Indie game developer Simogo has a long track record of interesting titles, but its newest, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, might be the most ambitious and unusual yet. As a complex puzzle adventure set inside a black-and-white hotel, it doesn’t take long for the game to set itself apart from anything out there. What also becomes clear is just how much thought and creativity went into the experience, which took over four years to craft.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a demanding puzzle game, and asking a lot of the player makes it all the more important that the rewards are well worth it. In this case, there’s something for virtually everyone to latch onto, from books on numerology to retro gameplay sequences. It might not be easy to beat, but it could certainly prove easy to love.
Screen Rant sat down with Simon Flesser, co-founder of Simogo, to discuss various elements of the design and influences behind Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, from its one-button control scheme to Last Year at Marienbad, and how the final product unveils its secrets.
Screen Rant: The first thing that tends to grab people’s attention about Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is the visual style. How did you originally conceive the look of the game?
Were there any notable challenges in communicating information and space to players within that limited palette and the fractured style?
Like in Resident Evil, different areas often use dynamically different camera angles. How do you find the right ones to choose there?
How did the one-button control scheme emerge?
Were there ever moments in development where an idea had to be altered because it would have required more inputs, or did you find that it was consistently sufficient?
It doesn’t take long in Lorelei to notice that it’s invoking things like silent film, and the impression of varied influences extends into a lot of areas of the game. Were there any particular inspirations that were a core part of making and conceptualizing it?
Lorelei also feels in a way like an archive, collecting and recording everything from fictional movie posters to games within the game. Are there any pieces that you wanted to include that didn’t ultimately end up fitting within the scope of the game?
When it comes to the puzzles, something you’ve talked about before is the element of randomization. Can you describe what that looks like in a basic capacity?
They can’t just get a number and put it in there, and that’s the answer.
Reductively, there’s kind of two levels on which most puzzles function. There’s the puzzle itself in a basic capacity, and then there’s how the information needed to solve it is distributed throughout the game. How hard is it to figure out where to place all the puzzle components?
I know you don’t want to divulge too much about the puzzles before people get to try them out, but even in a vague reference, do you have any particular favorites?
Do you have any idea what the lowest Secret completion that the story of the game could be finished at is?
That’s fair.
The sort of patchwork nature of the story leaves a lot, at least as it’s progressing, to individual perception and interpretation. Are you hoping that any particular elements are universally recognized by the players, or is a player’s unique experience more of the goal here?
What kind of reactions to Lorelei would make it feel to you like the game was a success?