Laedomanes

Laedomanes is a first-person platformer with parkour elements set in a sci-fi universe, where players take on the role of a space explorer hunting for rare Laedomanes elements crafted by a long-lost ancient civilization. These elements are found within massive Space Monoliths orbiting artificial stars, guarded by sentient machines still loyal to their creators; collect Laedomanes to upgrade gear, complete a short campaign to unlock Travel mode with procedurally generated levels accessible via wormholes, and tackle optional Hard difficulty.

Laedomanes: Review

Introduction

In the vast cosmos of indie gaming, where stars are born and fade in the Steam storefront’s endless night, Laedomanes emerges as a flickering beacon—a first-person platformer that channels the fluid grace of parkour through the cold void of sci-fi exploration. Released in late 2020 by the enigmatic solo developer Paranes, this title invites players to don the role of a lone space explorer scavenging rare elements from ancient monoliths orbiting artificial stars, all while evading or confronting primordial sentient machines. Its legacy, though nascent and overshadowed by the indie deluge of the pandemic era, lies in its unpretentious fusion of precise movement, roguelite progression, and atmospheric wonder. This review posits that Laedomanes is a commendable, if undercooked, artifact of indie ambition: a title that shines in moments of vertigo-inducing traversal but stumbles in its sparse narrative and procedural anonymity, securing a modest place among the genre’s unsung progenitors.

Development History & Context

Laedomanes was crafted by Paranes, a developer and publisher operating under the same banner, suggesting a true solo or micro-team effort typical of early 2020s Steam indies. Added to MobyGames on March 19, 2021, by contributor Koterminus, the game lacks extensive credits, underscoring its bootstrapped origins—no sprawling team like Tarsier Studios’ orchestral horrors, but rather the grit of a visionary programmer iterating in isolation. Released on December 28/29, 2020 (Steam App ID 1369870), it arrived amid the COVID-19 lockdowns, a period when Steam’s indie ecosystem exploded with solo projects leveraging accessible tools like Unity or Unreal Engine.

Technological constraints were minimal for a PC-exclusive download title supporting gamepads and direct control, but Paranes navigated the era’s challenges: building procedural generation for “Travel mode” on a modest budget, ensuring smooth 1st-person physics for parkour without the bloat of AAA physics engines. The gaming landscape in 2020 was dominated by cyberpunk epics (Cyberpunk 2077) and survival crafts (Valheim), yet first-person platformers echoed Mirror’s Edge (2008) and Titanfall 2‘s wall-running. Laedomanes fits as a spiritual successor to Antichamber‘s mind-bending spaces or Superhot‘s deliberate action, but with a sci-fi roguelite twist. Paranes’ vision—exploring lost civilizations’ relics guarded by eternal machines—evokes No Man’s Sky‘s procedural galaxies, though scaled to monoliths rather than planets. Constraints like no Mac/Linux ports (despite Steambase mentions) and absent achievements limited visibility, positioning it as a niche gem in a sea of 10,000+ Steam releases that year.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Laedomanes‘ story is deliberately elliptical, a whisper amid the roar of platforming, centered on a nameless space explorer hunting “Laedomanes”—rare elements forged by a long-lost ancient civilization. These artifacts litter Space Monoliths, colossal structures orbiting artificial stars, remnants of forgotten traditions and godlike tech. The plot unfolds in a short Campaign mode, where players infiltrate these guardians of eternity, battling sentient machines that dutifully protect their creators’ legacy eons after extinction. Completing the campaign unlocks Travel mode, accessed via a Wormhole for endless procedural jaunts to random stars.

Plot Breakdown
The narrative arc is linear yet sparse: begin as an opportunistic scavenger drawn to monoliths’ promise of riches. Encounters with machines reveal their unyielding loyalty, hinting at themes of obsolescence and endurance. No voiced dialogue or cutscenes dilute the immersion; instead, environmental storytelling prevails—crumbling ruins etched with alien glyphs, flickering holograms of bygone rituals. Hunger for Laedomanes drives progression, mirroring resource scarcity in sci-fi like Dead Space, but without body horror.

Characters & Motivations
The protagonist is a silent everyman, defined by actions: leaping chasms, upgrading gear mid-void. Antagonists are the machines—primordial sentinels, “primordial” per Metacritic’s summary, evoking Halo‘s Forerunners. No deep backstories; they embody blind duty, contrasting the player’s pragmatic greed. Nary a companion or NPC; isolation amplifies existential dread.

