If, like myself, you are somehow attracted to horror and the occult, Lust From Beyond it's the kind of game you see that catches your attention.
Defined by the developers themselves as "psychological erotic horror", Lust From Beyond is the result of a bacchanal (word not chosen at random) between the gameplay of Amnesia, the visual arts Giger, Croneberg and Beksinski, and the narratives of Kubrick, Lovecraft and Clive Barker. In this game, set in a Victorian mansion, the protagonist is part of a hedonistic secret cult - a bit like Eyes Wide Shut. But if Kubrick's film was "limited" to carnal lust, the cult of Lust From Beyond goes in search of pleasure beyond earthly reality with the conviction that there is a dimension full of forbidden and unlimited pleasures. The visual imprint is strongly sexual, with phallic or vaginal forms almost everywhere and even explicit sex scenes - so much so that, before starting the game, the player is asked if he wants to play with censored graphics.
The demo opens in a place made up of "living" forms and environments, as if they were flesh, with shapes and appearances that recall the cinematographic and artistic works of the aforementioned Giger, Cronember and Beksinski. Exploring this alien place, the protagonist will soon realize that he is inside a dream, which will end after the unfortunate encounter with one of the aberrant creatures that inhabits it. Although what is seen in the dream would keep any normal person away, the protagonist and cult seem strongly intent on finding a way to physically enter the world represented by those dreams.
As this is a horror, and having mentioned Lovecraft and Clive Barker, it goes without saying that what awaits cultists in the dimension they seek to access is far beyond their comprehension - the Lovecraftian "cosmic terror" meets the mixture of pleasure and pain of the Hellraiser movie.
In gameplay, much of the demo is essentially an exploratory game with puzzle elements - the classic challenges such as "find the key to access this place", "find the objects useful for this ritual", with research and collection of objects in the inventory. Although the demo contains almost no action scenes, the protagonist is equipped with a lantern, and given the references to Amensia, we can predict that the final version of the title will involve having to escape and hide from the creatures we meet.
In closing, we remind you that Lust From Beyond is set in the same universe as Lust for Darkness, already available and produced by the same team. Personally, as a fan of the genre, I really enjoyed this demo, however it must be mentioned that it is not the only game of this type currently in production: you may remember Scorn, which we told you about a couple of years ago, too. 'it strongly inspired by Giger and Beksinski.
The release is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020 for PC, for now only on Steam.
