The Cub
The Cub
Game
Game2023
LUNARK
Developer Canari Games
Lunark is a 2023 platform game developed by Canari Games and published by WayForward. The game was originally released for Windows, macOS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch on March 30, 2023, with ports for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 released on April 6, 2023. The game follows Leo who has unique abilities, the player attempts to uncover the origin about humanity. The game was mostly developed… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
252 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Oct 17, 2026 · last updated Oct 18, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
84
LovedLoved
158 positive · 31 negative
95% range 78–88%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 158 | 31 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 18 | 1 | 18 |
| Mastodon * | 10 | 0 | 15 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
202 of 239 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
84% recommend · 162 yes, 31 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 193 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (311 of 357 positive).
Players widely praise LUNARK as a worthy spiritual successor to classic cinematic platformers like Flashback and Prince of Persia. [1][2][3][4] Many reviewers criticize the checkpoint and save system, which forces replaying entire levels on exit. [5][6][7][8] Some players note technical issues like stiff controls and low resolution, but still recommend the game. [5][9][10][11]
Liked
Representative posts
- [16]
DO NOT BUY THIS GAME IF YOU PLAN TO PLAY IN SESSIONS The checkpoint system forces you to play ENTIRE CHAPTERS at a time. Some of the chapters get pretty long. You'll be playing for an hour and think you've made some progress and and your play session with a lot of progress made. But then when you come back and continue the game starts you back at the BEGINNING of the chapter! Ridiculous! There's no reason for any …
- [1]
Every bad review is about Flashback being better. You know what? Flashback was 31 years ago. We need more games like this. We need LUNARK. Thank you and I am looking forward for LUNARK 2!
- [5]
In short, it's a good retro platformer with some serious technical problems. Yes, it's Flashback. Feels like Flashback, plays like Flashback, looks like Flashback, except it's even more low-res than the 30-year-old original. The controls feel a little stiff now, but once you get used to it, it plays very well. The game itself is very pleasant. Except for one thing. There's no save on exit. You save at the beginning …
- [15]
Wow, I am blown away by Lunark. I'm of a particular age (clue: I was 15 when Delphine released Flashback). For those of you who suck at maths, Delphine released Flashback in 1992. I haven't enjoyed playing a platformer as much as back then SINCE back then. However, Lunark has perfectly slipped in there as my second favourite platformer of all time. It's a beautiful game - so perfectly put together. I just came off …
- [17]
Lunark is nothing more or less than the perfect resurrection of the cinematic platformer; it is Flashback for the 21st century. Short and oh-so-very sweet.
Summarised from 34 of the 259 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked LUNARK talk about great homage to Flashback and other cinematic platformers; those who didn't talk about frustrating checkpoint system with no mid-level saves. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Luke Plunkett of Kotaku enjoyed the game because of the rotoscoping. Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade considered the game one of the all-timers of cinematic platforming.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 252 · most liked firstI can’t show you the game I’m working on yet, so here are a few screenshots of my first solo game LUNARK. ☺️Show what you’re working on for #screenshotsaturday! #pixelart #indiedev #gaming #gamedev
neutral · AI labelView post →Every bad review is about Flashback being better. You know what? Flashback was 31 years ago. We need more games like this. We need LUNARK. Thank you and I am looking forward for LUNARK 2!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You will like my indie game if you played these games: - Prince Of Persia 🤺 - Flashback 🔫 - Another World / Out Of This World ✋ 65% OFF on 🖤Steam: t.co/ZxUvaWSBxc ❤️Switch: t.co/3NvEmBQn7o #gamedev #indiedev #LUNARK
neutral · AI labelView post →🥰Before 🏝️Castaway, I already paid tribute to Zelda: Link's Awakening in my first game 🌙LUNARK, where kids offer you advice! 👨👧👦
neutral · AI labelView post →The Flashback remake is bad. Flashback 2 is bad. The original Flashback is good. This is like more original Flashback. This is good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →☺️Hey, lots of new followers suddenly! Welcome! I'm Johan, creator of LUNARK and a brand mini-game CASTAWAY! 🏝️ www.castawaythegame.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGKc...
