LUCID is a metroidvania that keeps me crawling back

If you’re a fan of metroidvanias or platformers in a more general sense, there are plenty of indie games out there to keep you occupied or get excited for. One of these games is LUCID, and I’ve been following its development for a while. Now, as of September 18, 2025, there’s finally a demo available to try, and I wasted no time diving in. 

LUCID is a delightful, pixel-based metroidvania currently in development by The Matte Black Studio. It is staggeringly beautiful, whether in a cutscene or during gameplay, with slick movement and controls that feel intuitive, whether you’re playing on a controller or a keyboard (it’s designed for a controller, but both work). 

A love letter to old-school platformers, with a metroidvania twist

At times, LUCID feels like a standard 2D platformer, allowing you to easily reach platforms with, at most, a double jump to get you where you need to go. At other times, LUCID manages to feel like the most punishing and brutal metroidvania, twisting your fingers and thumbs up in all sorts of bizarre shapes as you try to navigate flying through the air without touching the ground lest you end up losing health. 

For some people, that kind of gameplay is astonishingly satisfying and fun. For others (me, I’m talking about me), it makes them want to throw the controller against the nearest non-controller-smashing soft surface (we have some self-control, honest). 

Let me make this clear: This is 100%, with no doubt, a skill issue on my part. The mechanics in LUCID are not only explained explicitly by various NPCs you meet along the way, but they’re also very intuitive and smooth. My problem lies in my pre-arthritic finger joints and my ADHD brain that cannot comprehend thinking three steps ahead in order to reach a platform. Instead, I mindlessly flail, spam the buttons when they definitely don’t need to be spammed, and end up falling on my butt and taking damage. 

I’m very used to this, and while LUCID is another example of me being terrible at platforms, it’s also an incredibly fun and beautiful source of frustration.

Gorgeous pixel graphics on a huge scale

One of the first things you see when you start a game of LUCID is a series of connected cutscenes that flow from one to the other, introducing the background story of the game without a need for words, and the art is utterly gorgeous. I cannot overstate how much I adore the art style of LUCID, especially when it comes to the Sentinel. 

While those large-scale pixel cutscenes are stunning, the gameplay also manages to capture the attention similarly, just in smaller bite-sized chunks. Whereas those cutscenes have new things to focus on every time you see them, you’re able to appreciate each area of the gameplay sections just by stopping, taking a deep breath, and appreciating your surroundings.

Which, incidentally, is some solid life advice outside of video gaming as well, in case you needed reminding.

LUCID keeps me crawling back for more

The demo of LUCID has only been available to download and play for two days at the time of writing, and I’ve picked up the controller and played my way through that demo four times in that time. Despite the frustration I feel at my own lack of skill and clumsiness, LUCID has me trapped in a cycle of replaying because it’s simply fun. It also helps that it’s undeniably lovely to look at. 

There’s something special about this little indie metroidvania/platformer mix, and that’s before I’ve really had the chance to delve into unlocking the many new abilities or upgrading them. I’ve met a fraction of the characters and can’t wait to meet more, and the story has barely begun yet has me hooked from the very beginning.

If you love a good metroidvania and your heart beats faster for pixel art, then you can head on over to Steam and wishlist the game right now, then download the demo to get a taste of what’s to come once LUCID releases in full.