LiEat’s gameplay loop consists of reading & exploration with some light fighting. Each chapter is set in a specific area & there you will be until completion. To advance the plot, you will need to find whoever or whatever trigger is needed to advance it. There are the occasional battles with the physical manifestation of lies, due to Effie’s power. These are very basic turned-based affairs meant to represent Effie’s ability to eat the lies. A basic attack, magic & items are your choices when it comes to dealing with these foul things.
The enemies you’ll face are pretty easy to deal with. They doing nothing more than simple attacks for negligible damage & if you somehow cannot deal with such threats, in each chapter there are three sets of weapons & armor hidden away in odd corners for you to find, with one set of weapons having highly inflated stats aptly named ‘Legendary’ Weapons. In the last chapter of the game, there will be a section of extremely simple puzzles for one to solve & that pretty much sums up the entirety of what the game has to offer. Nothing transfers between chapters, all items & levels gained are only for that chapter, though this, again should be a non-issue due to the overall lack of difficulty & the RPG aspect being basic.
The plot follows a con-man of many names & Effie, both on their search to learn more about themselves, the reasons dragon exist & as to why our con-man happens to be with one. Each chapter opens up with its own self-contained short story that reveals more of the overall world, Effie & con-man. Stories & dialogue, for the most part, are full of drama though charming & lighthearted moments are thrown about, mostly coming from Effie herself, the child-dragon new to the world & all its mysteries despite looking at best 4-years old.
Art & music is where the games shine. Amazing sprite work borders the dialogue boxes, the few short cutscenes that exist have a lovely textured look akin to paper or fabric & each chapter adheres to a specific titular color pallet: vermilion, azure & gold. Effie looking cute when she needs to be, Con-man being the brooding secretive man that he is & hell even the lies look cute, making for some top notch art. Music is all instrumental, mostly piano, violins & bells a decent mix of slower & more “actiony” tunes. They certainly reminded me of the Professor Layton games at times so if you enjoyed those you will certainly enjoy this game’s soundtrack.
All in all, LiEat, is a short, about 3 hours total without getting lost, package of games with a nice plot, beautiful art & music. Its biggest flaws are lack of replayability (all chapters feature multiple endings, but they don’t require multiple playthroughs to experience), at times slightly confusing plot progress “triggers” though the 2nd & 3rd chapters help by giving less vague “hints” in dialogue. Not to mention it’s extremely easy fights that honestly, I don’t see how it could have been done another way. I would love to see this adapted into other media but nonetheless, for the low price of 3$US on Steam or free, if downloaded through the translator’s website, one can certainly do much, much worse than LiEat.
Final Score: 3.5/5
