Demo offers first glimpse into Last Look along Woodward Boulevard

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Surreal mood-themed horror adventure from the creator of Who's Lila? unveiled for Windows PC on Steam

If you thought Garage Heathen's 2022 cult hit Who's Lila? was weird (in a good way), then you'd best buckle in for the encore as the indie Russian developer's next upcoming project, Last Look along Woodward Boulevard, seems poised to be an even wilder ride. 

Very few story details have been revealed so far, as not knowing what's happening is very much part of the experience. Following a mind-blowing encounter with a fortune teller, players will step into the first-person shoes of someone who must "journey through the strangest planes, constantly struggling to keep your own mind in check." While many games rely on player choice to guide the narrative, this one relies on each player's expressed emotional state to determine how things play out. It's not your skill or your will that drives much of the action forward (although both will certainly be required), but rather your mood that will help you "solve puzzles ... and avoid the many dangers awaiting you along the road." As you progress, you'll begin piecing the together answers to the many questions that arise, such as "Who deterred you from your path? Who is the mysterious person guiding you? Why does this all seem so familiar?"

Instead of the minimalist art style of Who's Lila? that resembled early 1-bit graphic adventures, Last Look along Woodward Boulevard moves the nostalgia dial slightly further ahead. Here we'll get a full-screen and fully coloured (if dimly lit) "gritty dithered style" to convey the protagonist's first-person 3D exploration and a dozen "live-action and CGI cutscenes." And where the earlier game focused primarily on the narrative mystery unfolding, this "esoteric horror puzzle-adventure" promises to be both more linear and more puzzle-focused. You won't be manipulating facial expressions to convey emotion this time either, but your "internal state" still plays an integral part. The game's unique new "thought and mood" system will be "hard to control at first," but as you make progress you will "gain access to more and more tools to wrangle your thoughts."

What does that all mean? Well, you really have to experience Last Look along Woodward Boulevard to understand it. Fortunately you can do precisely that – or begin to, at least – as a lengthy playable demo is available now on Steam for Windows PC. The demo alone offers approximately 6-7 hours of gameplay, representing about one-third of the full game experience. Which is good, because there is no target release date for the complete game just yet, so this will have to tide you over for a while.