neutral · AI labelView post →There are some excellent components here, but it fails to live up to it's inspiration. Enemy attacks that can't be avoided and unreliable controls are an issue. The biggest problem is the checkpointing. There's a reason we left harsh checkpointing in the past. Failing a jump and having to redo five screens of platforming challenges gets old very fast. Some better checkpointing options and the other issues become less frustrating.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TLDR: Fantastic game everywhere except for one thing. Unfortunately, that one thing is a big thing: check/save points. I actually played the original games Out of this World (Another World) and Flashback. I think I only completed the first one but those games were different than anything out at the time. Fast forward to now, we have LUNARK. A clear homage to those classics, unfortunately in more ways than it should have been. When those original games came out, the gaming market was not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT BUY THIS GAME IF YOU PLAN TO PLAY IN SESSIONS The checkpoint system forces you to play ENTIRE CHAPTERS at a time. Some of the chapters get pretty long. You'll be playing for an hour and think you've made some progress and and your play session with a lot of progress made. But then when you come back and continue the game starts you back at the BEGINNING of the chapter! Ridiculous! There's no reason for any game to do this. It's an unnecessary forced difficulty. The game should save your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Review by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34633003-Gaming-Masterpieces/lists/] Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam. Is this game a masterpiece? Hm, this is a love letter (especially) to Flashback, a famous game from the early nineties. If you enjoyed Flashback from Paul Cuisset (Delphine, 1992), than this game is like a balm massage for your soul. If you are one of the five people on earth who didn't enjoy Flashback that much (or if you are too young…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I rarely leave a negative review, but sadly no other option here. This game has a great potential, it's clear love letter to Flashback (and Another World, etc) and mostly delivers similar experience, but there is something missing to make it great. That alone wouldn't make it negative, but the save system is just plain silly (for this day and age). If you are not able to finish a level for whatever reason in one go, you start from the start instead of from last checkpoint. For some levels…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While this game is good, the checkpoints are very frustrating. And no saving mid-level when I have to stop playing, or WANT to stop playing because the game is frustrating, is just not acceptable in 2025. Two examples of this are on one level where you are running away from a boss, which is fun, but if you die, you start a screen above the boss intro, and have to drop down to the boss room. And I died more than once dropping down to the boss room because of the clunky controls. The second…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quick shout-out for Lunark! Disappointed in the disappointing Flashback remake and awful Flashback 2? This game is basically what should have gotten the time in the spotlight.
positive · AI labelView post →Big hopes for this game, being in my Wishlist for a long time and a big fan of the cinematic platformers. After reaching the end, and quite some secrets, all I can say is that Lunark is mediocre at best, and absolutely annoying at worst. First off the graphics are so low-fi that from the get go you don't really understand what's what. I'm a big fan of pixel art but this is just over simplifying too much. One of the best point of pixel art is that you can fill the void with your imagination: now…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm old enough to remember playing Flashback and Another World on my Amiga 500. Back then it was normal that you can't just save and exit the game to continue the next day, it was basically finish it in one go or start all over. Having the same mechanic, not for the whole game but still for the whole level, is just plain stupid. You've lost me after killing the giant spider, when I foolishly quit the game expecting to continue playing the next day from the same "checkpoint", only to be forced…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like most of the aspects of the game: the pixel art is great, the story is interesting, the levels are varied. But there are two points that suck most of the joy out of playing the game: the controls are very unresponsive and inputs are repeatedly missed. This is especially bothersome in the many sections with time limits. Also, if you quit the game, you don't start at the last respawn point, but at the beginning of the level.