Not all video games are about gunfire and swords. There are some games that have a statement to make about real life, which is the case with Lydia and its story about child abuse, neglect, and substance abuse told through a dark storybook world. Lydia offers a unique and often chilling experience, but its subject matter might be too grim for those who play it.
Lydia is a point and click adventure starring the eponymous young girl in her family home. The game starts out set in a dark world that wouldn't look amiss in a Tim Burton movie. It quickly becomes apparent that things aren't quite right in Lydia's world, as the player enters her bedroom cupboard in order to visit a grim fantasy realm filled with monsters that are reflecting dark events in her real life. As the story progresses, the player witnesses events that transpire later in Lydia's life, as her personality is molded by the uncaring actions of her friends and parents.
The gameplay loop of Lydia (what little there is) is clearly inspired by games like Yume Nikki and the original Lisa, as the little girl wandering around a scary world is very much an indie staple. Lydia is more of an interactive story than something that is meant to test the player, as the closest the game gets to a puzzle is a single branching dialogue sequence where the player is expected to select the correct answers, and there is no penalty for failure. The aim of the game is to just experience the story in full, which will take roughly forty to fifty minutes to experience everything that the game has to offer. It should be mentioned that this brief length is reflected in the game's price, with Lydia costing $4/£3.50 at launch.
Lydia is a game with amazing visual and sound design, which manages to create a tense atmosphere in a cartoon world. The music is often chilling and the bizarre simlish-style noises used for the characters all perfectly convey their personality to the player without the need for real words. Lydia does an excellent job with composition and scale, in order to make the player feel as small as Lydia herself does in the dark world in which she lives. Screen Rant played the Nintendo Switch version of Lydia and there were no performance issues with the game. The Nintendo Switch has become a popular choice for indie games, but the portable nature of the system doesn't matter too much to Lydia, as it's too short to matter.
Lydia is a game that is best put in the same category as story-driven games with little actual gameplay, such as games like Sea of Solitude, which is a similar title that deals with depression that is reflected in a fantasy world. Lydia offers an interesting, but brief experience that might be too dark for some players. The game doesn't have a story with easy answers or a happily ever after, but rather, it is a deeply personal tale of growing up under harsh circumstances that the developers have mentioned is based on personal experiences. It's telling that the DLC for Lydia is an in-game item that will lead to a charitable donation to the Fragile Children foundation (in a similar manner to Eqqo's WeForest charitable DLC), as the intention of the game is more about spreading a message and offering succor to those who may have lived through its story themselves. There are a lot of caveats when it comes to recommending Lydia, as it's a game that will speak to people in different ways. Lydia offers a beautiful and chilling experience, but its dark tone and even darker story and subject matter won't be for everyone.
Lydia is available now on Nintendo Switch and Steam. A digital code for the Nintendo Switch version of the game was provided to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review.