LunarLux Brings Sci-Fi Turn-Based RPG Joy to PC Today - Hardcore Gamer

hardcoregamer.com:

There have been a lot of throwback RPGs on the market, but few really harken back to the GBA era where you would have hybrid genres with an RPG framework. Games like Sigma Star Saga featured a sci-fi RPG setting, but in that case, also gave you a side-scrolling shooter to enjoy alongside RPG-esque world exploration. LunarLux impressed with a Steam demo and shines even brighter with its full release. LunarLux is a beautiful pixel-art adventure that definitely evokes the GBA’s era of bright colors and pixel-based text – with large text making this a really easy game to play on the go with the Steam Deck or ROG Ally.

Bella is a laser sword-slicing, beam-blasting lunar ranger out to save her world and pay tribute to her late mother at the same time. The game starts off with a touching moment from Bella to her mother right away and in that instant, it sucked me into the story right away because they went for drama and didn’t go for a ton of exposition right away – just showing why you should care and made you care. World-building is a large part of the experience as well and exploring the area and making acquaintances leads to things like new bonds being formed and even discounts at stores because they recognize you’re out there trying to save them.

A lot of effort was clearly put into the parts of the adventure that many games gloss over and that extends into the turn-based battle system as well. Many games have promised a Paper Mario-style interactivity and yet this does that far better with things like damage multipliers being something you can determine on a gauge or reducing damage by dodging enemy fire in a mini-game. There’s a lot of fun to be had and a lot of lore to explore and learn about throughout the adventure.