Lydia

There are a lot of caveats when it comes to recommending Lydia, as it's a game that will speak to people in different ways. Lydia offers a beautiful and chilling experience, but its dark tone and even darker story and subject matter won't be for everyone.

Lydia is a game with two faces. One face tells you a compelling story about the heavy subject of alcoholism from the perspective of a child. The other face is a game that is short and doesn't keep the pace of how it should. As a package, it offers an interesting hour to spend, especially for the very low price at which it comes.

In general, Lydia is an interesting game with a well put together setting and an art style you probably won’t soon forget, but overall it’s just sort of a slightly underwhelming experience. Over the course of its 45 to 60-minute runtime, you will experience what is obviously a deeply personal story for the creators, leading to a choice that I honestly found very well done in the end. It’s a story of abuse and neglect and how somebody so small is forced to deal with it, and while the gameplay is nothing to write home about, it’s definitely a narrative that will probably stick with me even if just for a little while.

Short, sweet, and to the point, Lydia makes for a memorable and engaging hour of gameplay. Its story of abuse will prove uncomfortable, but a restrained hand ensures audiences never have to confront anything too visceral through gameplay. There isn't much in the way of replayability, but a well told story, plus an excellent visual style make Lydia a worthwhile play-through for anyone looking for something emotionally dense.