Very good narration and story
Game feels too long though
But cute gameplay and universe building, overall very good game
Game feels too long though
But cute gameplay and universe building, overall very good game
could be a lot better, unfortunately.
Poquito se habla de este juego... 🤔
Tiene una estética, historia y personajes con saborcillo a las pelis Tim Burton.
Las batallas me parecen interesantes, aunque a veces se alargan demasiado.
En Nintendo Switch mejor en modo TV.
Muy recomendable 😎❤
Tiene una estética, historia y personajes con saborcillo a las pelis Tim Burton.
Las batallas me parecen interesantes, aunque a veces se alargan demasiado.
En Nintendo Switch mejor en modo TV.
Muy recomendable 😎❤
cool game
amazing art and voice acting
the combat was fun, but could be better
the bosses were very easy.........
amazing art and voice acting
the combat was fun, but could be better
the bosses were very easy.........
Esse jogo é a definição do potencial perdido.
A mecânica principal de combate é bem única mas criar todo um universo em cima disso torna a experiência muito enjoativa, independente de alguns designs de personagens extremamente criativos.
A mecânica principal de combate é bem única mas criar todo um universo em cima disso torna a experiência muito enjoativa, independente de alguns designs de personagens extremamente criativos.
O porte desse jogo no switch é terrível, gráfico parecendo vídeo de 360p, tentei até no switch do meu namorado que é OLED e mesmo assim gráfico péssimo, tentei ao máximo ignorar essa questão mas foi bem difícil. Sobre a história achei tão mais ou menos e não consegui me conectar aos personagens/objetivo principal do jogo, sobre jogabilidade achei tão chatinho e sem graça principalmente nas batalhas. Nem terminei, porque prefiro gastar meu tempo com jogo que vou gostar, só fico puto por ter gasto 30 reais nessa bomba, ainda mais no switch que os gráficos são terríveis e isso influenciou bastante na minha experiência, se tivesse jogado sei lá no Xbox talvez teria uma opinião menos negativa
Surprisingly great! The writing from the Dinosaur Comics guy is consistently funny and thoughtful, the music is catchy and often reminded me of Grant Kirkhope’s soundtracks from golden age Rare, and the visuals are interestingly conceived in a Henry Sellick style with technically impressive material effects. Map and combat design are both trying something a little new and mostly succeed; neither are as deep or complex as they initially appear and there are rough points, but they also avoid the copy-paste mechanics that a lot of similar games default to and are more fun than not.
The charming aesthetics and writing combined with novel but sometimes rough mechanics remind me a lot of if Psychonauts 1 was made now. This isn’t quite to that level of instant classic for me, but I’ll definitely keep an eye on what Zoink releases in the future.
The charming aesthetics and writing combined with novel but sometimes rough mechanics remind me a lot of if Psychonauts 1 was made now. This isn’t quite to that level of instant classic for me, but I’ll definitely keep an eye on what Zoink releases in the future.
Unfortunately I don't think I'll be finishing this one. It features unique artistic visuals, that's what prompted me to look at the game in the first place. It feels like you're in a Tim Burton stop-motion movie, specifically it feels inspired by Nightmare Before Christmas. But that's really the only good thing I can say about it.
The gameplay was close to being good; the deck and card system is unique and reminds me of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. However, it was not nearly as satisfying, quick, polished, or, quite frankly, fun. The boss fights were systematically uninspired and the regular fights felt repetitive. The idea in concept could be cool. I like the idea of using a deck of cards in 3rd person real-time combat, and even the rolling of the dice could've been neat. It just wasn't seen to its full potential.
There was also something weird with the camera. It's hard to explain but it felt janky. I would develop a headache after playing this game for a bit and I think it was in large part due to awkward camera movements.
The story was a bit simple and generic; your sister is mysteriously in danger far away and needs help. Good enough. But Even, the main protagonist, was a bit odd. She was supposed to be around 10 years old but I had a hard time believing that, mainly because she talked and sounded like an adult.
I wish I could've liked this game, but a generic story and unrealized combat was not quite enough to make up for the excellent visuals.
