Professor Lupo and His Horrible Pets is a brand new space puzzle indie game by BeautiFun Games. We all know BeautiFun Games because it is the studio that gave us Nihilumbra. However, their new project is a brand new direction for them and we can say that it is not a bad one. This is our review of Professor Lupo and His Horrible Pets in which we will tell you how this space puzzler will tickle the very last cell in your brain.
In Professor Lupo and His Horrible Pets, you play as an Intern for Professor Lupo. Professor Lupo is a wacky scientist who loves keeping some weird and killer alien species as his pets. You start your internship with him on the Aurora Space Station but naturally, things do not go as planned and you are now stuck on the space station with the ‘pets’ free to roam about. Your ultimate goal is to escape the space station with your life but as you progress through the story, you figure out it is simply not that easy.
At the start, it might seem that the game does not have any story but the levels are in a sequence and the game does indeed have a narrative. The main plan was to deliver the alien species to Earth and sell them to the higher bidders who will then use them as weapons. But the plans are then changed from gaining profit to survival as the space station comes under attack and everything goes haywire.
The space station is controlled by an AI who tries its best to crack some traditional jokes here and there as it tries to warn you about different things that are bound to kill you. The puzzles are absolutely mind-teasing as you will need to keep different things in check to make sure that you escape the level with your life. The main pattern of the levels is pretty much the same where you must open doors and avoid the aliens to reach the exit.
However, the aliens are not just there for a show, they will hunt you down the moment they get a shot at you and will travel through the whole room just to eat you. Each alien species has different tactics and some of the late games ones are the hardest ones to avoid as well. Then there is also a toxic gas on some levels which effect each alien species differently and is fatal to you making things even more difficult. Some levels will have flamethrowers which will burn everything that comes in contact with them.
To make yourself feel like a real badass, there are different collectibles in levels that you collect for the ultimate challenge. You can complete a level on the normal mode and simply move on with your life but if you are one of those players who must collect each and every collectible before completing a level, you are in for a tough time as collecting the collectibles is no easy feat in the game.
Even if you are playing the normal mode, you simply cannot rush the stages. If you complete a level during your first attempt, you should consider yourself lucky and smart because most of the stages are try this, fail, try that, fail and then ultimately reach the exit. The aliens do not go easy on you at all and there are very little cues as though what is required to clear a stage. The aliens are not that smart and they follow scripted paths and move patterns but still, you can use some tricks to outsmart them.
Since the game requires you to open and close doors, you can use this advantage to lure the aliens in areas where they are trapped or the bigger one eats the smaller one. You can also lead them in dead ends from where they are unable to turn around and return back to eat you. You will need to plan your moves ahead before you enter in the room where the aliens are present because if you start thinking after entering the room, chances are that you will be dead even before you start moving towards a switch.
Another important thing to note here is that there are very little clues as to how to complete the levels if you keep dying. The least you get is an Infrared activated that shows the moving patterns of different aliens that allow you to easily decipher what happens next and to plan your next moves accordingly. These cues are very minute and most of the time are not really helpful as well. The game wants you to finish the levels by using your own mind instead of just spoon-feeding the solutions to you.
Visually, Professor Lupo and His Horrible Pets is not going to set any new bars for visual fidelity however the game looks pretty decent. The art is unique and the special effects such as the transitions of aliens from normal to vicious, man-eating machines are pretty smooth. Overall, you will see that the visuals fit in perfectly with the art style and the environment of the game. The visuals do a great job of delivering that creepy, space environment that you would normally expect from a space game.
Same goes for the audio. This means that the game is pretty well made technically so you do not have to worry about any bugs or glitches. I encountered literally none during my gameplay of the game although I played the game in short breaks rather than finish the whole game in one sitting. The game does not force you to sit and play a lengthy amount of game but you can sit and complete as many levels as you like however, the levels are pretty small mostly and once you figure out what to do, it is merely a matter of seconds.
I am not a big fan of the game’s menu as it makes it look like a mobile game. Keeping in perspective the solid gameplay and brain-twisting puzzles, the game deserved a better main menu and especially the level select screen. The developer has kept the menu simple and to the point but it deserves a little fancy menu because the game is just brilliant. Apart from the dull and boring menu, Professor Lupo and His Horrible Pets will keep you busy with its brilliant level design and killer aliens for a long time.
Final Verdict
BeautiFun Games has taken a new direction with Professor Lupo and His Horrible Pets and it is brilliant. The levels are amazing and the gameplay is solid. The difficulty of puzzles is exceptional and you will spend most of the time wondering how the hell am I going to clear this level while the solution will be lying there right in front of your eyes. The content this game offers for the price is pretty decent and it certainly will keep you busy for a long time with its humor-driven narrative and mind-twisting puzzles. Also, don’t feel bad if you die alot, because you will die alot.
Final Score: 8.7/10