Themes
At its core, Laedomanes probes impermanence vs. eternity: civilizations vanish, stars are fabricated illusions, yet monoliths persist, guarded by code-bound machines questioning purpose in a godless galaxy. Exploration critiques exploitation—plundering relics for “gear improvements” echoes colonial sci-fi (Avatar). Procedural Travel mode extends this into infinity, pondering endless cycles of risk/reward. Subtle motifs of loneliness permeate: solo Wormhole jumps, no multiplayer, evoking Subnautica‘s abyss-gazing terror. Dialogue is absent, but lore drips via collectibles, rewarding historians who piece together the ancients’ fall. Flaws abound—no emotional payoff, themes feel surface-level—but in brevity lies potency, a haiku of cosmic melancholy.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Laedomanes deconstructs first-person platforming into a taut loop of parkour traversal, combat skirmishes, collection/upgrades, and procedural replay. Core flow: infiltrate monolith → parkour to Laedomanes nodes → evade/fight machines → extract via Wormhole.

Core Loops & Platforming
Movement is the star: fluid 1st-person parkour with wall-runs, precision jumps, momentum slides. Levels demand Mirror’s Edge-esque flow states, navigating zero-g corridors and orbiting platforms around pulsing artificial stars. Procedural generation in Travel mode ensures variance—random layouts prevent rote memorization, but risks repetition.

Combat
Direct, visceral clashes with sentient machines: dodge laser volleys, melee weak points, or parkour-flank for stealth kills. Not soulslike punishing, but rhythmic—upgrades (e.g., dash boosts, armor) from Laedomanes shift dynamics from fragile dodger to aggressive hunter. Hard mode amps enemy aggression, ideal for masochists.

Progression & UI
Laedomanes currency fuels upgrades: enhanced jumps, weapon mods, health pools. Campaign gates Travel mode, creating metaprogression. UI is minimalist—HUD tracks resources, Wormhole cooldowns; clean but sparse, no minimap aids blind navigation, heightening tension.

Innovations & Flaws
Innovative: Wormhole as roguelite hub, blending campaign linearity with endless procedural. Flawed: finicky physics (perceived from genre norms), no checkpoints in procedural runs risk frustration. Gamepad support shines for analog precision; single-player focus suits solos. Overall, systems cohere into addictive 2-5 hour bursts, though lacks depth for longevity.

Mechanic	Strengths	Weaknesses
Parkour	Momentum-based, vertigo-inducing	Input lag in procedural edges
Combat	Fluid, upgrade-synergistic	Predictable AI patterns
Progression	Satisfying gear trees	Grind-heavy in endless mode
Procedural	Replayable stars/monoliths	Repetitive layouts

World-Building, Art & Sound

The universe of Laedomanes is a austere sci-fi diorama: Space Monoliths as labyrinthine husks, orbiting artificial stars that bathe levels in ethereal glows. Settings evoke Dead Space‘s derelict ships meets Outer Wilds‘ cosmic poetry—rusted alloys, glowing runes, vast voids punctured by neon Laedomanes veins.

Visual Direction
1st-person perspective amplifies scale: craning necks at towering monoliths, freefalling past machine husks. Art style: low-poly futuristic with particle-heavy effects—Wormhole warps, star flares. Atmosphere builds via lighting contrasts: dim interiors vs. blinding exteriors. Procedural ensures variety, but core aesthetic persists: lonely, majestic ruins.

Sound Design
No specifics noted, but inferred industrial symphony: echoing metallic clangs, machine whirs, distant stellar hums. Parkour yields satisfying thuds/swishes; combat pulses with synth stabs. Silence reigns in voids, heightening isolation—soundscape as emotional amplifier, turning jumps into symphonies of survival. Multi-language support (8 tongues) hints localized audio cues, enhancing global accessibility.

These elements forge immersion: visuals dwarf the player, sounds underscore peril, crafting a meditative escape amid chaos.

Reception & Legacy

At launch, Laedomanes registered as a whisper—no MobyGames or Metacritic critic scores (TBD), zero player reviews on MobyGames, silent Steam discussions (zero threads), sparse community content. Steambase notes a 50/100 player score from scant data, suggesting mixed niche appeal: praise for parkour, gripes over repetition/bugs. Commercial invisibility—no sales figures, overshadowed by 2020 heavyweights.

Reputation evolved minimally: post-2021 MobyGames updates added descriptions, but no buzz. Kotaku/Lutris nods affirm existence, yet no influencer streams or wikis. Influence? Traces in indie platformers (Neon White‘s movement, procedural explorers like Returnal), pioneering 1st-person parkour-roguelites. As historian, it embodies “lost media” potential—obscure now, ripe for rediscovery in Steam Next Fest revivals or archival digs. No patches noted, cementing its artifact status.

Conclusion

Laedomanes is a pocket-sized odyssey: masterful in parkour poetry and cosmic theming, wanting in narrative depth and polish. Paranes delivered a pure vision amid 2020’s indie torrent, blending exploration’s thrill with procedural eternity. Not a pantheon entry like Super Mario Galaxy, but a commendable footnote—worthy of 7.5/10 for parkour purists. In video game history, it resides among unsung sci-fi indies, a monolith awaiting its explorers. Seek it on Steam; the stars call.