The gameplay was close to being good; the deck and card system is unique and reminds me of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. However, it was not nearly as satisfying, quick, polished, or, quite frankly, fun. The boss fights were systematically uninspired and the regular fights felt repetitive. The idea in concept could be cool. I like the idea of using a deck of cards in 3rd person real-time combat, and even the rolling of the dice could've been neat. It just wasn't seen to its full potential.
There was also something weird with the camera. It's hard to explain but it felt janky. I would develop a headache after playing this game for a bit and I think it was in large part due to awkward camera movements.
The story was a bit simple and generic; your sister is mysteriously in danger far away and needs help. Good enough. But Even, the main protagonist, was a bit odd. She was supposed to be around 10 years old but I had a hard time believing that, mainly because she talked and sounded like an adult.
I wish I could've liked this game, but a generic story and unrealized combat was not quite enough to make up for the excellent visuals.
Gave this one a couple hours and I don't think it's going to be for me. The art direction, presentation, world-building, and production values are all pretty great, and the combat is fun with an interesting injection of dice and card mechanics into real-time battles, but there simply isn't enough to do aside from combat and fetch quests, and consequently the world isn't much fun to actually explore; this is a game badly in need of platforming or additional puzzle elements in between battles. It also doesn't help that the map isn't very useful, showing which zone of the level you're currently in but not where you are within it. Thunderful should have made this into an animated series or a proper action-adventure game instead, sorry.
a delightful card-based and real time combat game with a whimsical art style similar to tim burton. a dark and cool world that was fun to explore. felt like it dragged on a bit and wish the boss fights were more difficult and engaging.
The game has amazing style. It looks like Psychonauts that met Tim Burton's cartoons. Music is outstanding too. However, it's pretty boring. Battles are repetitive and when you stumble a new group of enemies, you sigh sadly. If you have nothing on your backlogs, you may like it. It's 3.5/5 from me.
This is fucking boring...
This is a really charming little game. The combat is underwhelming, but it's sufficient; I can't name any major flaws with it, but it's ultimately the most forgettable part of the experience. Where this game really shines is in its world design, atmosphere, and presentation. As much as I love realistic AAA games like God of War Ragnarok and Elden Ring, there's always a special place in my heart for more stylized titles like this, and I really can't think of another game like Lost in Random in that regard. Unless you're really hunting for the best combat gameplay experience you can find, I strongly recommend this game, and despite its flaws, I'll be more than happy to jump into any sequel that comes out for another chance to, dare I say it, get lost in Random.
The only big problem is no one in the game knows the singular form of "dice" so for that reason alone I must sadly give it a 0 out of 10.
The only big problem is no one in the game knows the singular form of "dice" so for that reason alone I must sadly give it a 0 out of 10.
Gameplay is clunky, hit boxes are anything but intuitive, Combat severely needs to be balanced. No boss fight felt remotely rewarding, but I had some fun with the normal fights.
Art style, characters and some beats of the story were really well done. The ending didn't payoff for me. It just feels like an incomplete game that could be really good with some polish in all areas
Performance on switch isn't bad, no stuttering, no severe fps hits. But there would be the occasional pop in and textures disappearing between loading screens.
And the game menus on handheld mode looked 480p or an even lower resolution
Art style, characters and some beats of the story were really well done. The ending didn't payoff for me. It just feels like an incomplete game that could be really good with some polish in all areas
Performance on switch isn't bad, no stuttering, no severe fps hits. But there would be the occasional pop in and textures disappearing between loading screens.
And the game menus on handheld mode looked 480p or an even lower resolution
This is a solid 3 star high budget indie game.
They could have easily shortened combats duration -_- each one takes 15 to 20 minutes to win, but exploring worlds never wore me down. Even though my nintendo switch was struggling, i loved how the writing of this game made every character's personality unique, especially the grotesque designs and clay sculpted environments. The developers did a good job infusing it with this gothic Tim Burton's visual vibes chef's kiss immaculate! Plucked straight out of a fairy tale.
The only poor aspect i found (very) annoying were the combat fights. They are in fact dynamic and keep you entertained most of the time, but with the repetitive enemies ugh... every encounter becomes highly exhausting when you clean up a room, only for more to spawn. So bless the elaborated storytelling because that was what saved the game for me, especially when you learn to love this macabre adventure about the bond between sisters.
