"Lumber Island - That Special Place" is a psychedelic first-person horror adventure. - The plot doesn't lead you by the hand, only self-contained exploration reveals obscure history of this place and its secrets. - Atmosphere is the most important aspect - you'll see no buttons on your screen; there is no inventory in the game, which provides maximum immersion aided by music, sounds and Oculus Rift (in future).
Lumber Island is a game that makes you WANT to like it. At first glance, it's atmospheric, stripped down and downright eerie. Unfortunately, it can't keep up with itself.
It's main(?) antagonist has an almost comically bad model, spoiling much of the atmosphere very nearly immediately. The early puzzles, whilst simple, have no logical basis. The result is rather than timidly creeping where you need to go, you kick around the island and rapidly grow accustomed to it's "charms". The poor grammar and clearly type-text of the "handwritten" clues do a surprising ammount to shatter immersion. And the bugs, whilst not game breaking, make it hard to be afraid; flying away from a horror, and skipping through the sky make for whimsical play.
Lumber Island, ultimately, fails at it's goal. Every time I felt dread trying to take hold of me, some choppy animation or breakdown of the world would shatter my disbelief. That said? It has potential, but currently plays like a pre-alpha. Hopefully, the team either gets their game together, or adds people who have the skills in areas they so obviously don't. Like writing.