Luto Review – This PT-Inspired Nightmare Made My House Untrustworthy!

Walking simulators often get a bad rap for being slow, boring, and unfulfilling gameplay experiences. Many gamers are quick to write them off, citing a lack of interactivity and compelling gameplay. But when P.T.’s demo dropped all the way back in 2014, it offered a terrifying first-person experience similar in style to what we have seen in many narrative-heavy games of this genre, but filled with frights, anxious moments, and fourth-wall-breaking techniques that had players messing around with it long after release. Its inevitable cancellation was met with such outrage that PS4s with preloaded versions of the demo were selling on eBay at outrageous rates.

While it undoubtedly sucks that P.T., or Silent Hills, never saw the light of day, its inspiration is still felt in the horror genre today. Many of the newer Resident Evil games capitalized on its concepts, and countless indies have also tried to take advantage of its popularity, creating thrilling interactive joyrides of their own. The latest to give it a go is Luto—though writing it off as just another P.T. clone would be doing it a great disservice. Hey, I didn’t say that’s a good thing; you’ll have to stick around and watch the review to find out. And no skipping ahead—I put a jump scare there just in case you try.

I know I harped on P.T. in my intro, a clear inspiration for Luto, but it certainly isn’t the only one. In fact, it borrows a great storytelling mechanic from another Silent Hill game, sometimes wrongly labeled as the black sheep of the series: Silent Hill 4: The Room. In Luto, much like in The Room, you are trapped within the confines of your home, with seemingly no escape. Your reality distorts and twists around you, images strike fear into your heart, and it becomes difficult to tell reality from fiction. If you thought games like Undertale and Inscryption broke the fourth wall, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

You don’t know just what is going on in Sam’s life that has led him to this point, but it's clear that something is very wrong. Haunted by painful memories, we get a glimpse into his life through notes, drawings, and other small clues littered throughout his home. At first glance, Sam is just trying to get on with his life and go through the motions. Day in and day out—getting ready for work, grabbing the keys from the table (insert Chop Suey joke here), and heading out the door into monotonous obscurity. Sam keeps having blackouts, and not the kind that start with a fun party and end in the comfort of his own bed. The kind of blackouts that leave him questioning how he got there and missing chunks of time. Now, as Sam tries to regain a sense of normalcy and make it out of the house, the property seems to distort and swell around him, keeping him stuck in his mind and fractured memories. A lost soul adrift on a sea of grief and despair.

I will warn you before we traverse any further into the winding labyrinth of Luto that this game deals with some difficult subject matter, which will make it a challenging play for those in a less-than-stellar headspace, so player discretion is certainly advised. Luto tackles loss, depression, death, and other topics that play a pivotal role in the game’s dark but intriguing narrative.

As you might expect, the bulk of what you’ll be doing in Luto is exploration-based, solving environmental puzzles with clues you’ll stumble across in your wandering. While these puzzles aren’t the trickiest I've encountered in my many years of gaming, this title makes a conscious effort to stay one step ahead of your train of thought, so don’t get discouraged if the solution you were certain was the answer isn’t progressing the game the way you thought it might. In fact, the whole game is a bit of a mind freak—Criss Angel would be proud! Just when you think you know what lies around the next corner, you’ll be thrown for a complete loop. I sincerely do NOT want to spoil any of these surprises for you, as the joy of discovery is what makes Luto such a unique and exciting prospect.

The game is divided into chapters, each filled with a wealth of puzzles that borrow from all of the great horror titles that came before it. From collecting keys to reading clocks and making phone calls, you’ll have to pay close attention to the details around you and consult your sketchpad for some clues on how to proceed. While Luto wears its influences on its sleeve, it does so with style and flair and manages to bottle a good bit of the magic of the titles that came before it, and adds a little magic of its own creation. The pacing is excellent (even if Sam’s running speed is a little stuck in the mud), with areas to explore that are just big enough to allow the player to wander and ponder before reaching the solution of the next puzzle in their path, but small enough where it doesn’t become overwhelming.

Speaking of the setting, the graphics in Luto are quite impressive with tons of tiny details that might even be missed upon first playthrough. From shadows heading down the hall just ahead of you or lurking in the background as you examine an item, to environmental clues that you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for or you’ll miss them, there was a great deal of care that went into crafting the home where Luto takes place. Playing on PC, I did not encounter any performance issues, at least I don’t THINK I did, but this house DOES play tricks on you so you can never really be too sure. Hell, in one scene you can actually watch an entire movie, which is an insane yet excellent touch that is a perfect example of how Luto sets itself apart from the rest. All of the visuals, trickery, and dark tones create an atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife. In fact, you might want to bring one, this place doesn’t seem super safe…

Further adding to the spooky vibes is fantastic sound design. The game often uses sound as a clue to lead the player in the correct direction, but also throws tons of ambient noises at you that are properly eerie. The soundtrack has that classic horror movie feel to it that plays into all the horror tropes, from discordant and unsettling tunes to distorted classical music emanating from an unknown source. The one thing that took me out of the magic at times was the narration, which sometimes sounded so unbothered and disconnected from the madness unfolding before us that it was almost jarring to witness. How are you going to go on narrating Sam’s day when there is a dungeon, when the house is literally changing around us and we’re losing whole days at a time?! It’s a wild contrast but certainly an interesting choice. Overall, the presentation is deliciously unsettling and visually impressive.

There are a million reasons why a person may feel stuck in their home, and Luto does such a wonderful job of exploring this both literally and figuratively. Luto is the first endeavor for Broken Bird Games, a small studio based in Gran Canaria, and it is a very polished project that is sure to put them on the map for any gamers willing to take a chance on this title. If you’re STILL holding out hope that we may see the rest of P.T., or if you’re just hungry for a well-made, thrilling, and chilling walking simulator with tons of suspense packed into every square foot of this home, then I suggest you turn to Luto.

SILVER - GREAT