# Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
**Lorelei and the Laser Eyes** is a non-linear puzzle adventure game developed by the Swedish studio Simogo and published by [Annapurna Interactive](https://www.edgepedia.org/annapurna-interactive), released on May 16, 2024 for PC and [Nintendo Switch](https://www.edgepedia.org/nintendo-switch) and on December 3, 2024 for [PlayStation 5](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation-5) and PlayStation 4.[1](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/) • [2](https://game8.co/articles/release-dates/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-release-date-and-time) In the game, an eccentric man summons a woman to take part in a project at an old hotel in central Europe, and the player guides her as she gets caught up in an increasingly dangerous and surreal game of illusions.[1](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/) The Guardian's review places the hotel in Siracuse, Italy, and describes the setup as classic adventure territory: an eccentric artist says he needs her support to complete an ambitious, perhaps revolutionary project.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Developer / publisher | Simogo (Sweden) / Annapurna Interactive[1](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/) |
| Release | May 16, 2024 (PC, Switch); December 3, 2024 (PS5, PS4)[2](https://game8.co/articles/release-dates/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-release-date-and-time) |
| Genre | Non-linear puzzle adventure and mystery, with horror elements[1](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/) |
| Setting | An old hotel in central Europe, the Hotel Letztes Jahr[1](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/) • [4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) |
| Controls | Directional inputs plus a single confirm button; fully playable one-handed[5](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review) • [6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) |
| Reception | Metacritic 88; 93% of 2,219 English Steam reviews positive[1](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/) |
| Price and size | $25 at launch; 1.5 GB on Switch[6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) • [7](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch/) |
## Premise and structure
The game drops the player into gameplay with no introduction or context. Playing as a woman named Signorina, the player arrives near the entrance to a large mansion hoping to "learn the truth", and the truth itself must be pieced together from clues scattered across the hotel grounds and surrounding areas.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) Because the design is non-linear, players spend much of the game constructing a timeline from documents, movie posters, notes, and strange phone calls.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story) The story involves artifacts connected to an avant garde film director, a dadaist artist, and a stage magician, with secret rooms and hidden passages, and key dates in the owning family's history recur as history folds in on itself.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story)
**Non-linear progression.** At any given moment the player usually has at least a couple of puzzles to attend to, and stepping away from a stumping puzzle to explore elsewhere often supplies the insight needed to solve it.[8](https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes) • [4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) The pause menu tracks "truth recovered", but rolling credits does not require 100 percent truth; full completion is an incentive for players who want to overturn every last stone.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score)
## Puzzle design
The hotel functions as one large escape room: virtually every door, container, and instrument requires a code, a remembered pattern, or a password.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) Unlike puzzle games that establish their own internal language, Lorelei leans on the player's existing knowledge of real-world concepts and logic, including math and brain teasers, contextualized by story information.[9](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-a-mastery-of-illusions/1900-6418228/) Answers require logic and memory as well as knowledge of [Roman numerals](https://www.edgepedia.org/roman-numerals), zodiac signs, and strobogrammatic numbers (Numbers that read the same when rotated upside down), and puzzles combine systems such as strobogrammatic numbers with Roman numerals on a 24-hour clock.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story) • [6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/)
**Note-taking as a mechanic.** From the start the game actively encourages keeping track of puzzles and clues with pen and paper, and reviewers found their notebooks becoming essential within hours.[5](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story) Simogo and Annapurna Interactive even mailed one reviewer a physical notebook filled with shapes, symbols, maps, a maze, and blank numbered lists.[6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) One design constraint the developers disclosed: no year used in any puzzle has repeating numbers, which was practical for the way puzzles and their randomization were designed.[10](https://www.nintendolife.com/features/a-puzzle-should-be-structured-like-a-good-joke-the-influences-and-craft-behind-lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes)
A quality-of-life feature is the protagonist's photographic memory, a menu that recalls any letter, document, or image she has previously seen, sparing the player from retracing steps.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) The interface has a friction point, though: because the game uses only directional inputs and one confirm button, there is no back button, and players must manually navigate to exit-menu options, which several reviewers found aggravating.[5](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review) • [11](https://waytoomany.games/2024/05/30/review-lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes/)
