Lunacy (Saturn) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Atlus’s 1997 FMV adventure game for the Sega Saturn, Lunacy. Lunacy (or Torico, as it was called in Europe), is an FMV adventure game that carefully balances mystery, surrealism, and horror in what was one of the more unique Saturn titles to be officially released in English. It’s a game made by System Sacom, who also created Mansion of the Hidden Souls for the Sega CD () and The Mansion of the Hidden Souls for the Saturn (). If you’ve played either of those games, the similarities will be immediately apparent. They’re all exploration-based adventures that rely exclusively on FMV to detail their worlds, and they all philosophically reflect on “other-worldly phenomena“ and the power of connection with others. While the story of Lunacy never explicitly ties to the earlier Mansion games, its focus on butterflies makes the intent clear. In Lunacy, you play as “Fred,“ an amnesiac traveler who finds himself confined in the Misty Town jail with Anthony, the smarmy bro who wants to be a beautiful butterfly. He questions Fred about his tattoo and his intentions, tells him about The City of Moons, and then offers him the key to the cell. From there, Fred explores Misty Town in search of more information on The City of Lost Moons. The gameplay is simple: you explore the town and chat with the locals, learn things relevant to your quest, and collect things to use on other things. Everything is done through series of video clips chained together end-on-end, like Kenji Eno was so fond of doing. The puzzles are simple and easy, but they fit surprisingly naturally with the FMV format, and unlike most games in its genre, it never feels held back because of the format. I actually think that Lunacy succeeds as a result of, rather than in spite of, being an interactive movie. The uncanny (read: creepy yet amazing by mid-90s CGI standards) character models, oppressive color palette choices, disaffected voice acting, and beautifully melancholic soundtrack create an incredible atmosphere and a sense of place, and this is what carries the game. The artistic choices make it an experience that you won’t likely ever forget. Even though Lunacy isn’t explicitly a horror game, I thought that its somber tone made it a pretty ideal pick in the weeks leading up to Halloween. If you’ve ever enjoyed games like D/Enemy Zero/D2, The 7th Guest/The 11th Hour, Phantasmagoria, or Mansion of the Hidden Souls, I guarantee you’ll find something to appreciate here. (This is a replacement for an older video I had up. It was only 480p and the picture was fairly dark and muddy in quality, so this is a brand new playthrough with an HD encode to fix those problems.) _____________ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete () punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!