Developer: Chuck_Lloyd
Most games are games; that’s pretty obvious. You jump in, you play, and then you’re done. It’s a very straightforward process. The line between fiction and reality is clearly stated. Even if the game is about perception of reality, all blurred lines are mostly experienced by the in-game character; the user is aware that he or she is playing a game at all times.
“Lloyd Residence” is the first time where I’ve “finished” a game and came out just as clueless as when I first started. I can’t tell if it’s simply a genius marketing tactic, or if its story actually cuts into reality. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter, because either way, it’s a relatively engrossing experience.
This story takes place in and around a house. That house belongs to Chuck Lloyd (as is inferred from the title). Your job is pretty unclear from the game synopsis, which only offers one eerie sentence: “Welcome to our house, please make yourself at home.” The house is a small ranch, with one bedroom, and is flanked by a shed and cornfield.
Your journey starts on a walkway right outside the house. You are given no specific objectives to complete. In fact, nothing at first glance even insinuates there are any objectives to complete. You are free to explore the house at your leisure; it’s the locked basement door and shed that give you some clues on what to look for.
There are day and night cycles. Daytime is pretty boring. Nothing happens, although it does give you a clearer vision and greater chance to explore. Once night comes - provided you’re in a dark room - you’re visited by black, ghostly figures with glowing eyes. All they do is stare, only to disappear once someone gets too close. Clearly, something ain’t right with this place.
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| Don't worry. They're harmless. |
I won’t bore you with a walkthrough of how to “beat” the game; there are many YouTube videos already dedicated to that. Actually, that statement comes with a caveat: Supposedly, it’s impossible to complete, in its entirety. Arguments abound as to why - some say Chuck simply never finished making the game. Others insist it was completed, but no one outside of a couple insiders know the codes required to get the full ending.
What I will bore you with is my experience of playing it. I found the shed key through another player, who disappeared a short while later (not as mysterious as it sounds; probably just left the game.) I trudged to the shed myself and ended up grabbing the shovel from there.
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| In the shed |
At the same time, I stumbled on a different person in the same quandary as me. We both had shovels, but were we supposed to do with them? As if by serendipity, we bumped into another player. His name was Qupify. He told us to follow him, because he knew where to go. We both complied. With Qupify’s help, we completed the next task and ended up with a basement key. The player I partnered up with offered to get a map so that we could navigate the neverending labyrinth of Chuck’s basement, but Qupify confidently claimed he could lead us through without a map. Blindly, we followed him into the dark maze.
In the basement are five “checkpoints”. The checkpoints are statues, which you must “say” (via in-game chat) certain phrases to in order to proceed. To complete the game, all five checkpoints are needed. Supposedly, only three were ever actually programmed. Qupify got us as far as we could go, and then invited us to “meet” him in another game so that he could explain everything to us. We were both hesitant, but had no other leads, so we complied. (I honestly don’t remember any of the codes; he entered them all.)
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| Digging up the raven (which can't be done on mobile) |
The experience he invited us to was called “Qupify’s Residence”. It was just a large, glorious mansion surrounded by forest. Qupify led us into the house, where he offered us some tea. The meeting had an odd aura about it; it was literally like being in the house of a casual acquaintance. He was outwardly friendly, but there was the unsettling feeling that things could go south at any time. It might only be a game, but there was something almost…personal about all of it.
Once we got settled in (my poor servermate had internet issues and had to leave and come back a couple of times), Qupify sat down and proceeded to explain the game’s lore. Chuck_Lloyd, creator of the game, was actually a man who went by Kazdam. Kazdam owned a group called “Roblox’s Myths”, where users tried to compile - and investigate - myths involving the gaming platform. “Lloyd Residence” was one of them, as Chuck was a part of the “Shadelight” myth. (I won’t bore you with details about this, or any other Roblox myth, because I still don’t even fully understand what they entail.)
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| Qupify's residence, where the story continued. |
As it turns out, Kazdam was involved with grooming and harassing minors on Roblox. Once word spread that he was a pedophile, he was immediately kicked out of the group. The remaining members opted not to continue the group under the same name - which was stained with Kazdam’s “legacy” - so they started a new one, called “The Bureau of Myths.” As a result of Kazdam’s (aka “Chuck_Lloyd”) downfall, the “Lloyd Residence” game was never fully completed.
Qupify told us this calmly, as we slowly sipped our tea. At some point, the other guy left, so Qupify had me follow him to an underground bunker he had on his property. A red-headed girl sat inside the bunker, crying. She was chained to the wall. Qupify calmly made some comment to the girl, I think something about her dad owing him money, before shooting her in the head. Right in front of my eyes. I expected him to do the same to me, or for him to chain me up. Something. But he just matter-of-factly said he had somewhere else to be. With that, he disappeared from the server, leaving me all alone.
I spent the next five or so minutes wandering around his property, but didn’t really know what I was doing there. So I left. Are there further clues there? Could the secrets of Lloyd’s residence be hidden inside the walls of that house? Or inside the bunker? I don’t know, and I probably wouldn’t be smart enough to figure anything out if the answer was inside.
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| The "basement", sight of a shocking scene. |
“Lloyd Residence” is one of the few games - across any platform - that has left me with more questions than answers. And I’m not talking about in the typical way games use ambiguity to create an unnerving atmosphere. I’m talking in a way that almost breaks the fourth wall. Is this even a game? Is it really a myth game created by some ostracized pedophile? Is Kazdam even real? (The only stories I could find use his Roblox name; no real-life news stories involving him have been published.) Is the backstory real, or is it just part of an elaborate, well-made gimmick? Or is it all something that pretends to have substance that it doesn’t actually have?
And who in the hell is Qupify? A member of the “Roblox myth” community? An advanced bot? A “volunteer” who lingers around the game and does this regularly? Is this part of the actual experience? Are there other players like this that exist? Or did I just get incredibly lucky to find him? Was I even lucky?
I still don’t know the answer to any of those questions. I’m still not sure the point of it. And after playing through as far as I care to play, I probably never will. But whatever the case may be, there’s no denying this was a visceral experience. It affected me in a way very few games have. It blurred the line between fiction and reality so well that I didn’t -don’t - know what to believe. It left me shocked and shaken; fascinated and repulsed. And it’s an experience I won’t soon forget.
Overall: 7/10.
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