Ever since I heard the term in one of my university classes, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of remediation in a digital age. This refers to the way that the limitations of older-technology lives on through the design decisions they forced developers to make.
La-Mulana, now available on the Vita (courtesy of Pygmy Studio and Rising Star Games) as La-Mulana EX, is a fascinating example of this – using the powerful game design tools of today to capture the spark of yesteryear.
Though there’s plenty of reading that fleshes out the history (and mystery!) surrounding the ruins, the storytelling in La-Mulana EX is pretty light-handled – though there are some fun characters like Malbruk and the Village Elder Xelpud who lighten the proceedings with some quirky and comical dialogue.
Like its whip-wielding inspiration, the labyrinth of La-Mulana EX is broken into a sprawling labyrinth of individual rooms. Unlike its idol however, La-Mulana EX has been designed in a way where multi-room puzzles are the norm rather than a rarity. Oft-times, you’ll find yourself facing a locked door only backtrack several rooms and read a riddle on a nearby tablet leading you to backtrack yet more screens to the relevant puzzle. It’s a sometimes frustrating process but one that the game employs to help you treat each zone as a single entity.
There’s also a LOT of reading involved. La-Mulana EX is littered with the previously-mentioned tablets and as well as as conveying the clues required to progress from room to room, they act as rosetta stones necessary to deciphering the game’s bigger mysteries. The Vita’s portability is a major asset here, letting you chip away at things one short burst at a time.
Though oft-arcane, there is a something compelling behind the game’s unique brand of logic and methodology. La-Mulana EX is a game that expects a lot from you as a player and bestows high penalties upon those who would attempt to bypass its puzzles and stray towards the path of trial and error.
Though not the game’s major focus, combat does play a considerable role in La-Mulana EX. Over time, you’ll find different weapons and later even upgrades that make you stronger against specific enemies. There’s a considerable variety in the shape, size and attack patterns that define your foes, and this applies even more to the game’s bosses – even if one or two of them falls too far on the frustrating side of things. That said, it helps that La-Mulana EX manages to strike a great balance between keeping thing constantly challenging and giving you the tools to make things a little easier.
Nigoro are far from the only indie developer caught up in the remediation of gaming’s past, but they are one of the few thus far to have gotten it so very right.