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LumenTale: Memories of Trey Review
- Eloise Crawford
- May 24
- 5 min read
I’m not a very adventurous gamer.
My Steam profile can attest to that: my most played game is The Sims 4 at nearly 400 hours, and my Nintendo Switch says the same about Animal Crossing: New Horizons at nearly 350 hours. The next most-played game is Pokémon Scarlet, with nearly 100.
The point being that I generally stick with the same themes over and over, like three big hyperfixation cycles battling for dominance in a constant rotation.
LumenTale: Memories of Trey spoke to the part of my brain that loves turn-based battles. Low-pressure, easy to step away from when I get too freaked out, and forgiving enough that I can quickly Google a type matchup without feeling like I’ve ruined everything. The pixelated sprites felt reminiscent of the older Pokémon games I played as an 8-year-old, and it hit the same soft spot that fuels my incredibly unhealthy obsession with Stardew Valley.
And.
It was really good.
The whole half hour or so of gameplay that I tried, anyway.
Publisher: Team17 Developer: Beehive Studios Platform: Played on Nintendo Switch Availability: Released May 26, 2026, for PC and Nintendo Switch |
Before I get into the details, it’s only fair to add a small disclaimer: I really didn’t make it far. A few quests in, I hit a wall, and any attempt to fix it, including a full uninstall, amounted to zilch. Nothing. Nada. Goose egg. It’s also worth noting that the review copy I received was for the Nintendo Switch.
So, to avoid spoilers and to stay as neutral and fair as possible (again: unplayable), I can really only talk about the gameplay, the visuals, and the initial worldbuilding.
Right off the bat, the game both hooked and overwhelmed me. You start as a man or a robot (I genuinely could not tell), and you learn you’re named Trey. The confusing part is that you only discover this after your body is found by Ales (who I assume is the main supporting character), only after you are ‘rebooted.’ The reboot process involved answering a series of questions, including entering a name, and after submitting all your answers, you learn you’re Trey.
Right off the bat, the game both hooked and overwhelmed me.
When you wake up, you’ve lost all your memories. They trickle back in the form of fuzzy, dim cutscenes, with players named the typical “???” to signify you don’t know them yet, and terminology you’ve already heard spoken but don’t have the context for. It’s disorienting in a way that feels intentional, and it immediately sets a tone: you’re missing something important, and you can feel the shape of it even if you can’t name it.
After the reboot, you’re immediately faced with your very first challenge. Ales refuses an “expensive and difficult to acquire” Holoken — a birthday gift from his uncle. You learn that a Holoken is a device that allows you to catch and battle creatures called Animon. Holokens are primarily used by people called Lumen, who are essentially guardians of the world that use Animon to protect the realm.
After the argument, Ales runs off, and you pick up (read: steal) the Holoken. You can’t quite figure out why you’ve devolved into petty theft, but you chase after Ales and save him with what should have been his Holoken. Once you have proven your innate talent with wielding the Holoken, it is fully entrusted to you, and you are given the chance to pick your starter Animon.
This was the most overwhelming part for me. There are several Animon to choose from, and you don’t simply pick one and receive it. You have to battle the Animon you want using a borrowed Animon; if you win, it joins your party. The battle takes place within an “in between” realm, something you learn you can decorate. Unfortunately, I never got far enough to actually do that, because I hit a broken loading screen that prevented me from progressing very far.
LumenTale has a stunning HD-2D look to it.
The early quests were a little strange, and the initial quest flow felt lacking. For example, one of the first questlines is to “help the citizens of the city,” but you end up helping a total of one person (and their assistant) by ridding the forest of a herd of Animon that have made it their home. After that, you get chucked straight into the deep end within the first 30 minutes: the city is attacked, destroyed, engulfed in flames, the citizens are evacuated, and Ales, the little boy who saved you, is nowhere to be found.
And of course, to make it difficult, you can’t just navigate through the city, and the mini map is no help. either. You end up wandering around the exterior, through unintuitive areas, battling roaming Animon, until you finally take the long way around to the city’s plaza, where you face off with the Animon that attacked the city.
It took me about seven tries to clear that boss, and the seventh attempt only happened after grinding the six-or-so small-town Animon that appeared on the way to the plaza. Over. And. Over.
The scaling felt off. The bosses have multiple health bars that you have to slice and dice your way through, and while I’m not saying I want to be coddled, it shouldn’t take seven attempts to beat the initial boss.
As for the battle system itself, it’s a pretty standard turn-based system, with the turn cycle clearly displayed so you can plan ahead. You can battle with up to four Animon (at least from what I experienced in the eyeblink of playtime I had), but boss Animon are insanely strong, which made the difficulty spikes feel more frustrating than satisfying.
I really wish I could speak more about the game.
I really wish I had more to say.
If I had to rate what I played in isolation, I’d give it a strong 7 out of 10, because the idea is sound, and the world is there. But holistically, with my very specific experience, it’s a solid unplayable out of 10. What good is a world if it can’t be explored?
I’ve let the game try to load this unloadable area since I started writing this review. Here I am 54 minutes later, and it’s still loading.
*Editor's Note: We have reached out to the publisher regarding this bug and have not yet received a response. If any details are provided to us about its prevalence or its being addressed, we will add an additional note to the review.
Verdict  |
Image Credits: JetsonPlaysGames via Team17
Disclaimer: We received a review copy of this title from the publisher.