The story of Lucidity is an unusually depressing one for the magical world it takes place in. You are Sofi, a little girl that lives in the woods with her Nana. You fall asleep one night while reading a storybook, and in your dream, a red firefly in the place of your Nana has been eaten. Following the trail of fireflies through this dream world, you find several postcards from Nana, each pulling you further and further along. This is where the first meaning of the name comes in, as lucid dreaming is a state of dreaming in which you can interact consciously with the dream world. The story has a real emotional depth not seen in most other games, and the theme of a child dealing with the loss of a loved one strikes home, especially in the writings of both Sofi and Nana. This coping mechanism lends the second meaning of lucid to the game: understandable or clear. Easily one of the best stories in a game this year, and the minimal nature of it only adds to the nuances.

Lucidity is incredible on both the visual and audio portions. The visuals are done in a sort of pseudo-3D, where objects look both hand-drawn and 3D at the same time, albeting always appearing flat. It may sound strange, but it very much fits the game itself, thanks in part to some excellent coloring and design work on the part of the artistic team. This is a game that resembles a storybook in the best ways. The music also accentuates this comparison, thanks to the haunting sounds which evoke a feeling of a magical world with something sinister hiding just out of view. The end result of the combination of these elements is a very nostalgic and childlike feeling that you retain throughout the entire game.

The gameplay of Lucidity is very simple for the emotional depth of the story. Sofi walks from left to right continuously, and you are given, at random, objects to assist her in her journey. These objects include things such as springs for jumping, stairs to ascend, or fans to boost. As Sofi will happily walk to her death, you must be quick and thoughtful in your placement of items to avoid hazards. In practice, this makes the game something along the lines of a single-person Lemmings, with a dash of Tetris thrown in, thanks to the random nature of the blocks themselves. At the end of each course is a mailbox, and this is your only goal. Once you reach the mailbox, you may continue to the next stage, regardless of how many fireflies you have collected.

The gameplay part of the game starts off very strong, and while it stays consistently challenging all the way through, still manages to become a bit stale and troublesome. This is due to the randomization of items you receive. While in many cases this allows for complicated machines to emerge from panicked life-saving, in others it can also lead to simply placing things in mid-air until you get the piece you need. It splits between the two seemingly at random, and this is perhaps the biggest flaw of the game. Patience is definitely a virtue here, and this also applies to the plodding pace at which the levels are taken, which is both serene and frustrating at the same time.

Lucidity has very little in the way of replayability, and is relatively short. While the game can be beaten very quickly, gathering all of the fireflies is a different matter, but that and the bonus levels are the only additions to the game that really extend the life. There are also leaderboards, but they are functionally useless for a game like this, thanks to the strong emphasis on puzzle solving and atmosphere. It would have been nice to see a level editor, especially since the simple, geometric terrain really screams for one, but there is none to be had. A competitive multiplayer mode would have been interesting as well, especially given that it would have to be rather unorthodox to capture the feel of the single-player.

Lucidity is not a bad game by any means. It does grind a little towards the latter parts of the game, which makes it a title best suited for short play sessions rather than long ones. The randomization of items is also a point of contention as well, given the very precise nature of being a puzzle-platformer. However, the dreamlike state of the visuals, interesting gameplay mechanics, affecting story, and low price make it a definite hit. If you have ten dollars to spare, Lucidity would not be a poor choice, especially if you are interested in something a little different from the normal affair.