Developed by Lumi and published by Wired Productions, Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is an extended edition of the original Lumote game that was released back in 2020. Featuring additional content for you to explore along with tons of fixes here and there, Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles brings a brand-new story chapter as well which allows you to play as the Mastermote which is the evil guy from the original title. This is our review of Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles in which we control some motes and turn everything red into blue.
One of the best things about Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is the engine that this game is built in. Having been developed in the original rEngine, Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles enjoys the freedom of having no loading screens and nearly all of the world of the game is visible and connected at the same time. You simply move from one puzzle to another and there is no loading screen, and everything just feels connected to one another. This makes it feel like an open-world game where you just load into the game and then there are no loading screens later. While Lumote is not an open-world game, thanks to the engine and no loading screens with a connected world, it certainly feels like an open-world game. Now you even have collectibles to find in hidden spaces.
The game also features vivid and colorful visuals, and the animations really make it feel like a world that is full of life and activity. The world of the game is called the Great Depths and it is an underwater world that is filled with life known as motes. Motes are cute and squishy bioluminescent creatures who are found deep in the Great Depths, and they come in all shapes and sizes. You jump in the game as Lumote who happens to be a mote as well but is more sensible and smarter than the other motes. The world of Lumote is divided into two colors red and blue and Lumote wants to turn the world back to blue. For this, he must defeat the Mastermote who has taken over the Great Depths.
While the story is not really the focus of the game, you will notice right from the start of the game that the game wants you to enjoy the world of the game and focus on puzzles. The story elements automatically open for you as you progress in the game. The gameplay of Lumote is pretty simple and straightforward. The puzzles are divided into various sections which are separated by a giant flower acting as a gate between the puzzles. Once you have connected all of the nodes with the blue energy, the whole area will turn blue, and you will open the flower gate to gain access to the next area.
If you fall down and die, you are instantly spawned at the start of the current puzzle, so the gameplay remains pretty smooth. The puzzles become progressively difficult as they introduce additional motes to control and higher difficulty levels for the puzzles as well. The gradual increase in difficulty keeps everything in check and prepares you for everything that is coming next to you. These sections are divided into further sub-sections and once you complete all of the subsections of the main section, you finally arrive at the bigger mote called Mega Mote which is huge in size and is used to convert the area into a blue region. You must then guide this big fella to its power node and complete the section to gain access to the next section.
The motes including your Lumote all feel alive as the world is filled with their noises and as you move Lumote around, you will hear him pant as well as it jumps and makes hard landings from various platforms. Leave for some time and Lumote will start singing and doing different things as well. The puzzles range from simply moving around motes to their nodes or moving around light beams to open up new paths up ahead. There is no backtracking in the game and the new gold collectibles are hidden here and there as well however you can only collect them if you thoroughly explore the areas you are currently in. If you find a beautiful spot that you want to preserve, you can whip out the new Photo Mode and strike a pose for the camera as well.
The Mastermote Chronicles brings new story content to the table as well which the developer calls a masterclass. Here, you get to play as the devious Mastermote in a different world featuring brand-new mechanics and puzzles for you to solve. This certainly pushes the maximum playtime of the game considerably as well as you have over 15 new puzzles to solve. This was absent in the first PC release, and I am happy to see the developers add new content to the console release. The new version is currently the definitive edition of the game as it brings tons of fixes and optimization updates across the board as well. The game runs exceptionally well on a PS4 with no framerate drops or anything even on the most vivid places in the game and looks amazing as well at the same time.
On the PS4, Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles runs and plays great. The Dualshock controller’s light also responds to Lumote’s current state as it changes color when Lumote is moving around or controlling another mote. Visually, the title looks almost similar to the PC release and the new release majorly improves the visuals as well which makes the title even prettier. I would love to see a next-gen console release as well where the game really utilizes the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. For now, the new console release of Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is amazing, and I will highly recommend that if you missed the original PC release of the title, you have to try it on the console.
Final Verdict:
Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is a beautiful game that simply enchants you with its pretty visuals and captivating game design. I played and reviewed the original Lumote when it was launched on PC back in 2020 and I loved the game even back then and now having played the sort of enhanced version, I still loved Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles and I am really happy to see that Luminawesome Games did not abandon this project after its release and continued work to make it even better. Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is an amazing game that should be on everyone’s playlist whether you love platformers, tricky puzzle games or even simply beautiful looking titles that offer a great value for their money.
Final Score: 9.5/10
