Escaping the house in your mind | Luto Review

WACO, Texas (KWTX) -

I normally like to try to fill my reviews with jokes and other shenanigans but given the subject matter contained within I’m not sure I can wring any comedy out of this game. Luto is a game that comes to us from Broken Bird Games. This is their first game, but you wouldn’t know that because everything here is incredibly polished. On its face Luto is a game about escaping the depression tethering you to your home. Trapped in an endless loop of the same depressing tasks, too anxious to leave and face your demons. But to look at this game’s story on such a basic level misses so much of its incredible nuance. Yes, the game is about anxiety and depression but as you journey deeper you’ll find pillars of abuse, guilt, grief, and suicidal ideations. It’s an extremely heavy narrative.

The graphics in the game are awe-inspiring. Like many modern horror games Luto uses a photorealistic style for its world, blending the familiar with the otherworldly. The interior of the house in which the game takes place is incredibly detailed with rich environmental story telling in every corner. Much of the house’s space is filled with subtle illustrations of how Sam is broken and how he is coping. From the textures of the walls to the shine of polished hardwood floors. Luto is an outstanding technical showcase for Unreal Engine 5. The lighting in the game is top notch. The game constantly shifts from day to night, and it’s all just fantastic. I especially loved the odes to the media that Sam escapes into when he is trying to forget his pain. Movies like The Exorcist, Jaws, The Shining, Child’s Play, Alien, and several other film franchises are seen in various forms in Sam’s home. He’s even got Night of the Living Dead playing on the TV in his room.

It’s a good thing that the graphics are so outstanding because it sets the backdrop for this story that largely takes place within a house. Sam, the character that you play in this game, is trapped within a labyrinthine version of his home within his mind. This labyrinth is obviously representative of the anxiety and depression that keeps Sam from getting outside of his house and living his life. These feelings are brought about by several events from Sam’s childhood. I don’t want to give any beats of the story away, though. You should experience the game yourself. This story is an incredibly poignant journey.

Though Luto wears the trappings of a horror game its scares are much more esoteric, hitting home with those who have fears in the darkness of depression. There are a few jump scares along the way, but the game more often than not chooses to let the overall dread hang in the air. The sound design is flawless with the creaks and rumbling of the house only adding to the atmospheric thrills. An object falling in another room. The tension that is delivered by the swell of music when spooky things are amiss. This is a title that you should definitely play while wearing headphones.

What makes Luto stand out in a sea of would-be Silent Hills is its use of meta storytelling to provide a different approach to the narrative. It lets you see behind the curtains, letting you see the assets used for the game, letting you see the spawning rigs, even going so far as to let you see notes from the devs. It all takes the form of a film studio in the world of the game, complete with sets and green screens, even showing movie scripts. This format further pulls you into Sam’s distorted worldview, using media to try and escape a purgatory of his own mind.

That meta commentary goes beyond just the narrative. Because another aspect of the game that I love is that it seems to be a deconstruction of the P.T. craze that horror games have been imitating to death since P.T.’s release back in 2014. Luto doesn’t just take influences from that game. It also uses many other tropes from popular games to pull people in but actually takes those ideas and utilizes them to great original effect. The most commonly used format here is the “looping hallway of doom and despair” an often-over-used trope from games inspired by the Kojima lead demo, usually I would say “oh good ANOTHER looping hallway to try and freak me out” but Luto actually uses them to further Samuel’s descent into his fears.

Luto is an incredible first outing for Broken Bird Games that isn’t afraid to do something more nuanced in a space dominated by games filled with gruesome murder, gore and survival horror. Trading traditional scares for more substance in its world and delivering something cohesive and thought-provoking. The moment-to-moment gameplay may not be traditionally enthralling, but its narrative is more than captivating enough to make up for that, offering a unique experience I can’t recommend enough. Slow burning, haunting, and affecting, Luto is a darkly engrossing game and earns a 9/10 from me. I can’t wait to see more from this team in the future.

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