They could have easily shortened combats duration -_- each one takes 15 to 20 minutes to win, but exploring worlds never wore me down. Even though my nintendo switch was struggling, i loved how the writing of this game made every character's personality unique, especially the grotesque designs and clay sculpted environments. The developers did a good job infusing it with this gothic Tim Burton's visual vibes chef's kiss immaculate! Plucked straight out of a fairy tale.
The only poor aspect i found (very) annoying were the combat fights. They are in fact dynamic and keep you entertained most of the time, but with the repetitive enemies ugh... every encounter becomes highly exhausting when you clean up a room, only for more to spawn. So bless the elaborated storytelling because that was what saved the game for me, especially when you learn to love this macabre adventure about the bond between sisters.
The world building is absolutely stunning with every location giving you something new and surprising to explore while also trying to make the most out of their number. Characters are also funny, and the card based combat interesting even though it's quite easy to master in an early phase.
I'm kinda sad that one of the achievements was bugged tho, I was so close to 100% completion :')
I'm kinda sad that one of the achievements was bugged tho, I was so close to 100% completion :')
Se necesitan mas juegos de cuentos de hadas como éste. Lovely.
Clunky as hell, but kind of endearing, the story of a small girl searching for her sister in a world government by randomness and a cruel Queen, you'll mainly be spending your time talking to weird-looking people or fighting angry automaton-looking creatures. Oh, and you also have a dice with feet and hands that you throw to do battle with and who's your best friend ever.
There's quite a bit to complain about in this game, thanks to the clunkiness alone, but I don't really want to. There were times where I even considered quitting it - because it's long and clunky - and perhaps I would have if playing it on a handheld hadn't made it so easy to keep picking it up again.
But I kept wanting to return just to see what's going to happen to Even and Dicey next, and what intriguing world will wait for me in the next district.
Because the game is basically divided into 6 phases, each corresponding to one district, which in turn corresponds to a number on a six-sided die. You start in one-town and work your way up, and the way the number is expressed in some towns is pretty cool, e.g. everybody having two conflicting sides in two-town, including the mayor who has literally split in two, with the bad version of him building a whole other town in the sky (on the flip side).
You need to keep upgrading your die to be able to roll higher numbers in order to enter higher towns, which in turn allows you to also roll higher numbers in combat encounters, and the sense of progress and joy you can get from going from rolling only ones and twos to being able to roll a five or, god forbid, a six(!) is something remarkable. It's one of the most satisfying growths I've ever seen in a video game.
And the combat is pretty fun, gathering energy to play the cards you've put in your deck beforehand, that can give you weapons, placeable cannons, heals and whatnot, even if it's still pretty clunky and somewhat repetitive and you'll be done with upgrades and deck-building long before the game is done with you. It's also not too easy and there were many a times I was kept on my toes by it.
But it's the quietly endearing writing and worldbuilding that really kept me in it for the long run (even if I did play most of it on silent, seeing no need to hook up the headphones for its subpar soundscape). I don't know what I would have done without Dicey, but I probably would not have seen the end credits.
There's quite a bit to complain about in this game, thanks to the clunkiness alone, but I don't really want to. There were times where I even considered quitting it - because it's long and clunky - and perhaps I would have if playing it on a handheld hadn't made it so easy to keep picking it up again.
But I kept wanting to return just to see what's going to happen to Even and Dicey next, and what intriguing world will wait for me in the next district.
Because the game is basically divided into 6 phases, each corresponding to one district, which in turn corresponds to a number on a six-sided die. You start in one-town and work your way up, and the way the number is expressed in some towns is pretty cool, e.g. everybody having two conflicting sides in two-town, including the mayor who has literally split in two, with the bad version of him building a whole other town in the sky (on the flip side).
You need to keep upgrading your die to be able to roll higher numbers in order to enter higher towns, which in turn allows you to also roll higher numbers in combat encounters, and the sense of progress and joy you can get from going from rolling only ones and twos to being able to roll a five or, god forbid, a six(!) is something remarkable. It's one of the most satisfying growths I've ever seen in a video game.
