Lunacy: Saint Rhodes Review: Descending Into Madness

Lunacy: Saint Rhodes has had quite a troubled development since its announcement back in 2018. Originally set to release in 2019, the title was then delayed to 2020 and then again until July 2023. And it sometimes unfortunately shows. Going through different developers immediately yields worry. Lunacy: Saint Rhodes isn’t one broken by different visions though. It’s more that the game doesn’t fully flesh out and polishes the ideas it has. Although the core game checks off the basic horror videogame boxes that make these types of games enjoyable, the issues present make this a frustrating and unfrightening title to get through. This will be a spoiler-free Lunacy: Saint Rhodes review.

Lunacy: Saint Rhodes is releasing July 27th on Steam.

See Also: MADiSON Review: A Ritual Worthy Of Completing (PC)

Story: Home Sweet Home

Lunacy: Saint Rhodes has a similar setup to that of Resident Evil 7. You follow Rhodes, a man who awakes at his desk to a call from a sheriff asking if they can search the house that belongs to your parents. Before you agree, however, you want to go see it yourself. The house is in the town of St Rhodes, abandoned to all but decrepit buildings. As you progress through the story, you start to unravel a mystery, through small cinematics, phone calls, and notes laying around. 

It’s a serviceable story that is strengthened by the sporadic and desperate notes you’ll encounter. It’s also not as straightforward and typical as other ghost horror games. As the story progresses, it just gets weirder and weirder. Lunacy: Saint Rhodes is about 7-10 hours, and there are surprisingly a lot of different elements that are introduced that add layers to it.

This creepy house is always watching

One thing that holds back the story though is the voice acting. The deliveries range from serviceable to just bad. Some of them feel incredibly wooden, almost as though they were just reading through the script for the first time. There is a demonic voice later on that speaks to the main character and it sounds so forced. The dialogue really doesn’t help either though. “That’s enough chit-chat,” says the demonic voice. Chit-chat. What? It doesn’t work at all.

Gameplay: Leave Me Alone

So how does the game feel? Well, it’s good sometimes. And other times, it’s incredibly frustrating. For the most part, you’re exploring the Rhodes House located in the town of St Rhodes. You’ll of course explore that town, but most of the time is dedicated to the Rhodes house. Exploration and backtracking is key here as new paths are unlocked the further along you progress. And of course, while exploring, you’ll be greeted by some scary entities. The only choice here is to essentially run. Some equipment is given to you later in the game to help defend against these creatures but it’s mostly a glorified stun. This “stun” can also be used to see hidden items or barriers that can be broken. 

This game gets stranger the longer it goes on

While the idea of a stun sounds fine, there comes a point later in the game where you’re constantly being chased by a creature. Here, the stun is not useful. It’s not a problem with the stun though, but rather with the AI hunting you down. It’s relentless in a bad way. Compared to titles such as Resident Evil where you can escape the Hunter by entering certain areas or confusing them as to your whereabouts, the AI in Lunacy: Saint Rhodes doesn’t stop. It chases you down, going through walls and only stopping for one second after you stun it. If you managed to get far away from it? It will teleport to you. There is no room to breathe which can make exploration such a boring chore. 

Watching You

When the AI is not chasing you, however, exploration and the general gameplay can be entertaining. Certain events that occur throughout the game add a level of eeriness that makes you hesitant to progress. This is often done with the camera. I counted a handful of times when things would occur offscreen. For example, I went into a room to find an object. Once I found what I was looking for, I turned around to leave. What I saw when entering the room was not the same as what I saw when exiting. It was frightening. There are a few moments like that throughout the game. Things around the house seem to shift as though it’s watching you. 

Everything here is watching you

Moments like that are enjoyable and quite creative. These events add layers to the creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately, though, there are other elements that dull the sword that Lunacy: Saint Rhodes attempts to forge.

Graphics and Audio: Soundless Thunder

While exploration can be enjoyable at times, it is quite difficult to see. And while scary events can be occurring on screen or around the house, the lack of appropriate sound effects lessens these moments. Visually speaking, Lunacy: Saint Rhodes doesn’t look too bad. The level design of the town and the house are detailed enough, nothing ever popping up as ugly.

The buildings in this town are quite spooky

However, a lot of it seems to blend together. This problem with the visuals is due to the lighting. I cannot stress how many times I traversed through the town and was disoriented about which way I was going. I try not to increase the brightness too much when playing these sorts of games as I want to immerse myself in every way I can and that includes having a game set at night, look like it’s set at night. But no. I couldn’t here. It’s one thing to barely be able to see when exploring, and another thing when you can’t see AND you’re being hunted. It was so incredibly frustrating that I broke my rule and turned the brightness on maximum. I could then see and even find some areas I would have never seen if I didn’t change my brightness.

When it comes to the audio, there is only so much I could do. I lost track of the times when sound design didn’t come to play here. Sound design is one of the most important elements in horror video games. It’s absolutely essential to nail this. If not implemented, all you’ll have is a character running through a dark forest be greeted by the occasional weirdo. There is absolutely no terror.

Let Me Hear You

It’s something I noticed immediately when traversing through the town of St Rhodes. I could hear my own footsteps, and the rain falling from the sky. But there were no branches snapping or odd shuffling in the dark. There were no whispers or animal noises. It was quiet, and for the first time, I had no fear of traversing through an abandoned town in a horror game. This problem goes further.

This entity is very persistent in harming you

During the first half of the game, a woman can be seen slamming her head against a structure if you look through a hole. There is no sound effects for this. Just think. How cool would it have been to just hear a constant thud noise occurring when walking around the house? The player would be confused and vigilant about upcoming dangers. Eventually discovering the source of the noise would have only scared the player further. It’s great! But it doesn’t happen here.

It’s hard to say if this is a bug or just something that wasn’t included. As a result, I don’t know if some of these issues will be cleared up with updates post-launch. And this isn’t to say the game doesn’t have sound effects at all. There are some effective ones. The very first house I entered had the floorboards creaking in the floor above me. It created immediate tension as the house looked abandoned. There are other instances too where sound design works, but there are more missed opportunities than anything else.

Are you planning on giving Lunacy: Saint Rhodes a go? Have you played it already? Do you agree with this Lunacy: Saint Rhodes review? Let us know!

Lunacy: Saint Rhodes was reviewed on PC with a review code provided by Iceberg Interactive.