Loretta is a psychological thriller that makes the player an accessory to the heroine’s crimes, leading her through a self-crafted nightmare. Loretta’s story revolves around a woman handling betrayal, her husband’s infidelity, and reclaiming her agency during the socially tumultuous 1940s.
The game primarily focuses on interactive storytelling and decision-making. Players progress by engaging in dialogue, examining and interacting with objects, and making choices that shape the narrative. The gameplay leans heavily towards the visual novel genre, where the player's role is to navigate the protagonist through a psychological thriller.
One of the key strengths is the branching narrative structure and the significance of the player's choices. The game presents numerous dialogue options and decision points that can lead to different outcomes, including multiple endings. These choices not only impact the immediate events but can also have lasting consequences, allowing players to shape the story based on their own moral compass and playstyle. The game encourages replayability as players explore the various narrative branches.
While the gameplay focuses on storytelling, the game incorporates light puzzle-solving elements. Players must occasionally solve cryptic puzzles or find hidden clues to progress through the narrative. These puzzles are typically integrated into the game's exploration segments, where players can examine the environment and interact with objects to uncover more details about the protagonist's past and the surrounding events. The puzzle design aims to complement the game's thriller atmosphere and encourage players to delve deeper into the narrative.
Between chapters, the game presents players with short minigames that serve as transitions into the next segment of the story. These minigames vary in their complexity and thematic relevance, ranging from simple logic-based challenges to more abstract experiences. While some players have expressed mixed opinions, the minigames are intended to provide a brief respite from the heavy narrative and act as a pacing device within the overall gameplay flow.
The gameplay is designed to be relatively accessible, with the majority of the experience focusing on straightforward point-and-click mechanics and dialogue choices. This allows players to immerse themselves in the narrative without being hindered by overly complex or challenging gameplay elements. Moreover, the game's multiple endings and branching paths encourage replayability, as players can explore different outcomes and moral choices to shape the protagonist's story according to their preferences.