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first glance, LUNARK appeared promising as a modern cinematic platformer. However, as I progressed through each stage, the experience increasingly felt like a derivative work heavily modeled on classics such as Another World and Flashback. The game borrows extensively from those titles, including character animations, enemy designs, environmental interactions (such as the foot scanner for opening doors), ally movements through vents, prison escape sequences, and vehicle sections. These…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →LUNARK not a bad game, it is a very bland game. The demo was the perfect bait, but I have a hard time seeing that this game is anything more than nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. If you are old enough to have played the games that inspired LUNARK and wanting to relive the magic, you might be disappointed. I certainly was. Your mileage my vary.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lunark was released yesterday! ✨ I played it all evening long non stop. I loved it 🤩 The worthy heir of Flashback, Prince of Persia and Another World. Thanks to the developer @johanvinet 😀❤️ #Lunark #CinematicPlatformer #Flashback #PrinceOfPersia #AnotherWorld
positive · AI labelView post →Since Iam a big fan of Flashback, Another World, The Way etc. I had to buy this. And it deliverd!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm an og backer and I knew what I was signing for when I supported this game but sadly I had to stop playing this game when the big spider is chasing you. Very frustaring moment! I don't mind clunky controls, it's a nice comeback from the old games, as long as the game has a slow pace and it doesn't force me to be precise but when I have to time everything perfectly for that chase moment I felt I was playing with a hand tied to my back. It's sad to me to say this but the animations on this…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNARK! 🎂 👇To celebrate, the game is 50% OFF! Switch: bit.ly/LUNARK_Switch PS4/PS5: bit.ly/LUNARK_PS4PS5 Steam: bit.ly/LUNARK_Stm itchio: bit.ly/LUNARK_itchio
neutral · AI labelView post →Hello there! My name is Johan, your average “multidisciplinary creative person”. I just ended a 4+ years journey by releasing my indie game LUNARK. I’m pretty close to figure out what is coming next. Stick with me if - like me - you’d like to know what that is! ☺️
neutral · AI labelView post →And since we're at it, my first chil... game 🌙LUNARK is also a few bucks on #Steam! 🖤Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1050370/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Yet another negative review due to the dumb saving system! Your game is not interesting enough to make me redo entire levels, because i mistakenly thought i'd reached a checkpoint. What a joke
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Early level 3: "Hey, you can't make some long jumps, try climbing down and back up!" Player: "Thanks I've learned that now." Late level 3: "F-you buddy, you were tricked by actually following what I taught you? Now the only way to get all those shiny items I taunted you with is to REPLAY THE ENTIRE LEVEL!" Also: "Oh and if you didn't have a chance to explore, we aren't letting you go back unless you make a whole new save file. Sucks to be you!' Thanks game. Thanks. For proving that you…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In short, it's a good retro platformer with some serious technical problems. Yes, it's Flashback. Feels like Flashback, plays like Flashback, looks like Flashback, except it's even more low-res than the 30-year-old original. The controls feel a little stiff now, but once you get used to it, it plays very well. The game itself is very pleasant. Except for one thing. There's no save on exit. You save at the beginning of each level and that's it. In a game where you can easily spend 30-60…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🎬Gameplay Video🎬 https://youtu.be/MC1DnJF8-RI 🤔Overall Impressions🤔 Lunark is a modern take on the nineties cinematic platform games but still manages to keep all the charm and retro goodness of the originals. Expect vibrant coloured landscapes, a dreamy synth soundtrack, and a surprisingly engaging story for a platform game. Unfortunately, with a retro game comes retro controls, so expect lots of delay in movements, plus save points can cause frustration, with sections repeated. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game 5/26: LUNARK A delightful old skool cinematic platformer (by @johanvinet.com) that is both a heartfelt loveletter AND a proper spiritual sequel to "Flashback", rotoscoped cutscenes included. The game does A LOT with its mechanics, but still feels breezy and fun! It is also VERY colourful 😉
positive · AI labelView post →You have to know what you're getting into with this game, and reading the Steam page and looking at screenshots should tell you, but just to reiterate/re-emphasize: This is *not* a typical platformer. It is one of those slower-paced, rotoscoped, parkour platform games. You can't play it like Mario, you have to play it like (old-school) Prince of Persia, Flashback, Another World/Out of This World, Blackthorne, etc. Much more methodical and animation-based gameplay. I'm a big fan of those games,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you have a fondness for the cinematic platformers of the past, you owe it to yourself to check out LUNARK! A great game that you can beat in a couple of sittings!
