Lamentum

About Lamentum

Lamentum is a survival horror game by Obscure Tales, published by Neon Doctrine and Raw Fury. It came out on Steam on 27 August 2021 and a few days later on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Series X|S and Nintendo Switch; GOG sells it too. It is set in New England in the mid-nineteenth century and drawn in top-down pixel art.

Victor Hartwell, a young aristocrat, brings his wife Alissa to Grau Hill Mansion in the hope of curing the disease that is killing her. The Earl who lives there has uncovered ancient secrets and forgotten sciences and says he can heal her. After the first night, Victor wakes to find the mansion changed, and the question of what the cure will cost him grows with every room.

It plays like the classic survival horror games the makers name, Resident Evil and Silent Hill. You carry a lamp to see in the dark, lock picks for sealed doors and chests and restoratives for your health, in an inventory too small for everything, with item boxes to store the rest. Melee weapons such as an axe, a hammer and a sabre are slow and short, and the pistol and musket use ammunition that is scarce in the mansion. Saving uses up inkwells, so a death sends you back to your last save, and some traps kill without much warning. The grounds keep opening up as you find keys and tools, and Screen Rant found the puzzles the best part: they are fair, and they reward reading every note and line of text.

The horror owes as much to the Cthulhu mythos: tentacles and fleshy growths spread through the halls, bloody altars and statues stand in its chambers, and the creatures each behave and attack differently. The fear comes from the dark, the murmurs past the edge of the lamplight and the gore, with few jump scares. The makers call it a dark, adult-themed game; it is rated M by the ESRB for blood and gore and violence, and PEGI 16.

The characters you meet may or may not deserve your trust, and those choices change the ending, so it rewards a second play. The main story takes about five hours by HowLongToBeat's count, more on a first, careful run. It suits players who want old-style survival horror with its limited saves and clumsy fights left in, set in a Lovecraftian mansion.

How to play Lamentum

1. Buy it on Steam or GOG for PC, or on the PlayStation Store, Xbox or Nintendo eShop.
2. Explore Grau Hill Mansion with your lamp lit, picking up tools, weapons, ammunition and restoratives.
3. Choose what to carry in your limited inventory and leave the rest in an item box.
4. Save at the writing desks while you have inkwells, before you push into new rooms.
5. Fight or avoid the creatures, saving ammunition for when you need range.
6. Read every note and talk to the people you meet; the notes hold puzzle clues and your choices of whom to trust shape the ending.

Tips

• Set shortcuts for a melee weapon, a firearm and a restorative so you can switch fast in a fight.
• Melee weapons are slow to swing and short in reach: strike first and step back, and keep bullets for the dangerous creatures.
• Inkwells are limited, so save before exploring far from a save point; some traps kill at once.
• When stuck, reread your notes and Victor's diary: the answer is usually a clue you passed over.
• Search rooms carefully: the store says many items are hidden at first.

Questions