Sorry for necroing this thread, I'm just wondering has anyone else played through Lume? I only just came to playing it now and finished it in half an hour at max. Why is it considered so special? I mean, okay the art style is original, but it's not that fantastic, the repeating theme song is nice, but apart from that it's just a very very short casual puzzle flash game without a memorable story. It's fun to play as short as it lasts and it's okay as a bonus to a bundle, but there are tons of flash games with original visuals. If I had spent 7 euros on it, like it costs e.g. on Steam, I'd be pretty pissed. I thought Trauma more interesting than this, and that one at least had a free online version ...

It's not so much that I don't like it, I'm just puzzled how they get away with going commercial and selling such a short and unspectacular flash game for such a comparably high price. And I don't understand why something like Lume was accepted by Steam, whereas really promising adventure games like Primordia are denied direct approval without going through the Greenlight process ...

I never liked the approach. It just feels like a 1/4 of a game, and I felt cheated... I liked the style of it all, but it was just like I played little demo, and now waiting for the game. That I did not like.

Edit - I bought it before the bundle, btw. I might have felt differently if I got in the bundle.

Edit 2 - It is hard to explain - sometimes short games can be good, but then there need to some other qualities to weight up for it. I like the quirky, off-beat, experimental games and they tend to be on the short side or have little reply value. I did not find any of these qualities in Lume, there was not really anything standing out which would warrant it as a full game. I found a little cheeky selling it as one, to be honest. Anyway....

Nah, I think we're in complete agreement here.

I'm not mad, just confused, but I would feel cheated if I had bought it for full price before the bundle.

I didn't mind paying full price for e.g. "To the Moon", which is only 4 hours long, has terrible gameplay and next to no replay value, but I got something out of it that made me think this was worth it. I could even imagine donating money to the developers of "Trauma" in order to support them because even though a short flash game with hardly any gameplay either, I found the idea interesting and unique and it made me think a little. Plus, I have some goodwill towards the developers because they also offer that you can play their game for free, so you can test it and only pay for it if you really like it.

But Lume doesn't really stand out among the better (and mostly free) flash games, IMO.

Lume won a few awards and was a finalist in multiple IGF categories. Stuff like that attracts Steam.

Yeah, but why? That puzzles me even more ... :D

Nominated for visual design. It's a pretty game. The IGF always focuses more on aesthetics and atypical gameplay over more traditional elements that a mainstream critic cares about (length, design, "funness").

Fair enough for the aesthethics, but then Steam could also sell screensavers ... I don't consider the gameplay or anything else but Lume's visual design atypical. But enough ranting. ;)