If you’ve ever wished you could bring a friend on an adventure to save a kingdom from doom while using neat tools and exploring puzzling dungeons, Lenna’s Inception has what you seek.
You can also recruit an angry chicken. So it’s pretty much perfect.
The evil Chairman of the Banker’s Guild has kidnapped the prince, and so the legendary hero must save him. Except…the hero is kind of dead. This means a tutor, Lenna, is stuck taking on the task. She’s more than capable, though, especially when a shadow version of herself allows for a second local player to jump in. Can I tell you how much I enjoy playing Zelda-likes with a friend? It’s a lot.
Solving puzzling dungeons and fighting bosses with interesting gimmicks is great fun, but eventually, you’ve seen everything. You will take some time to reach that point in Lenna’s Inception, though, as it uses procedural generation to keep surprising you. These myriad paths can lead to unique boss encounters and multiple endings, further giving you more reasons to keep coming back. If that’s not enough, there are daily challenges that will force you to work through the game in some unique ways. Who needs a sword, anyway?
The game also offers two different art styles (8- and 32-bit) to suit your favored style, and a handful of recruit-able creatures, like vengeance-driven chickens and living pumpkins, to round out your party if a local friend isn’t handy. It’s a pretty robust package of adventuring fun. And it also uses neat glitches as part of its narrative and play. Basically, it just keeps on giving. Go try it.
Lenna’s Inception is available now (in an Early Access state) on itch.io and Steam.