game.

60%Nintendo Switch

Lunistice is a decent platformer although it has pretty repetitive level design and the main collectable just isn't interesting nor fun enough to get. I mean going through an entire level filled with 200+ or sometimes even up to 500+ tiny birds only to find out at the end that you've missed 1, isn't exactly fun to me.

The levels rely way too much on choosing between 2 paths to figure out which is the optional path and which is the right one. This type of design just makes playing through again to get things feel more like a chore since you're constantly going out of your way to get things rather than enjoying the level head-on while doing so.

I also was confused as to why time wasn't figured into the overall ranking as it seem like it should on the results screen. Overall the game just was nothing special, but decent.

70%Nintendo Switch

Short game, decent platforming for the most part except the turning can feel a bit stiff. Overall worth the small price-tag

50%PC

Lunistice commits the cardinal sin of being a platformer with dull level design and physics that make every jump feel more like a leap of faith.

Before we get to the gameplay, let's start with Lunistice's most distinct feature: The visuals.
The game goes for a SEGA Saturn 32-Bit style, meaning everything is 3D, but it has something very dreamy and charming about it.
All worlds look colorful, playful and a bit pixelated, creating this trance feel to it.
Add jamming music and it seems like a cheery platformer.

The design of the worlds replicate this feeling, they have their familiar themes like beaches, or space, but it simply doesn't feel like it has been done before in that particular way.

To the game's detriment, however, the worlds look nicer than they play.
The level design is quite simple. There are enemies, wide platforms to jump on, and each world has its own gimmick, while loosing steam midway through, making the gimmicks feel more like the same ones, but with a new coat of paint. The gimmicks especially lack any personality of their own, and are trying to sell you on the idea that simple trampolines, rails, or ground that makes you go slightly faster need their own separate levels.
Besides that, there are also forks in the road, where you can do an optional platforming challenge to get additional collectibles if you're looking to 100% the levels, which are alright I guess, just seems odd to divide collectibles from the level. It creates the problem that you might do the optional challenge by accident.
Unfortunately, the game doesn't really evolve past that. It's always nothing more than adding a gimmick to the mix. The platforming itself isn't really tight or responsive, you either fight the controls, or simply jump from floating platform A to floating platform B, while having your mind on other things, because it really is dull and has no creative concepts level design-wise, other than pressing the jump button a few times.

But, worse than generic level design is undoubtedly a character that doesn't control well.
The game's jumps feel more like a leap of faith than anything, you have two jumps, but the first jump is more like a long jump, barely gaining any height, and giving you doubts if you make the jump or not. There's no shadow telling you that information either, so you often end up double jumping just because of unreliability.
Additionally, merely turning the character feels absolutely terrible, my closest comparison would be Sonic Lost World levels of turning, where the character slows down dramatically, having more problems doing a 90° turn than a semi-truck. It throws you off completely, therefore you find yourself running more or less in a completely straight line, since whenever the game asks you to turn it isn't satisfying. It doesn't help, either, that doing a 180° turn is notoriously unresponsive, since the character needs a good second to slow down, turn, and then keep going. During tighter platforming sections, I found myself simply sliding off terrain as if my controller had input delay.
Another incredibly questionable control choice is to limit the player's control over the y-axis of the camera. So, if you do an optional platforming challenge, and find yourself high up in the sky, you simply cannot look down. The game doesn't let you. Why? This is a deliberate limitation that makes no sense to me, especially with the lack of a shadow when jumping, you can't even use the camera to properly adjust your jumps.
What it boiled down to was that I found the rather generic gimmicks that took control away from the player much more enjoyable. I don't need extra tight controls for a fun small platformer to please me, but Lunistice fails to make the simplest movement engaging.
I usually even 100% any platformer I get my hands on, but this one made me give up early on.

For such a short game, it completely lacks in the simplest departments. Lunistice's movement, nor level design, are endearing. Visually, it has a soul, but the character's controls and physics take my soul. 5/10

60%PC

This was an extremely cute little platformer that has a lot of care and love put into it. Fantastic music and a GORGEOUS artstyle, where every level has interesting things about it. The collecting is really nice too, as someone who doesn't like having to one-hundred percent games I definitely want to do it with this game as the levels are setup to minimize backtracking if you're trying to get everything. The music as well needs to be mentioned, as it is amazing and fits every level's unique artstyle perfectly. It is a bit on the shorter side but I'd rather have a game that leaves me wanting more rather than thinking it was too much. I think my biggest complaint is that it is a little too easy. I don't normally play platformers and I found it not that challenging, where I usually messed up jumps because of timing rather than precision and movement. I don't mind games being easy, but I think I would've liked a little more challenge, especially with the enemies. They're all quite simple and are more objects rather than creatures you counter despite their cute designs. I also liked the little story details we get and it really plays well into the 'less is more' concept. Overall a great game and for the price it is a steal!

80%PC

Great vibes, fun level design tho it's always hard to tell which way is the side route to get collectibles. Might be a 5 if I liked platformers more but being bad at the jumping and having to restart from the checkpoint a bunch dragged the otherwise great flow down a bit.

80%PC

Old School Platformer - 8/10

80%PC

Mostly positive. Feels like a mix of Super Mario 3D Land/World and 3D Sonic with PS1 aesthetics.