And the combat is pretty fun, gathering energy to play the cards you've put in your deck beforehand, that can give you weapons, placeable cannons, heals and whatnot, even if it's still pretty clunky and somewhat repetitive and you'll be done with upgrades and deck-building long before the game is done with you. It's also not too easy and there were many a times I was kept on my toes by it.
But it's the quietly endearing writing and worldbuilding that really kept me in it for the long run (even if I did play most of it on silent, seeing no need to hook up the headphones for its subpar soundscape). I don't know what I would have done without Dicey, but I probably would not have seen the end credits.
Comecei a jogar pois me interessei pela estética (que é linda) e pela principal mecânica de roll do game.
Porém algumas horas foram o suficiente pra ver o quão mal polido e desperdiçado é o potencial deste jogo. Controle de camera travada, movimentação travada, sem opção de pulo (???), cortes para entrar e sair em DIÁLOGO, combate extremamente mal executado.
A Mecanica de rolls que era pra ser a mais divertida é rasa e pouco polida, os inimigos não são realmente uma ameaça, além de não terem uma variedade de ataques, geralmente de 1 a 3, fora que também não existem muitos inimigos
A arte não tenho muito que reclamar, é bonita, bem "Tim Burton", os cenários são bem bonitos e únicos, os personagens que tem mais destaque também, já os NPCs que você acha por ai meio que vão repetindo o design e utilizando conversas genéricas e não da nenhuma vontade de falar com eles.
Enfim, uma proposta unica que é executada de forma porca, bem triste.
Porém algumas horas foram o suficiente pra ver o quão mal polido e desperdiçado é o potencial deste jogo. Controle de camera travada, movimentação travada, sem opção de pulo (???), cortes para entrar e sair em DIÁLOGO, combate extremamente mal executado.
A Mecanica de rolls que era pra ser a mais divertida é rasa e pouco polida, os inimigos não são realmente uma ameaça, além de não terem uma variedade de ataques, geralmente de 1 a 3, fora que também não existem muitos inimigos
A arte não tenho muito que reclamar, é bonita, bem "Tim Burton", os cenários são bem bonitos e únicos, os personagens que tem mais destaque também, já os NPCs que você acha por ai meio que vão repetindo o design e utilizando conversas genéricas e não da nenhuma vontade de falar com eles.
Enfim, uma proposta unica que é executada de forma porca, bem triste.
Such a beautiful art style and fun concept. I loved it so much
tatlı bir oyun.
oynanışı keyifli fakat oyunun %40ından sonra neredeyse hiçbir şey değişmiyor oynanışta. savaşta kullanabileceğimiz kartlar sınırlı kesinlikle daha çeşitli şeyler eklenebilirdi tek düze kalmış. savaş mekanikleri keyifli ama oyunun son 1 saatinde artık gına gelmişti.
hikayesi sıradan olmasına rağmen çok güzel süslemişler bu yüzden kendi içinde özel hissettiriyo. fakat bütçenin azlığı hikaye kısmında da hissediliyo çünkü 6 diyarda ilerledikçe her bir sonraki diyar öncekinden daha az ilginç ve daha sıradan oluyor. ellerinde sonsuz ihtimal varken özellikle 4, 5 ve 6. diyarlar çok sıradan kalmış.
sanat tasarımı çok güzel. aşırı tim burton işi duruyo. kraliçe'nin tasarımı, dark lord'ların tasarımı, etrafta gördüğümüz karakterler, seemore, nanny, shadowman hepsinin tasarımı çok tatlı ve aynı havayı korumayı başarıyo.
müzikleri çok tatlı atmosferi çok güzel destekliyor.
yan görevlerin çoğu bomboş sadece oraya git bunla konuş şuraya git şunla konuş şeklinde. ilginç olan sadece birkaç tane var.
hikayenin finali çok aceleye gelmiş hissettirdi. önceki diyarlarda rastgele yan karakterlere harcanan vakit kraliçeye ve onun hikayesine harcanmamış. çok oldu bittiye geliyo. kraliçenin de bi backgroundu var fakat son 20dkda he öyle işte falan deyip geçiyo. ve her şey bittikten sonra karakterlerimizin ne durumda olduğunu görmek isterdim onu da göstermemişler. yani genel olarak oyun bitince bir şeyler eksik hissettiriyor.
yine de EA'in bu tarz indie oyunları desteklemesi göz yaşartıyo.
