Lydia

 Switch
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 24
  3. Negative: 6 out of 24

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  1. MindWanderer
    Jan 4, 2022
    5
    Drinking ruins lives.

    Now that you've read those three words, you have no reason to play this game. It's a hamfisted portrayal of alcoholism from the perspective of a girl whose parents and friends are burdened with it. It's not even really a "walking simulator." You have no agency whatsoever, aside from two very simple puzzles which will take you seconds to solve. The characters    Drinking ruins lives.

    Now that you've read those three words, you have no reason to play this game. It's a hamfisted portrayal of alcoholism from the perspective of a girl whose parents and friends are burdened with it. It's not even really a "walking simulator." You have no agency whatsoever, aside from two very simple puzzles which will take you seconds to solve. The characters are one-dimensional, and the message is overbearing.

    There is some attempt at symbolism, though some high-quality fantasy art. (Why are these psychological games always in black-and-white?) However, the writers gave up on this approach halfway through the second chapter, to revisit it very briefly at the end. Otherwise it's literal and uninteresting.

    In a genre saturated with similar, better games, like Gris and Fran Bow, I have a hard time recommending Lydia.    … Expand
  2. adventuranter
    Jan 24, 2021
    6
    Lydia’s wondrously gloomy visual style and its powerful narrative are little help when it comes to its bare-bones gameplay. Player interaction with the game world is so minimal that you often feel like a mere spectator in the protagonist’s story. Worse yet, you feel that every action you do undertake is meaningless given that the whole thing is scripted. The game doesn’t even respect theLydia’s wondrously gloomy visual style and its powerful narrative are little help when it comes to its bare-bones gameplay. Player interaction with the game world is so minimal that you often feel like a mere spectator in the protagonist’s story. Worse yet, you feel that every action you do undertake is meaningless given that the whole thing is scripted. The game doesn’t even respect the choices you make when interacting verbally with other characters, surprising you with many unintended lines. In the end, you are made to feel completely helpless as a player here, even lacking volition. And while this could be said to serve a dramatic purpose, by emulating the perspective of a child entrapped in a toxic family life, it could also be said to fuel a defeatist, deterministic worldview… I wouldn’t recommend the game if its visuals weren’t so astonishing and its moments of sadness so gut-wrenching. But they are.… Expand
  3. lowey
    Jan 7, 2022
    5
    It's not a bad game, but there are so many things I personally want to fix. The movement of the character is so slow and sluggish it borders on excruciating. The "speech" sound effects actually made me take my headphones out on several occasions as they were so unpleasant to listen to. On the other hand the scenery is gorgeously drawn.

    But this is a game that's all about the sory. One    It's not a bad game, but there are so many things I personally want to fix. The movement of the character is so slow and sluggish it borders on excruciating. The "speech" sound effects actually made me take my headphones out on several occasions as they were so unpleasant to listen to. On the other hand the scenery is gorgeously drawn.

    But this is a game that's all about the sory. One or two of the characters are very believable, sure, but as someone who lived a childhood that was very similar to Lydia's it honestly felt shallow and lacking. What other people see as deep and clever writing I saw as, honestly, lacking in the real complexity of a childhood shattered by the issues explored in this game. My childhood and my complicated relationship with my mother is a story I've wanted to tell for many years, but it's too raw to really try to explain to an audience with no understanding of the issues and what it's really like to live that life, the traumas it causes, the ongoing suffering that covers generations to come, and that is ultimately rooted in the generation that came BEFORE my mother. It's all very complicated and it's not easy to point a finger of blame, which is the trap this game falls into. Lydia, as a game, tried to simply sum up a very complex and difficult set of circumstances with a simple explanation that doesn't exist in the real world.

    I don't regret playing the game, but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be: messy, complicated, and something that I could show to other people and say, "yeah, that was what I lived through as a kid. If you wanna understand me play this game." It just lacks the depth. One day, perhaps someone will create a game that can really explore the issue with enough depth to really help others understand the reality of many children all around the world growing up in these kinds of households. But sadly this game doesn't quite get there.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. Starbit
    Aug 10, 2021
    40
    Lydia brings us a theme that is definitely worth exploring in a medium like gaming but it could have been approached in a much better way. The writing needs a lot of work and despite its very on touch visual environment, the gameplay experience is very subpar and there's little interactivity to be found here.
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  2. Finger Guns
    May 31, 2021
    50
    Lydia is an interactive story telling point and click, the story of a young girl surrounded by substance abuse. The game is short, and from that, the scenes of the narrative can blur and become confusing in which message it is trying to convey. Visually pleasing, and delivers a good atmospheric dark tone, but difficult to recommend for ‘fun’. However, this is an important game in the awareness of substance abuse.
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  3. DarkStation
    Apr 21, 2020
    70
    Lydia is a tough game to recommend to everyone because, as a video game, it is too short and has only a minimal amount of gameplay. However, if you're looking for a thought-provoking experience that will stay with you even after you have finished the game, I can confidently say that Lydia is a very strong candidate for you.
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