How Lorelei and the Laser Eyes made its reality-bending story into one giant puzzle

Megan Bidmead, 18 December 2024

One of my favourite things is a story-within-a-story. Like the hidden narrative scribbled in the margins of Doug Dorst and JJ Abram's experimental book S. Or the three movies contained within Sam Barlow's 2022 hit game Immortality. It feels like a treat, as though you're getting a bonus work of art for free, hidden underneath the threads of the 'outer' story.

Sometimes, you have to really dig into something to unveil the true narrative, piece by piece. There are certain video games that do this really well: they show a deep understanding of how a player might slowly stumble upon information, and they use that to create something compelling that can't be achieved in another medium. That's one of the reasons why Lorelei and the Laser Eyes has stuck with me, even months after finishing it.

[Ed. note: The rest of this article contains spoilers for Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.]

A quick refresher on Lorelei. On the surface of it, it's a fairly simple game. Contained within the Hotel Letztes Jahr, your job is to solve puzzles, unlock new doors, find hidden passages, and - surprise! - solve even more puzzles, until you finally uncover the mystery of the hotel and the memories contained within it.

This sounds like it could become repetitive, but it doesn't. Partly because the puzzle threads gently pull you through; an item you find within the first hour will sit there, in your neat little clutch bag, remaining with you for puzzle after puzzle until you finally realise how to use it. The game is layered in such a way that you get a good mixture of both short-term dopamine hits from solving a simple riddle and the longer-term satisfaction of finally tying a multi-part puzzle together. It's a constant wave of intrigue that keeps pushing you forward.

But the main thing that intrigued me - and saw me through some of the hardest puzzles with a stubborn refusal to look up the solution - was the mysterious, enigmatic Lorelei. Who is this mysterious (and stylish) woman, and why is she here?

Lorelei, as it turns out, is an artist. A conceptual artist, with a wide range of disciplines under her belt: she works with computers, collage, paintings and movies. Her focus is, perhaps unsurprisingly, puzzles. Her incredible intelligence and artistic talent catches the attention of Renzo Nero, a dramatic and truly dedicated filmmaker, and creator of the story The Third Eye (which acts as Lorelei's 'hidden inner story', told through a series of script pages).

Darkness begins to creep in (and this is a good place for a spoiler warning) when Lorelei realises just how far Renzo is willing to go in the pursuit of artistic performance. Renzo's relentless creative drive makes him the perfect partner for the endlessly talented Lorelei. Together they can explore what it means to create art,and the relationship between art and the viewer. They can push boundaries, draw from their collective experience, and work together to create something unforgettable.  

Unfortunately, Renzo's actions leave Lorelei trapped by one specific incident, forever haunted, with her work overshadowed by that one specific day for the rest of her life. What is it like to be dogged by one maddening, twisted day? How can Lorelei live with the impact of such a seismic event, and how can she come to terms with the role she played within it?

Lorelei (and Renzo's) identities slowly unfold as you inch your way through the hotel. Piece by piece, we find out about the pair of them, about their inspiration, their muses, their successes and failures. The evidence of their genius is everywhere: you'll find movie posters, articles, and snippets of biographies. You'll find script pages, stories, and architectural sketches. You'll find hints of how far they are willing to go, and how much of themselves they are willing to give to their work. It's a treasure trove of little story segments, and it's up to you to piece it together: that, to me, is the true delight of Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

A lot of games use environmental storytelling, and they do it well. But Lorelei stands out as one of the most imaginative ways of pulling the narrative together. One puzzle sees you assembling ripped pieces of movie posters together: this puzzle takes place across several rooms and, like all the puzzles in the game, allows you to move forward. The story of Lorelei is much the same. Gather the pieces. Inspect them. Is this the 'real' story, or the 'hidden inner story'? Does this part belong in 1847, 1963, or 2014? Try to assemble them in the right order. See if you can start to see a recognisable shape, a complete narrative emerging from the chaos. Much like the puzzles, it feels as though you'll never solve it, until you do.

Lorelei's story, despite being set in one location, is a grand one. Spanning across several timelines, in reality and in fiction, with symbolic characters, fantastical elements, and starkly human moments. The story unveils, slowly, as the hotel itself does: room by room, you'll unlock it, after pondering and puzzling and discussion. The slowly unfolding puzzle mechanic reflects the narrative, and I think that's why this game stands alone, a unique experience, the kind that you wish you could have all over again for the first time.

It comes together in a beautiful, breathless crescendo: Lorelei, in her last moments on earth, pieces it all together, facing the truth she had purposefully locked away within herself. This is the point of the thing, the reason for her arrival at the hotel in the first place: to pursue the truth, face it head-on, and leave everything behind with peace and acceptance. The Hotel Letztes Jahr is Lorelei's reality-bending life's work. Everything about her is contained within it. All of the heartbreak, the disappointment, the joys, and the triumphs. And as a player, in those end moments as the game comes to a close, you can't help but feel privileged to have been able to witness it.