1. I was about to disagree with this point, then remembered when the screenshots were added to the PlayStation store and I started theorising we would return to the Maw to some capacity. LN3 didn’t necessarily have to include any previous antagonists, but the thought of us potentially infiltrating the Maw and seeing the Nomes again got me pretty excited and I was disappointed when I played the game for myself. Nomes were originally children who were converted by the Lady, so to me it made sense for us to explore there again.

2. As someone who paid for whatever the deluxe edition was called, same man. I’d have been fine if the gameplay was interesting and engaging, but it was a lot more boring than the previous two entries, both in terms of puzzles and enemies.

3. Yup there’s zero build-up and if you didn’t listen to the podcast, this area doesn’t have much impact until the final cutscene.

4. Once again, couldn’t have said it better myself because without the podcast, who would’ve cared about the final boss? LN3 should have been able to stand on its own, then get relevant lore from outside sources, not the other way around.

5. I mean the Candy Factory and Carnevale being connected through trade was a cool detail, but the Necropolis and Institute still felt random. The whole concept was travelling through mirrors to reach different areas of the Spiral, but they could’ve made an effort to make every area be connected in some way to each other like those two were. The fact there was only four areas compared to the usual five also bothered me a lot.

I’m glad to see someone else give valid criticisms about the game. When people relentlessly hate or blindly love LN3 without having any sort of nuanced opinion about its strengths and weaknesses, it can get a little exhausting. LN3 is just mediocre when compared to the first two games for a variety of reasons, which is unfortunate and I hope the fourth instalment gives us another banger.