Try to balance your life

Painting Lacy is a free puzzle video game wherein you need to balance your work and your personal life. Developed by Aria Mohebi and Benjamin Greenhalgh a.k.a. PoeTahToe, this 2D cutesy indie game is actually a first-person psychological horror visual novel that’s only 10 minutes long. 

Despite its linear route, Painting Lacy features an evolving world that depends on your actions and multiple secrets that you can only find through a new playthrough. There’s hardly any dialogue but the game ingeniously conveys the story quite well. It’s quite short but its concept has a lot of potential.

Keep your promises to her

In Painting Lacy, you play an unnamed character who lives with an adorable creature named Lacy. She’s mostly at home, waiting for you to talk to her. Interestingly, you do so by coloring a blank square to reply to her. Whenever you do, she increases your brush size—making it easier for you to color pictures. Aside from chatting, your main task is to go to work to achieve an award. 

Your PC will tell you how many days you have left to improve your performance. You need to work quickly every day as your timer gradually decreases for each day that passes. This means that you’ll be forced to forgo talking to Lacy every day near the end of the game—and this sadly shrinks your brush size, making it harder to color faster. Thus, there’s actually only one ending. 

The way this ending is enforced by the linear nature of the story and gameplay can be annoying but it does narrate the story quite well. Instead of words, the world changes with the color stains of the background pretty much tainting everything — denoting your failing relationship. There’s actually not much horror in this interactive fiction but it’s still a pretty good indie game. 

An abrupt journey

All in all, Painting Lacy is a nice little game if you’re interested in those that rely entirely on its graphics rather than any text. While it can be too short and linear to warrant a second playthrough, it’s still quite impactful with its repeating gameplay and the timer that shortens every time you start a new day. The art style itself is inspiring and is really highlighted throughout the game.