79/100
oynanışı keyifli fakat oyunun %40ından sonra neredeyse hiçbir şey değişmiyor oynanışta. savaşta kullanabileceğimiz kartlar sınırlı kesinlikle daha çeşitli şeyler eklenebilirdi tek düze kalmış. savaş mekanikleri keyifli ama oyunun son 1 saatinde artık gına gelmişti.
hikayesi sıradan olmasına rağmen çok güzel süslemişler bu yüzden kendi içinde özel hissettiriyo. fakat bütçenin azlığı hikaye kısmında da hissediliyo çünkü 6 diyarda ilerledikçe her bir sonraki diyar öncekinden daha az ilginç ve daha sıradan oluyor. ellerinde sonsuz ihtimal varken özellikle 4, 5 ve 6. diyarlar çok sıradan kalmış.
sanat tasarımı çok güzel. aşırı tim burton işi duruyo. kraliçe'nin tasarımı, dark lord'ların tasarımı, etrafta gördüğümüz karakterler, seemore, nanny, shadowman hepsinin tasarımı çok tatlı ve aynı havayı korumayı başarıyo.
müzikleri çok tatlı atmosferi çok güzel destekliyor.
yan görevlerin çoğu bomboş sadece oraya git bunla konuş şuraya git şunla konuş şeklinde. ilginç olan sadece birkaç tane var.
hikayenin finali çok aceleye gelmiş hissettirdi. önceki diyarlarda rastgele yan karakterlere harcanan vakit kraliçeye ve onun hikayesine harcanmamış. çok oldu bittiye geliyo. kraliçenin de bi backgroundu var fakat son 20dkda he öyle işte falan deyip geçiyo. ve her şey bittikten sonra karakterlerimizin ne durumda olduğunu görmek isterdim onu da göstermemişler. yani genel olarak oyun bitince bir şeyler eksik hissettiriyor.
yine de EA'in bu tarz indie oyunları desteklemesi göz yaşartıyo.
79/100
awesome game to be honest the art style is awesome and the fight mechanics reminded me of dnd a little bit but i just got bored of playing it at one point Like i'd Love to finish it because it's such a unique game with a cool premise but rn i just can't be arsed LOL maybe in the future?
El juego no se pierde en la aleatoriedad, sino en la repetitividad.
Pros:
- El combate no para de ofrecer variantes en forma de nuevas cartas durante la primera mitad del título.
- La narrativa es su punto más fuerte, con multitud de personajes carismáticos.
- Las misiones secundarias están al mismo nivel de guion que las principales, aunque su peso se diluye con el avanzar de la trama.
Contras:
- El combate se estanca por completo a partir de la mitad del título. No aparecen nuevas cartas, ni nuevos enemigos ni nuevas mecánicas.
- El último tercio del juego hace demasiado énfasis en el combate, acentuando aun más el problema anterior.
- El acabado general es algo tosco, con animaciones que se limitan a cumplir y con escenarios poco inspirados.
Pros:
- El combate no para de ofrecer variantes en forma de nuevas cartas durante la primera mitad del título.
- La narrativa es su punto más fuerte, con multitud de personajes carismáticos.
- Las misiones secundarias están al mismo nivel de guion que las principales, aunque su peso se diluye con el avanzar de la trama.
Contras:
- El combate se estanca por completo a partir de la mitad del título. No aparecen nuevas cartas, ni nuevos enemigos ni nuevas mecánicas.
- El último tercio del juego hace demasiado énfasis en el combate, acentuando aun más el problema anterior.
- El acabado general es algo tosco, con animaciones que se limitan a cumplir y con escenarios poco inspirados.
Played through EA Play
The art style and setting was great in theory, but didn't payoff too well in execution. The gameplay sits in the same camp, a unique twist on combat, but felt poorly executed.
Glad I played, but have no desire to ever play it again.
The art style and setting was great in theory, but didn't payoff too well in execution. The gameplay sits in the same camp, a unique twist on combat, but felt poorly executed.
