Lucah: Born of a Dream unleashes its nightmares August 21

Lucah: Born of a Dream is an action role-playing game that’s set in a hellish world scratched from scraps of neon and wriggling darkness. It’s indie developer Colin Horgan’s latest title, and it will launch on PC on August 21.

Under the moniker Melessthanthree, Horgan has developed a few short games like the shooter Together We Can End This All and the adventure game Tatakai. He successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign for Lucah in 2017, and he has released a few side games, Sacrament I and Sacrament IV, to complement it. Lucah has personal roots, dealing with themes of guilt and self-discovery. The titular character confronts their demons made manifest, fighting against their fate as a Marked Child. Though the game has a narrative, its core is its battle system, which features a frenetic blend of melee and range attacks which players can remix through the Paradigm system. The fights are deliberately punishing, though the game’s difficulty level is adjustable.

“Every in-game failure is really another opportunity to grow, because Lucah will always get back up,” said Horgan in a previous interview with GamesBeat. “By the end of the game, I want the player to grow with Lucah and gain that confidence that comes with self-acceptance, because they were able to survive and triumph alongside Lucah and learn to love themselves for who they are, whatever that means to them.”

To develop Lucah, Horgan teamed up with sound designer and composer Nicolo Telesca; Brianna Lei, who developed the adorable visual novel Butterfly Soup; and Team OK’s Kevin Wong, who was project lead on the stylish multiplayer game Chambara.