Game: The Lullaby of Life
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle, Rhythm
System: Steam (also available on Apple Arcade)
Developers | Publishers: 1 Simple Game | Midwest Games
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $9.89 | UK £8.44 | EU € 9,76
Release Date: April 30th, 2024
A review code was used, with many thanks to Stride PR.
The Lullaby of Life was originally released on Apple Arcade and proved to be a popular game; it is now ready for release on PC via Steam. It is a puzzle adventure designed to be a relaxing experience inspired by the beginning of life, where you encounter puzzles solved through timed-based music soundwaves. I played a few rhythm and music-based games in my time, such as Tadpole Treble Encore on the Nintendo Switch, which I loved, and I was looking forward to playing The Lullaby of Life. So, let’s see what the gameplay is like.
Be a Particle in The Lullaby of Life
In The Lullaby of Life, you play as a particle called Bombo, similar to a small amoeba-like creature. You’ll spend your time as Bombo swimming through a blossoming wonderland of sound and creation. You witness Bombo being born at the beginning of the universe, and Bombo has the power to play musical notes in the form of sound waves.
The Lullaby of Life is almost devoid of text or a full-on tutorial. It does show what button to press on the controller at the very beginning of the game, and there isn’t any voice acting, either. But it has a great soundtrack, music, and rhythm-based gameplay.
Produce Musical Waves To Solve Puzzles
Bombo, the particle, is adorned with three buttons with a different symbol on each button. When you come across a puzzle, these puzzles usually block your progress, such as gates with little padlocks that have icons that match the symbols on the particle’s buttons; you then activate the corresponding note by pressing the correct button on the controller.
By doing so, it produces a musical note that sends out a sound wave that, in turn, interacts with the symbol on the puzzle, clearing the way forward. On your journey, through the game and the evolution of life, you slowly unlock new musical friends, known as Ohmies, to make resonant sound waves to help you on your adventure. These Ohmies are also equipped with their own button with a different symbol on it.
There are obstacles, such as pink rock-like things floating in the environment, and you must push them around while you are swimming. Other than momentarily blocking your path, the rocks don’t really put up a fight, so I did wonder why they are even there.
Anyway, your success in The Lullaby of Life hinges on playing the notes in a very precise sequence when presented with a series of symbols. And believe me when I say it is very precise, leaving little to no room for error on your part.
Relaxing Gameplay Turns into Challenging Gameplay
When faced with a series of notes demanding precise timing and movement between them, I found myself pretty challenged. Pressing one button initiates a sequence, leading to the needed note reverberating and sending out the sound wave.
However, what can also happen is if you are too close to other notes in the vicinity that don’t have anything to do with the puzzle you are solving, these other notes can inadvertently be hit by the nearby sound waves. Then, in turn, that note sends out the wrong sound wave and messes up the puzzle you are trying to solve. And just hitting one wrong note is enough for the puzzle to reset instantly.
Other notes in the vicinity being triggered happened to me quite frequently while playing The Lullaby of Life, and it halted my progress many times, meaning I had to restart the puzzle over and over again until I got that timing just right without sending out too large of a sound wave.
Then, the gameplay becomes much more complex and multifaceted, which, for me, betrayed the promise of a relaxing experience. There are also sections in which it is not clear what to do and where to go, so you may be going in the wrong direction or getting completely stuck in a puzzle without the possibility of receiving any indication of a solution.
Awaken the Dormant Elder
Once you collect all your Ohmies friends that you need in each level to proceed, you then must awaken a large sleeping creature, the Dormant Elder, in the middle of each cell-like world to move on to the next. These Elders are powerful beings with the ability to speed up creation in this once-inactive world.
The puzzles are inventive in the Lullaby of Life but occasionally rather frustrating, as well, due to how precise you have to be when activating the sound waves.
I found most of the puzzles to be challenging; however, the game environment didn’t always help me proceed either. You see, on one level, Bombo has a dark swirling circle-like thing chasing it along a narrow tunnel, and Bombo got stuck on the side of the tunnel and would not move. In the end, I quit the game and reloaded it to start that level again.
Visuals and Music
There is no doubt that The Lullaby of Life graphics are vibrant and dripping in colour. The levels are best described as rainbow-coloured, which sometimes helps to relieve some of the frustration that the puzzles induce.
Of course, since this is a musical game, you would expect the soundtrack to be the main star, and it is, and it’s my favourite part of the game. The music is hypnotic and quite tranquil to listen to when Bombo is just floating around and not interacting with the puzzles.
The Lullaby of Life is best played with a controller and headphones, and the game ran fine on my laptop. I tried it out on the Steam Deck, and it also performed well and looks great.
Conclusion
I don’t love The Lullaby of Life, but I do like it, and I did get quite attached to Bombo while playing the game. I enjoyed the music and how the game looks. But at times, it certainly was not as relaxing as the blurb on the Steam page would lead you to believe.
However, if you have high dexterity and are quick off the mark when pressing the right buttons to send out the soundwaves, then The Lullaby of Life might be for you.
Final Verdict: I Like It 
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