LogFAQs > #962933979

Lorelai (PC)

This is one of my oooooldest sitting-in-my-desktop games (alongside another horror game go figure) and became the oldest right after I finally beat Metro Exodus. Lorelai is the 3rd and final game of a loose trilogy of horror games that started with Downfall then The Cat Lady. The first game at the time would mirror the plot of Silent Hill 2 and so honestly this one feels a bit like The Room and/or Silent Hill 3 not in the story but in what its suppose to be; a jaded attempt to be as good as the first two games which had more in common in terms of characters.

Apart from some cameos (as Silent Hill games would do), the only connection was that in the second game Lorelai's name was dropped as the true name of the queen of maggots---the interconnecting antagonist of the trilogy. So I thought this was an origin story. It was not. They just happen to have the same name and so all references are meaningless. Its almost as if when the Downfall remake and The Cat Lady got crowdfunded, the author had a little more money left to work on a mini-expansion where all the bad ideas go.

Lorelai is barely a game compared to its predecessors. Mostly walk around taking like the 1 or 2 things that are so obvious to combine. It didn't have much in puzzles and things to see or do. It was more of a graphic novel I suppose. Just make it one or the other you know. So no puzzles...is the horror good? Ehh, surreal imagery is nice if it made sense with symbolism but this just feels like the afterlife is scary and odd for odd's sake. After progressing through the Big Bad's cabin for the third time around I was just bored with it. So, what else?

In theory I like the story. But it just feels too neat. The game's trying to make you feel like Lorelai's going through an arc finding herself and growing up. It doesn't. Things happen while you plod around living and dead then something that I thought was the 2nd Act turned out to be the Final One after you literally deal with a typical Silent Hill Final Boss by chucking a molotov at it in a cutscene. I would say it was fine were the first 2 games not have excellent character arcs on their own especially The Cat Lady.

And this is why the game sat on my desktop for a long time. I just couldn't be bothered. I finished Cat Lady in 2019---delaying this playthrough by 3 years ugh. Felt like a slow burn of disappointment and if it was any consolation, at least dialog was skippable so in that respect it beats The Lost Crown by an inch.

This trilogy has been a ride on its own. I started being interested in Downfall way before the remake when it was just a free one made with Adventure Game Studio (both games are drastically different so I beat both of them back to back). Having truly come from a time when Silent Hill 2 was hot, I can't blame the author for its obvious influences. No one could've predicted that the obscure game author would get a trilogy funded in turn. So with this game, I'd say its all wrapped up...were it not for the sudden resurgence of a 4th game called Burnhouse Lane appearing later this year. And from the looks of it, its back to its puzzle Silent Hilly roots. Looking forward to it I suppose.