Lux-Pain

Short description: 2008 video game

Lux-Pain

North American box art

Developer(s)| Killaware
Publisher(s)|

* JP: Marvelous Entertainment
* NA: Ignition Entertainment
* PAL: Rising Star Games

Composer(s)| Kenji Ito
Yasuyuki Suzuki
Platform(s)| Nintendo DS
Release|

* JP: March 27, 2008
* NA: March 24, 2009
* EU: March 27, 2009
* AU: 2009

Genre(s)| Adventure, visual novel
Mode(s)| Single-player

Lux-Pain (ルクス・ペイン, Rukusu・Pein) is a visual novel adventure video game developed by Killaware and published by Marvelous Entertainment for the Nintendo DS video game console. The game was released in Japan on March 27, 2008. It was published in North America by Ignition Entertainment on March 24, 2009, and in Europe by Rising Star Games on March 27, 2009.

## Contents

* 1 Gameplay
* 2 Plot
* 3 Development
* 4 Reception
* 5 References
* 6 External links
* 7 Features
* 8 History
* 9 See also
* 10 References
* 11 External links

## Gameplay

This game is mostly a visual novel, but there are a few new techniques specific for the DS. When using Lux-Pain, the player 'digs' into their surroundings using the stylus and touch screen. The player can 'dig' into people's feelings and emotions to find worms, or deep emotions. However, if the player digs in too long and is unable to erase the worms that surround the person, the person's mind becomes corrupt and it becomes game over for the player. The game ends if a battle against one of the Silent is lost. However, in some cases, if the player loses against a Silent (mainly in boss battles) they are able to retry.

## Plot

Lux-Pain is set in the historical Kisaragi City, a town plagued by mysteries from small mishaps to murders - with no logical explanation as to why these events occur. It seems "Silent", a worm born through hate and sadness, has infected humans and forced them to commit atrocious crimes. Atsuki's parents are the victim of such crimes. To avenge his parents, Atsuki goes through a dangerous operation to acquire Lux-Pain in his left arm, a power so strong that it turns his right eye golden when using it to seek and destroy Silent for good. In this game, however, there is a strong difference between Silent and worms. Worms are a sort of offspring created by Silent that are transferred to anyone who comes in contact with the host of the specific Silent. Worms are much weaker than Silent and are eliminated after simply finding them with the stylus and pressing on them for several seconds. Silent are considered the bosses of the game and though the player faces many smaller Silent they slowly show the larger Silent who is much stronger. After the first 10 "episodes" the player faces the first true Silent. This Silent is caused by the emotions of a deceased 12-year-old girl whose parents left for dead in her room. Though not mentioned specifically there are over 685 known Silent and the player starts with the 683rd.

## Development

Lux-Pain was developed by a team of ten people at Killaware, which was founded by former Atlus members Takeo Higashino and Kazuhiro Yamao.[1][2] The game took a full 14 months to develop from start to finish.[2] Higashino described the plot as being "dark," and stated that social problems such as truancy, group suicide, mental abuse on the internet, and cruelty to animals inspired him to create the game.[3] He stated, "I think this game is a kind of 'antithesis' against the distortion of the current education or the recent crimes that occur amongst young people."[2] Lux-Pain was translated internally at Killaware, but the Japanese voice acting was replaced for its localizations.[3]

The soundtrack for Lux-Pain was composed by Kenji Ito and Yasuyuki Suzuki. It was released in Japan April 23, 2008.[4] A CD featuring two vocal songs from the game ("Holding the Holy Pain" and "On/Off") sung by Yoko Takahashi was released on March 12, 2008.[5] Two pre-order bonuses were included with the game with its release in Japan. They include Lux-Sound, a set of pre-arranged songs from the game's soundtrack along with a drama track; and Lux-Paint, an artbook.[6]

## Reception

Reception

| Aggregate score

Aggregator| Score
Metacritic| 48 of 100[7]
Review scores
Publication| Score
Destructoid| 5 of 10[8]
Famitsu| 29 of 40[9]
GamePro| [10]
GameSpot| 3.5 of 10[11]
GameZone| 5 of 10[12]
IGN| 4.2 of 10[13]
NGamer| 81%[14]
Nintendo Life| [15]
Nintendo Power| 4 of 10[16]
ONM| 76%[17]
411Mania| 4.5 of 10[18]
The Daily Telegraph| 7 of 10[19]