Glad I played, but have no desire to ever play it again.
Random Rules
While not without its problems, Lost in Random is very underrated. Every part of the world of Random has a unique, self-contained story while still existing as part of a single kingdom corrupted by a ruthless queen. The protagonist Even’s journey to rescue her sister from the despot’s clutches is full of emotional ups and downs, like any good adventure.
The dialogue and voice acting constantly made me smile and for the first time in years, I actually wanted to engage with the side quests. There are two reasons for that. One is restraint. There’s only 4-6 quests in each town, so I was never overwhelmed with tasks. Two is town size. With only one exception, I had no issues getting from one part of a town to the other. This is great since most of the quests are of the fetch type. How are they fun then? Quirky characters.
The combat is unlike anything I’ve played, combining real-time attacks with deck-building. As fun as a round of Solitaire is, I’ve always balked at console games where playing cards is the main draw. I don’t get the appeal of playing a game that would work just fine in real life or on an everyday computer. Thankfully, Lost in Random’s gameplay has more to offer. When a battle begins, you have to shoot crystals on enemies to “charge” a random card in your deck. Upon reaching full charge, that card will be added to your hand. Although your deck can feature up to fifteen cards, you can only draw up to five at a time. To activate cards, you must roll Even’s companion Dicey, an anthropomorphic die. The number you roll is how many action points you have for utilizing your hand. Every card has a number assigned to it, which is how many points you need to activate said card. Time is frozen while you’re deciding what cards to use and time resumes as soon as you attack an enemy or press X. The resulting flow is an undulation of strategic card choices and reactive maneuvers.
Because of how much I enjoyed the world, combat design, and overall adventure, it breaks my heart to mention Lost in Random’s sore spots. The first one I have concerns the story, which I don’t want to spoil. In short, the ending seemed rushed, and was a slight letdown on an otherwise solid premise.
The currency system could have used some more work. Coins are only used to buy cards for your deck. However, if you diligently look around the environments for breakable pots, marked doors, and complete side quests with even slight regularity, you will be able to unlock every card by the game’s halfway point, if not sooner. The only reason you would spend money afterwards is if you wanted multiple copies of specific cards. But you’ll be forced to do that anyway because of how unlocking cards works. You don’t have access to most cards at the beginning, but after you spend a specific amount of coins, you must choose a random collection of cards to add to the shop. The spending requirement is high enough that you need to buy a lot of duplicate cards before all of them are permanently available.
I praised the combat for its uniqueness eleven sentences ago. What’s not unique about it is the enemies you fight. There’s roughly six enemy types total and you will encounter all of them in the first two towns. This leaves the bosses to shake things up, but with only a handful of them, it only helps so much. There are tweaked versions of most enemies that are a bit tougher, but this wasn’t enough incentive for me to change my strategy. I don’t need to explain why having a variety of enemies with their own attack patterns would make battles more interesting, especially for a game that is open to experimentation. This is probably going to be a dealbreaker for some players and I’d be a hypocrite for saying, “It’s no big deal. Please stick with it!” I’ve abandoned games I didn’t enjoy playing. So to those who bought the game and didn’t love the combat, thank you for supporting the passionate developers behind it.
Lost in Random also unfortunately feels low-budget in places. On top of the low enemy variety, NPC models are frequently recycled between towns, looping character animations are used in place of lip-syncing, and I had to do a couple game resets when a battle or side quest wasn’t registered as completed. These issues didn’t damper my enjoyment too much, but they were still sad to see.
In conclusion, Lost in Random is a good 3D action-adventure game that probably would have been great if EA gave Zoink Games a bigger budget and more time for polish. Despite that, I encourage anyone reading this to check it out because of how unique the end product is. Before I played it, I was unaware EA has a program to support indie developers without creative interference. I hope they continue to do that and give future titles the attention they deserve.
While not without its problems, Lost in Random is very underrated. Every part of the world of Random has a unique, self-contained story while still existing as part of a single kingdom corrupted by a ruthless queen. The protagonist Even’s journey to rescue her sister from the despot’s clutches is full of emotional ups and downs, like any good adventure.