## Presentation
The visual style is grayscale with distinguished red accents used for blood, wine, and other significant elements, and red also highlights clues with dashes and blots of paint.[6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) • [12](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) Dizzying camera angles turn rooms into crooked funhouse rides, and the black-and-white pseudo-retro graphics pair with a sparse soundscape of pianos, echoed voices, and synths to create unease without jump scares.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story) • [4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) The developer recommends playing in a dark or dimly lit room.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score)
The game also plays with its own medium. It contains a diegetic 8-bit version of itself, a PS1-styled demo area of another game of the same name, and a subquest involving a haunted PS1-era game that the player must deliberately glitch out using clues hidden in documents.[6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) • [13](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2025/02/12/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/)
## Comparisons and reception
Reviewers commonly describe the game as a blend of the original [Resident Evil](https://www.edgepedia.org/resident-evil), with its locks-and-keys level design, and escape-room titles such as [The Room](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-room) series or Rusty Lake's The Past Within.[5](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story) Others hear echoes of Tunic, The Witness, Return of the Obra Dinn, and [Kentucky Route Zero](https://www.edgepedia.org/kentucky-route-zero), while judging the result an entirely new and contemporary kind of puzzle game.[12](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) Once a puzzle's solution clicks, the game joins titles like Tunic and Immortality in taking place mostly inside the player's own mind.[5](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review)
Reception was strongly positive. [PC Gamer](https://www.edgepedia.org/pc-gamer) scored it 89 and called it a contender for game of the year; Nintendo World Report gave 9.5 and called it a masterpiece of puzzle, horror, and game design; Push Square gave 8; Shacknews gave 8.[6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) • [5](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review) • [8](https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes) • [4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) On Steam, 93 percent of 2,219 English user reviews are positive, and the game holds a Metacritic score of 88.[1](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/) Recurring criticisms concern the slow walking speed, the awkward single-button menu navigation, and a lack of in-game assistance for players who become stuck.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) • [5](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review)
## Developer context
Simogo is a Swedish studio previously responsible for the folkloric Year Walk, the audio-textual adventure Device 6, and the 2019 neon rhythm game Sayonara Wild Hearts, to which Lorelei bears little resemblance in tone or pacing.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story) • [6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/) Lorelei marks the second partnership between Simogo and Annapurna Interactive.[4](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score) The Switch release carries an ESRB Teen rating for Alcohol Reference, Blood, Language, and Mild Violence, supports ten languages, and is compatible with [Nintendo Switch 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/nintendo-switch-2) with consistent game behavior.[7](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch/)
## References
1. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes on Steam, Valve](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/Lorelei_and_the_Laser_Eyes/)
2. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Release Date and Time, Game8](https://game8.co/articles/release-dates/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-release-date-and-time)
3. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes review – eerie visuals and a thrilling story, The Guardian (Keith Stuart)](https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/16/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-eerie-visuals-and-a-thrilling-story)
4. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes review: A neo-noir puzzle box, Shacknews (Donovan Erskine)](https://www.shacknews.com/article/139878/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-score)
5. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Switch) Review, Nintendo World Report (Willem Hilhorst)](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67181/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch-review)
6. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes review, PC Gamer (Autumn Wright)](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/)
7. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Official Site](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-switch/)
8. [Mini Review: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (PS5), Push Square (Stephen Tailby)](https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes)
9. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Review – A Mastery of Illusions, GameSpot (Kurt Indovina)](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-a-mastery-of-illusions/1900-6418228/)
10. ["A Puzzle Should Be Structured Like A Good Joke", Nintendo Life](https://www.nintendolife.com/features/a-puzzle-should-be-structured-like-a-good-joke-the-influences-and-craft-behind-lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes)
11. [Review: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, WayTooManyGames](https://waytoomany.games/2024/05/30/review-lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes/)
12. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Review, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/puzzle/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/)
13. [Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Review, TheSixthAxis](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2025/02/12/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Video games and digital play › Games and gameplay › Individual game titles › Individual PC and computer-platform game titles › Platformer and puzzle titles*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license