positive · AI labelView post →Pros: An actual new Flashback/Prince of Persia-esque puzzle platformer! Why this isn't as popular as Roguelites or Metroidvanias, I don't know. We need more of these! Game is specifically inspired by Flashback and, while it doesn't reach the same heights at that game, it's pretty darn good. Chonky pixels!!! Cons: Maybe a bit too chonk. I like pixel art, but I would have been very okay with a slightly higher resolution. Rather on the shorter side.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, I am blown away by Lunark. I'm of a particular age (clue: I was 15 when Delphine released Flashback). For those of you who suck at maths, Delphine released Flashback in 1992. I haven't enjoyed playing a platformer as much as back then SINCE back then. However, Lunark has perfectly slipped in there as my second favourite platformer of all time. It's a beautiful game - so perfectly put together. I just came off the back of 132 hours on RDR2 spread over 4 months and this is so…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Reasonably fun, short game, would recommend at a low price. As other reviewers say, it's a bit like Another World / Flashback, or perhaps actually more like the original Prince of Persia (1989), but in all cases more attuned to modern sensibilities, i.e. it's relatively easy. Story is fine. One weird thing that I could see people being critical of is, when you die you go back a couple of screens to a waypoint, but when you exit, it says all progress since the start of the level will be…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →These are some of my #Gamedev bucket list games: 🏎️Racing Game: I worked on Formula One 2016 Mobile but I'd love my own arcade racing game! 🏃♂️Platformer Adventure: Flashback inspired (like Lunark) or just a simple fun game. 🪐Sci-Fi city builder for mobile: The game I want to play but doesn't exist!
neutral · AI labelView post →If you're like me and think the OG Prince of Persia kinda suck, that Another World is best consumed through a walkthrough and that Flashback was fun until the first timed mission, you might consider LUNARK. The game template really is Flashback with a bit of PoP and AW mixed in. For instance you've got a few saber warriors and also a gorilla like enemy, except here you've got a gun like in Flashback so it's immediately better. The pixel art is really an in between a 8bit and 16bit system.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A great homage to Flashback and Out of this World (Another World). The fluid animations are spot-on, the soundtrack fits the era of its influence, and the environmental puzzles are expertly crafted. It plays well on Steam Deck and looks stellar on the new OLED screen.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I gave this game a solid chance and spent a couple hours with it, but it really isn't for me. I like RPG platformers in general, but there's one main issue with this game for me. Maybe it is just a trope with the genre, though, so take this with a grain of salt. This game's controls are too funky to justify the fast pace of this game. Not rarely does the game feature tight jumps right after another or enemies that cannot be dealt with all at once. The solution? Waiting; or slowing down to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lunark is nothing more or less than the perfect resurrection of the cinematic platformer; it is Flashback for the 21st century. Short and oh-so-very sweet.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is basically Flashback but new. It's great play it please :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not bad as such. it's just not great enough to make me recommend it. The resolution is low even for 1990. 320x200 at most. charming? retro? at the time it was the best that could be done. time has not been kind. The story is ok and if you have a certain deus-ex-machina tolerance, enjoyable. Sadly the controls are unneccessarily weird. That makes a lot of the levels that are about timed and precise moves a tad frustrating. So sadly - not even good enough to recommend with reservations…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh yay, another game with punishingly hard, repetitive escape sequences. 30 tries later, it's uninstalled for good