The dialogue and voice acting constantly made me smile and for the first time in years, I actually wanted to engage with the side quests. There are two reasons for that. One is restraint. There’s only 4-6 quests in each town, so I was never overwhelmed with tasks. Two is town size. With only one exception, I had no issues getting from one part of a town to the other. This is great since most of the quests are of the fetch type. How are they fun then? Quirky characters.
The combat is unlike anything I’ve played, combining real-time attacks with deck-building. As fun as a round of Solitaire is, I’ve always balked at console games where playing cards is the main draw. I don’t get the appeal of playing a game that would work just fine in real life or on an everyday computer. Thankfully, Lost in Random’s gameplay has more to offer. When a battle begins, you have to shoot crystals on enemies to “charge” a random card in your deck. Upon reaching full charge, that card will be added to your hand. Although your deck can feature up to fifteen cards, you can only draw up to five at a time. To activate cards, you must roll Even’s companion Dicey, an anthropomorphic die. The number you roll is how many action points you have for utilizing your hand. Every card has a number assigned to it, which is how many points you need to activate said card. Time is frozen while you’re deciding what cards to use and time resumes as soon as you attack an enemy or press X. The resulting flow is an undulation of strategic card choices and reactive maneuvers.
Because of how much I enjoyed the world, combat design, and overall adventure, it breaks my heart to mention Lost in Random’s sore spots. The first one I have concerns the story, which I don’t want to spoil. In short, the ending seemed rushed, and was a slight letdown on an otherwise solid premise.
The currency system could have used some more work. Coins are only used to buy cards for your deck. However, if you diligently look around the environments for breakable pots, marked doors, and complete side quests with even slight regularity, you will be able to unlock every card by the game’s halfway point, if not sooner. The only reason you would spend money afterwards is if you wanted multiple copies of specific cards. But you’ll be forced to do that anyway because of how unlocking cards works. You don’t have access to most cards at the beginning, but after you spend a specific amount of coins, you must choose a random collection of cards to add to the shop. The spending requirement is high enough that you need to buy a lot of duplicate cards before all of them are permanently available.
I praised the combat for its uniqueness eleven sentences ago. What’s not unique about it is the enemies you fight. There’s roughly six enemy types total and you will encounter all of them in the first two towns. This leaves the bosses to shake things up, but with only a handful of them, it only helps so much. There are tweaked versions of most enemies that are a bit tougher, but this wasn’t enough incentive for me to change my strategy. I don’t need to explain why having a variety of enemies with their own attack patterns would make battles more interesting, especially for a game that is open to experimentation. This is probably going to be a dealbreaker for some players and I’d be a hypocrite for saying, “It’s no big deal. Please stick with it!” I’ve abandoned games I didn’t enjoy playing. So to those who bought the game and didn’t love the combat, thank you for supporting the passionate developers behind it.
Lost in Random also unfortunately feels low-budget in places. On top of the low enemy variety, NPC models are frequently recycled between towns, looping character animations are used in place of lip-syncing, and I had to do a couple game resets when a battle or side quest wasn’t registered as completed. These issues didn’t damper my enjoyment too much, but they were still sad to see.
In conclusion, Lost in Random is a good 3D action-adventure game that probably would have been great if EA gave Zoink Games a bigger budget and more time for polish. Despite that, I encourage anyone reading this to check it out because of how unique the end product is. Before I played it, I was unaware EA has a program to support indie developers without creative interference. I hope they continue to do that and give future titles the attention they deserve.
Dice dice baby
First tried it on Switch but this version looks terrible and has plenty of bugs.
Fortunately the game runs much better on Xbox Series.
The combat is fun but you quickly end up finding a deck that is efficient enough to carry you until the end so it gets a bit repetitive.
Loved the characters and the humour. Ending feels a bit rushed though.
First tried it on Switch but this version looks terrible and has plenty of bugs.
Fortunately the game runs much better on Xbox Series.
The combat is fun but you quickly end up finding a deck that is efficient enough to carry you until the end so it gets a bit repetitive.
Loved the characters and the humour. Ending feels a bit rushed though.