The last few levels had some questionable gaps for the jumps and there weren’t any bosses which was also unfortunate. There may have been some true ending with different characters but I didn’t see where to pick another character after finishing the main game so…

70%Nintendo Switch

+ Decent visuals;
+ Solid controls;
+ Good level design;
+ Nice variety of environments;
+ Cheap.

- Enemies don't bring much to the experience;
- Lack of enemy variety;
- Repetitive music;
- Brief experience.

7 - Worth buying at full-price if you're into 3D platformers. If it ever goes on sale, absolutely grab it.

50%PC

Lunistice è un retro platform 3D bello da vedere che viene sporcato da troppi problemi, una poca sfida e quasi nessuna profondità narrativa, offrendo da un’esperienza non pienamente sufficiente.

Recensione completa: https://www.crazygamecommunity.it/cgcreviews-lunistice/

50%PC

Lunistice is a fun platformer that waves the flag for nineties retro-styling; it stays comfortably in its lane just long enough to wring all of the possible enjoyment out of a simple formula before it can become repetitive. With intentionally blocky visuals but surprisingly crisp controls, Lunistice is an enjoyable experience that doesn’t set out to do too much, and in doing so achieves an awful lot. Despite some issues with depth perception, I had a good time with Lunistice while it lasted, and perfectionists and speedrunners will get more from this Sonic Adventure 2 X Sega Saturn-inspired runner than perhaps they expected.

Full Review:
https://www.vgamingnews.com/feature/vgamingindies-vol-6/#Lunistice?utm_source=HLTB&utm_medium=Review&utm_campaign=tracker

70%PC

7.5/10
Lunistice was an interesting game for me, as while I am not the biggest fan of platformer, and the focus of this platform game was to be a nostalgia trip for ps1 style platformer games, I still found a ton of enjoyment from this game than I thought I would. While it does have the flaws that I normally dislike from some platformers like lack of technical movement and momentum lack, The story was a surprising but tiny positive for me.

Story
The most you get for the story of this game will be the beginning voiced cutscene when you boot the game, and then the rest of the story is only if you get the secret notes and finish the true ending, where it talks about a cycle formed by an organization, and with letters sent by the main character to their parents as they go through the experiment of destroying the moon. However destroying the moon only causes the game to loop, but the glitches it causes is how the notes were formed to begin with due to being a glitch in the system, and with those notes is how you are able to finally break the cycle and become free. While the story is basically 5-10 minutes worth of content in this game, it was still pretty well done and I applaud the dev for that.

Gameplay
It has the mix of a sonic game but with the movements of Super Mario Galaxy, and while I did enjoy it overall, I really did wish there were more technical movements as it did become a bit stale due to lack of progression with how good I got with the movement. The level designs in the later levels were really good, but replaying them was not that interesting due to the linear design apart from 1 level in the game. Turning off smooth turning made the movement much much better though, as it removes that slow turn around speed and makes the game feel much snappier. In the end though it was a bit too easy for my liking, but the deaths were punishing depending on what checkpoint you last got, which would only really set you back at most a minute or 2. If there ever was a sequel, I think an additional movement option that allows for more freedom in movement and expression would go a long way, even though I didn't play the other 2 characters in the game.

Music
Pretty good overall. I do think there was some issue with repeating songs, or especially songs that sounded too similar, cause it would get repetitive as the game went on. The music rhythm and the last level were highlights easily for me, and I did enjoy the main theme that played throughout the game, but I did feel tiring of the music as I went on and on, and eventually did play youtube songs in the background when I was replaying the game, but for an indie dev it was really good still.

Conclusion
This game is easily worth the buy, as with all the issues I have with the game, it only costs $5 which is a STEAL for the content and enjoyment you get from the game. I don't think personally that it is one of my favorite platformers, and there are others that do better in certain aspects of this game, but I still think it is worth picking up this game especially if you like old school 3d platformers.
7.5/10

60%PC

I wish the game was longer and had more to do but for it's price point I guess it's okay. It's a very linear game in a way that it almost feels like it could easily have been made into an auto runner type of a game; I'm able to continuously run nonstop for pretty much the entire game. There are long branching paths but they're easy to tell that they're unnecessary before you take them, and at the end of each of these branching paths is a dead end with an optional collectible where you then go back to the beginning of the fork. This is unlike games such as Sonic where most of those games have a high path and a low path that ultimately leads to the end. Being able to run nonstop isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it feels good to just go fast and it definitely feels like stages are purposely built that way to feel like you're "speedrunning"; more or less the entire game is that way. However, there really isn't much tech to the game to make actual speedrunning feel interesting or skillful. There are two additional playable characters. One is like a pacifist Toad and the other is like Yoshi/Princess Peach. Neither of them really do much for me personally in terms of replayability. All the stages and collectibles are the same whichever you pick. The music is good, and the stage themes are quite unique from each other.

100%PC

I'm simply not enough into pure platformers nowadays to feel like I have much meaningful to say here. Suffice it to say that Lunistice was good enough to convince me to 100% it (aside from some postgame content that presents as external to the main campaign), and even just getting me to play a platformer is a rarity. Charming, engaging, and just the right level of challenging, with just a tad more to it than it seems, I highly recommend Lunistice as an "idealized" throwback similar to Shovel Knight, but for 3D platformers.

90%Nintendo Switch

Short but fun. On its merits I'd give it an 8.5, and its price is so low ($5) it's easy to recommend.

80%PC

Nostalgia hits hard