Amazingly grim retro sci-fi android spelunker Lorn’s Lure finally has a release date

Will clamber onto Steam in September

If you like jumping on enveloping pixelly architecture while basking in an atmosphere of pathological sadness, set aside some time on 20th September, because that’s when Rubeki's first-person spelunker Lorn’s Lure launches on Steam. Ah, I've been waiting a while for this one. Catch a new trailer below.

Lorn’s Lure is the tale of an android who is chasing a weird visual glitch through an enormous, dreary, dystopian edifice made up of retro 90s PC textures. The game’s signature trick is that you can clamber up pretty much any surface using your pickaxes, as long as you have the stamina.

It can be arduous – I had a go of the demo a couple of years back and got myself stuck underneath a vast, slatey overhang. But it’s also very restful. There’s no rush to finish, no real active threat element, and much to be curious about. Who is this android you’re controlling, exactly? Why are they drawn to that glitch? Who else inhabits this world?

“I do like a megastructure, and I do like an abandoned megastructure, and I really like freely exploring an abandoned megastructure,” Alice0 (RPS in peace) wrote of Lorn’s Lure back in 2023, efficiently describing the progress of my own thoughts while playing the demo. If you’re intrigued, the demo is still available and was recently updated with a new intro cutscene, Steam Deck compatibility, overhauled level design and new music, among other additions.

For more of this kind of thing, check out Babbdi.