Lux-Pain received "generally unfavorable reviews" from video game critics according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7] In Japan, however, Famitsu gave it a score of one seven, one eight, and two sevens for a total of 29 out of 40.[9] Its localization was almost universally mentioned as being poor, with Austin Shau's GameSpot review noting that it "makes the story harder to follow than it should be," and "results in too much unintentional humor to take any of Lux-Pain's commentary seriously." The review expressed disappointment over the notion that what could have been a "poignant experience" is ruined by its failure "to deliver on the most basic element of a novel-style adventure," referring to its apparent poor writing.[11] Daemon Hatfield of IGN remarked, "This graphic adventure doesn't make any sense, and all players are allowed to do is clumsily poke at static scenes and wade through endless pages of poorly-translated dialogue."[13] Modojo's Robert Falcon panned the game entirely, calling the characters "useless."[20]

The Daily Telegraph gave a more favorable review, though writer Chris Schilling also mentioned the game's "wonky localisation, with grammatical oddities ranging from female characters being referred to as 'he' to confusion over whether the setting is Japan or America." He opined that while "you'd presume those issues would be difficult to overlook (...) developer Killaware has crafted a world you'll find (...) difficult to pull yourself out of" and praised its "genuinely interesting themes – the kind most gamers are afraid to approach."[19]

## References

1. ↑ Sheffield, Brandon (November 16, 2007). "Q&A: Killaware's Yamao On Japan's Upstart Dev Scene". http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15903.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ba-Oh, Jorge (April 22, 2009). "Killaware Talks Lux-Pain on Nintendo DS, Wants Sequels". Cubed3. http://www.cubed3.com/news/12140/1/interview-killaware-talks-lux-pain-on-nintendo-ds-wants-sequels.html.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Spencer (March 24, 2009). "Shades Of Lux-Pain’s Dark Plot". Siliconera. http://www.siliconera.com/2009/03/24/shades-of-lux-pains-dark-plot/.
4. ↑ Chandran, Neal. "RPGFan Soundtracks - Lux-Pain OST". RPGFan. http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/lux-pain/index.html.
5. ↑ Chandran, Neal. "RPGFan Soundtracks - Holding the Holy Pain". RPGFan. http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/lux-pain-theme/index.html.
6. ↑ Fletcher, JC (November 13, 2007). "Lux-Pain is apparently a big deal". Engadget (Joystiq). https://www.engadget.com/2007/11/13/lux-pain-is-apparently-a-big-deal/.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Lux-Pain for DS Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/lux-pain/critic-reviews/?platform=ds.
8. ↑ Sterling, James Stephanie (April 8, 2009). "Destructoid review: Lux-Pain". https://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-review-lux-pain.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 James (March 18, 2008). "Famitsu Review Scores". Pure Nintendo Magazine. http://purenintendo.com/famitsu-review-scores-7/. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
10. ↑ Herring, Will (March 28, 2009). "Lux-Pain". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/209486/lux-pain/. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Shau, Austin (April 14, 2009). "Lux-Pain Review". http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/lux-pain-review/1900-6207950/.
12. ↑ Platt, Dylan (April 6, 2009). "Lux-Pain - NDS - Review". GameZone. http://www.gamezone.com/reviews/lux_pain_nds_review.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Hatfield, Daemon (March 24, 2009). "Lux-Pain Review". https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/03/24/lux-pain-review.
14. ↑ "Review: Lux-Pain". Nintendo Gamer: 73. May 2009.
15. ↑ Clark, Adam Scott (April 15, 2009). "Review: Lux-Pain". http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2009/04/lux_pain_ds.
16. ↑ "Lux-Pain". Nintendo Power 240: 85. April 2009.
17. ↑ "Lux-Pain Review". Official Nintendo Magazine: 75. May 2009.
18. ↑ Williams, Jordan (June 18, 2009). "Lux-Pain (DS) Review". http://411mania.com/games/lux-pain-ds-review/.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Schilling, Chris (April 8, 2009). "Lux-Pain review". The Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/5126120/Lux-Pain-review.html.
20. ↑ Falcon, Robert (April 7, 2009). "Lux-Pain". Modojo. http://modojo.com/article/2609/luxpain.

## External links

* Official website Script error: The function "in_lang" does not exist.
* MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

## Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

## History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

## See also

* IGDB - game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/.
2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/.
3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1.
4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521.
8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media.
9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned.
10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner.
11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames.
12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games.
13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/.
14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/.
15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/.
16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/.
17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames.
18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628.

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