Lentera Nusantara is an Indonesian game developer. They try to bring Indonesian heritage into modern-day art and indie games. Their first game was Ghost Parade, a Metroidvania-style adventure about saving a mystical forest and leading unusual creatures back to safety.
Featured on Gamescom Asia and released on 31 October 2019, this game feels like a great one to review so close to Halloween.
Lentera Studios
The name Lentera Nusantara is translated as “the Lantern of the Archipelago.” This Indonesian indie game developer states that their goal is to show “the beauty of Asian and Indonesian heritage through the modern media of art and games“.
With a couple games coming up, Lentera Studios started their adventures with Ghost Parade, which was featured at Gamescom Asia.
Plot and Gameplay in Ghost Parade
In Ghost Parade, you play as a human girl Suri who wields a lantern. She is lost in a dark forest that she tries to escape from.
On the way, she meets a lot of forest creatures, mostly ghosts, and helps them get home as well. As it turns out, the forest is in danger of being levelled because of greedy humans. Suri will not let that happen!
Ghost Parade is a Metroidvania. You do a lot of platforming and fight enemies and bosses. You can collect and shop for items, too.
Importantly, you will meet different forest creatures and befriend them. You will be able to add them to your team, and they will help you in your platforming and battles.
The Steam reviews highlight the difficulty of platforming in Ghost Parade and the beauty of its design. The art is uniquely beautiful, and the gameplay offers a lot of diversity due to the many friends you can add to your inventory. Your ghost sidekicks are going to help you in many ways, including some new ways to enjoy the gameplay.
Conclusion
Ghost Parade is an indie game about going home and lighting a path through the woods for your friends. It offers challenging platforming and diverse playthroughs due to the different combinations of sidekicks.
Inspired by Indonesian folklore, this game has gorgeous art and a heartwarming story with supernatural elements that fit the theme of Halloween.
