New Steam launch unveils Who’s Lila?

Written by Jack Allin — February 24, 2022 at 12:02

Many adventure games provide text-based dialogue options to choose from; a few let you choose the mood you wish to convey. But only Who's Lila? lets you actually form your own facial expressions in solo Russian developer Garage Heathen's newly released "AI-powered reverse-detective adventure."

William has trouble showing his feelings facially. Envious of those to whom it comes naturally, he needs to "make a conscious decision each time [he moves] a muscle" and every morning he practices the expressions he wants to share that day in the mirror. But this is no ordinary day, as a girl at school named Tanya Kennedy "suddenly goes missing and the only thing Will's friends know [is] he was the one to see her last." It's up to you to decide how you want to approach the mystery. Will you "remain secretive and make William act as though nothing happened, or will you let [his] true emotions show through his mask?"

Reminiscent of the early 1-bit graphic adventures, Who's Lila? is a lo-fi monochromatic game (in custom palettes) filled with "dream-like landscapes, surreal architecture, steam-filled factory interiors, and David Lynch-inspired beauty of the industrial and the mundane." The game plays much like a traditional point-and-click adventure on the left-hand side of the screen, as you navigate the environments, search for items and clues, and engage others in conversation. It's this last element that requires the unique facial manipulation on the right, where a large portrait of William is displayed that lets you manually affect his features to form different expressions. Instead of choosing dialogue responses, you move various parts of William's face to convey the desired emotion, which is then analyzed and interpreted by a "specifically trained face-recognizing neural network" in order to advance the story. The branching options should provide 4-6 hours of playtime, with 15 different endings to uncover.

If the thought of a facial-manipulation adventure puts a smile on your own face, you can get started right away, as Who's Lila? is available now on Steam for Windows PC. If your expression is one of doubt or bemusement, you can download the playable demo for a first-hand sample of what to expect.