Lilly Looking Through Review (PC)

good
key review info
  • Game: Lilly Looking Through
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
A beautiful animated point and click adventure game

With a cast that has tons of experience in gorgeous movies like 10,000 BC, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, the Kickstarter-founded adventure game ‘Lilly Looking Through’ couldn't have been less than a visual masterpiece.

"Lilly Looking Through" is advertised as an animated point and click adventure game where you must help a little girl travel through a world filled with magic, solve ingenious puzzles using her child wits and change the present by leaving her mark on the past. This all should happen in a gorgeous setting that abounds in detail.

As simple the story, as complex the message to send out: Lilly and Row are playing near a lake when all of a sudden a magical piece of red cloth appears. When Lilly is just about to catch it, the cloth slips free, tangles around Row and flies into the forest.

Following it means adventuring away from the comfort of your own home into an unknown world that can be dead dangerous. What about Row, is he worth the effort of saving, even if he's your little brother or just the only person you can play with? Wouldn't it be better to run back home and tell some grown-ups what happened, form a party that's way more prepared for the perils that might loom ahead?

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The beginning of your adventure ...
... and final puzzle of the game

All these questions can come from someone that knows the harsh realities of life, but not from an innocent child like Lilly. Not thinking for one second, she throws herself into the unknown with altruism that makes you wonder.

The game begins with a small tutorial where you'll learn how to control Lilly and the objects around her. The puzzles start out slowly, allowing you to take in the world around and increase in difficulty right from the second scene.

There are two ways to solve the puzzles; one is when Lilly is near an object and interacts with it, and the other is when you use your mouse, like a hand from God, and drag and drop objects to their rightful place.

Even if the complexity of the puzzles increases bit by bit, they never turn out to be too difficult, and with a little trial and error, any obstacle can be easily overcome. In a way, this is good, keep the puzzles simple so that the innocence of Lilly is better highlighted. On the other hand, this is not a game for children and most of the grown-ups might not appreciate the obscurity of some puzzles and the way you can just waltz through scenes.

There is no autosave, but you won't feel the need for one because the game is really short (just over two hours) and because it's divided into ten scenes, each one featuring a main puzzle and a few smaller ones.

If you get stuck (just don't tell anyone) you can use the in-game hint system. Following in the tradition of classical point and click adventure games, the hint system limits itself to highlighting the areas of interest and leaving aside all those unimportant things, like how to solve the puzzle.

The main feature of the gameplay is a pair of goggles that are just lying around. When she puts them on, she travels back in time into a world that's now partially destroyed or covered by water. This is of huge importance when it comes to solving a puzzle, because what could be a small acorn on wet soil in the past means a huge, green tree in the present.

The overall gameplay is soothing and relaxing. Even if the cloth kidnaps Row, this is not bad in the game because there is nothing like the violence and horror so present nowadays in most video games.

Despite being an adventure game, there is very little dialog and it is limited to just a few lines and an abundance of echoism.

The credits text smacks down so hard as if it were Thor's mighty hammer falling on top of your head just when you feel like another scene is about to unravel before you. I get it, developers really wanted to create a sequel, but it doesn't mean they can just trample on the tranquility created all the way until here.

The graphics and animation department is where the game really sparkles. The beautifully crafted environment, with both realities (past and present) and the incredible attention to detail emphasize the soothing atmosphere and the serenity the game aims to create. The fact that in just 10 scenes you'll be able to travel through forests, ruins, underwater and underground caverns and much more is really amazing. Needless to say that they’re all designed so beautifully, it makes me want to move there.

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Here's how the world looks now ...
... and what it looks like through the goggles

Animations are created in the old-school way, each scene hand-drawn, which means the level of detail is amazing, leaving no room for glitches. Even more, the fact that Lilly is reacting accordingly to the actions she makes is even more astonishing; for example, when she needs to get to the boat and she drops hanging on a wooden ledge, she starts dangling her feet.

The project amassed almost twice the original money set on Kickstarter and one of the goals they've managed to achieve was "Add more content to the game." They've also stated that the game's length will vary between 4 to 6 hours. Geeta Games, I think someone’s pants are smoking... from fire... from telling a lie!

Why so angry, you ask? Because I really liked the game with its adorable and charming characters, its gorgeous two dimensions and the abrupt, weird ending felt like a hard blow to the effort that was put into creating such a beautiful piece of gaming art. Nevertheless, this game is a must for children and adults alike, for adventure enthusiasts and new comers to the genre, and it even comes with a fair price: 9.99$/8,99€.

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story 7
gameplay 6
concept 8
graphics 10
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 7.5
Editor's review
good