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →tl;dr: Gorgeous game that plays a bit clunky and doesn't seem to have nailed down the tone it is going for. I first learned of LUNARK through seeing its art posted online, and picked it up primarily on its visual merit. I had heard of and seen the games it is inspired by (Prince of Persia for DOS, Another World, etc.) but never played them before, and so I approached this game without any deep-seated fondness for or intimate understanding of the genre. I can say that the final game is indeed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →best tutorial I've seen in my life. very strong vibes of prince persia in movement and flashback in visuals. looks amazing, plays amazing, quite complex gameplay even if slow-ish but for some stupid reason you can't save mid level.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A singular gem. It's inspired by flashback and those games but - I think it plays better, feels more coherent, and has more tight controls. The soundtrack is truly great and the setting and characters are nicely fleshed out. The fact that it's largely a 1-man team effort is remarkable and shows that the self-imposed very pixellated look was a great move to make it manageable.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of the few real gems coming from the distinct digital bloodline of Prince of Persia, Another World, and Flashback.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lunark is a great trip down memory lane for lovers of cinematic platformers like Another World and Flashback, but with some updated gameplay mechanics and modernized controls. Definitely recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice little adventure/platformer in the vein of the original Prince of Persia, Out of this World/Another World, and Flashback. The graphics took some getting used to, they are far more pixellated than any of the games mentioned above but it doesn't ruin the gameplay once you get into the swing of things. The music is excellent and contributes well to the overall experience. Recommended for anyone craving that style of adventure/platformer, though you may prefer to wait for a sale if you are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My “games I should play and movies I should watch” list is so long I’m finally playing a game I enjoyed following the development of on… pre-X Twitter. 😅 Anyway, finally working through Lunark and it’s as fun and as beautiful as I had hoped. Very Prince of Persia/Another World inspired gameplay.
positive · AI labelView post →Finally! A cinematic platformer I can actually enjoy and finish. I always found games like Blackthorne and Flashback to be appealing, but also clunky to control and obtusely maze-like. But Lunark is both comfortable to control and never confusing in its puzzles and layout. Of course, the animation and pixel art are what brings the charm here and it really is a delight to watch the rotoscoped cutscenes, not to mention the gameplay itself. The story is genuinely engaging and I thought characters…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This week on the podcast reviewed the Sci-Fi adventure game LUNARK. It is a great time, Thank you @johanvinet.com and Canari games for a review code. They also made the game Castaway which I have reviewed (Thank you for that code) open.spotify.com/episode/6io6... open.spotify.com/episode/1xe5...
positive · AI labelView post →Neat graphics, sluggish gameplay. While the animations look smooth, they also take their sweet time. The player character isn't terribly reactive or fast - so even running away from robots doesn't make you gain ground on them. Enemies move on screens you can't see. At least they only fire on you when you are on the same screen - but the projectiles will hit you on the next screen! This game is not made for quick reactions, yet the levels are designed for them. Quick changes from running to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love Flashback, it was one of my favorite games of all time. This is very much a spiritual successor and to my knowledge the only true "cinematic platformer" game released since Blackthorne, back in the mid 90s. For that reason alone this game is worthy of a recommendation. Thankfully Lunark is also fun and challenging and is perfect for the Steam Deck. If you liked Prince of Persia, Another World, Heart of the Alien, Flashback and Blackthorne, you need to play this game. If I was going to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sweet mother of character animations!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Leo a future man. Is about to find out he's old af. 5/5
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hello there! LUNARK is a 2D cinematic-platformer game with vivid pixelart and rotoscoped cutscenes! 😘 thank you! https://wayforward.itch.io/lunark
neutral · AI labelView post →Really having a great time. I wish this type of platformer was more common. I could stand to see a couple entries in this genre a year. I'll write more after I beat it, but for now I recommend it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The pixel animations are Out Of This World! (pun totally intended!)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It was while playing @johanvinet 's #Lunark that I thought about Mission Elevator. Because of this screen! 😀 🧵 2/
neutral · AI labelView post →Not great. Very repetitive from the start. Also too pixelated for my taste. Its uglier than 80's games
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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