GAME CLEAR No. 314 -- Automaton Lung

Automaton Lung (2022, new 3DS/Windows/macOS)

Developer: Luke Vincent
Publisher: Luke Vincent
Clear Version: new 3DS
Clear Platform: new 3DS XL
Clear Date: 9/27/26

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Why should I care?
Luke Vincent’s inimitable style shines through in another unpolished but compelling effort.

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Deep breath

After a couple cross-country flights, I’ve finally finished Luke Vincent’s final 3DS game. Like his previous works, Automaton Lung looks, feels, and sounds like an extraordinarily high-effort college game design project. That is to say that it is fully realized and finished in all the ways a game should be, but it is completely unpolished. It suffers for this, but it is still a striking and moody game I’m happy to have played.

Automaton Lung continues the 3D-platforming collectathon tradition started by Vincent’s Harold’s Walk. This game represents his most ambitious to this point. The game starts its protagonist (nameless, to the best of my ability to tell) in a labyrinth. It gives you no direction whatsoever. No tutorial, no stated objective. You must simply wander and infer it from video game convention and environmental clues. Before long, you realize you are in a tower of many floors, each containing chips you (probably) want. A little later, you’ll find the tower isn’t the only location in the game’s world, and then maybe you’ll glean that there’s a certain number of chips may grant you a reward. It’s a pleasant drip of discovery.

Unlike Harold, the protagonist of this game is armed. She can lock on to targets and fire whatever weapon she has equipped. Most enemies are fairly beefy, so be sure to keep on the move as you fight them.

With the exception of bosses, though, your primary concern will be platforming, not combat. It’s here that I think the game is actually worse than the Harold games. Your jump, jetpack, and hoverboard all feel pretty jank and bad. They feel like very early prototype mechanics. I mentioned the “college project” feel, and this is probably the way that most starkly manifests — all the movement feels like stuff I had in my decidedly half-assed final project for my game design class at Georgia Tech. I was in “meets requirements” mode at the time, as one often finds oneself in during those times. But that’s not something I’d have shipped on a public storefront.

Having said that, I also would not have come up with the bizarre and occasionally beautiful landscapes and stages of Automaton Lung, nor their mood-matching music. Vincent makes up for his games’ jank with vibes that are simply incomparable. No one else is making levels like him. They are low-poly, and the textures are rudimentary, but they are dreamlike and striking. Most importantly, I like checking their every corner for that next chip. They compel me, and the mechanics are just sufficient to keep them fun. Similarly, the enemies require some imagination to interpret to say the least, but the bosses look like the creations of Sid from Toy Story, and I say that with a connotation most complimentary. Walking and flying around in this game is an experience unlike any other.

Part of me wonders what Luke Vincent’s games could look like with even more time in the oven. Part of me also appreciates that something this idiosyncratic is (or was) available as an official 3DS release. I can also understand if Vincent’s goal is to conceive of and finish games rather than “piddle them to death” as Bob Ross might say. I certainly respect that. It was the approach I took with my Atari games, and how I hope to actually finish the little Playdate game I’m working on.

Vincent’s latest project is Automaton Heart. It looks like his most ambitious yet, and I can’t wait to get to it. Rock on, brother. You’ve got a fan in me.