Lament Island (by New Heat)


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Lament Island is a fully 3D action-adventure game along the lines of Tomb Raider, but with a Chinese setting and made by Chinese developers. You explore a deserted mansion on an island using a detailed set of controls which rely on the direction pad, keypad and soft keys.

The first part of the game is taken up by a TR-style tutorial which introduces all the controls one at a time, blending seamlessly into the actual game itself, and you learn some additional skills later in the game. You can walk and run, turn, jump, crouch, use objects, examine things, fire pellets and swing a pickaxe. Each action has its own dedicated key, and they're laid out in a fairly memorable way, though it's perhaps a bit overwhelming at first. Objects in your inventory can be combined with other objects, and the inventory usefully categorises objects into tools, medicines and storage media (yes, it's odd, but so is this game).

Lament Island is atmospheric. Its world is filled with detail, including text descriptions for most of your surroundings when you examine them, and there's even a small "hidden" cut scene where you look up at the house's fountain near the door, which can only be accessed if you depart from the game's expected path up the stairs in the first room.


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