La dirección de arte de este juego es una chulada, los escenarios son una delicia visual y los personajes junto todo el bicherío que viven en Azar emiten carisma. El sistema de combate —una mezcla de arpg sencillito, con elementos de construcción de mazos y tirada de dados—, aunque algo tosco por la movilidad de la protagonista, es muy entretenido, pero hubiera preferido que los combates estuvieran más por el mapa sin más y lo eventos cerrados que te cortan el ritmo de la exploración.
La historia es bastante clásica, la cual se ve enriquecida por la aparición de un narrador que va contando las peripecias de la protagonista, siempre manteniendo el humor que tiene constantemente todo el juego, incluso llegando a romper la barrea en la relación entre protagonista de cuento y cuentacuentos que quieren dar entre ambos. Tiene un ritmo bastante decente la mayor gran parte del juego, a excepción del último tramo que se siente apresurado y sin una dirección real sobre como quieren expresar el giro final de la historia.
En general ha sido una experiencia entretenida, que para lo que me ha costado en rebajas, ha valido la pena.
La historia es bastante clásica, la cual se ve enriquecida por la aparición de un narrador que va contando las peripecias de la protagonista, siempre manteniendo el humor que tiene constantemente todo el juego, incluso llegando a romper la barrea en la relación entre protagonista de cuento y cuentacuentos que quieren dar entre ambos. Tiene un ritmo bastante decente la mayor gran parte del juego, a excepción del último tramo que se siente apresurado y sin una dirección real sobre como quieren expresar el giro final de la historia.
En general ha sido una experiencia entretenida, que para lo que me ha costado en rebajas, ha valido la pena.
This review contains spoilers
This game is a delight. It also makes me sort of sad, because it's SO close.
It has one of the most interesting worlds and stories I've seen in recent memory, the stylization is delightful, the ambience and music and character designs are all a pure joy.
I'm not someone who gets precious about realism in video games and I love some super crisp graphics, but it's so, so refreshing to see something that's a.) extremely stylized and b.) stylized in a way that's 'ugly' by design. The environments are genuinely lovely and play perfectly with the story. Each world feels distinct and unique despite being populated by the same handful of character models, and I didn't even mind the model reuse because they're all SO lovely to look at. And while the very end of the story does feel a bit like it comes out of nowhere, it still fits the established themes enough that I don't even really care. It has gorgeous, deeply poignant things to say about the nature of loss, how there's no real way to be truly safe in a world that's plagued by random chance, how even despite that we have to strive to find joy and love and closeness, and how attempts to force safety just limit connection and care. It has beautiful things to say about how even the kindest people can be turned into the worst versions of themselves by fear, and how, given a chance, those people can and will redeem themselves. It says, again and again, it's okay to be terrified or angry about how unfair it all is, but you have to keep going.
And the gameplay and general movement is just...not great. It's not HORRIBLE, it's just so SLOW. I kept thinking that if the combat and movement was snappier that this game would be perfect. It reminds me a bit of Alice: Madness Returns in that way; gorgeous aesthetic and design sensibilities and a lovely story let down by their often-boring movement. Which is especially frustrating because the combat here has SO much potential to be SO GOOD. The randomization element is SO fun in theory, it just, again, is hampered by the movement being slow as hell. None of the bossfights are standouts, though some of the minibosses bring interesting things to the table.
I know I'm not the first to make the Alice: Madness Returns reference, and they do have a lot in common aesthetically and, to a lesser extent, narratively. Broadly speaking, if you liked one you'll like the other. If I had to describe it, I'd say A:MA x Psychonauts x Lemony Snicket, which, again, should be the COOLEST THING EVER and it's so frustrating that it isn't.
Normally, my go-to rating for "this is a game I'm unlikely to play again due to its various flaws but that I still enjoyed for what it is" is 3 stars, but that just feels...not right here. Like I said, it comes SO CLOSE. It has SO MUCH potential to be one of my favourite games ever and I want to honor that. I'd love to see a sequel or a spiritual successor — a quick-moving 3D platformer in the style of Psychonauts 2 with this kind of aesthetic sensibilities and semi-randomized combat has so so soooo much potential.
Despite all my bitching, I still genuinely think it's a lovely game. It's unique, it's not another huge, generic game pumped out to appeal to the widest possible demographic, and it takes itself seriously without getting precious about it. At a certain point you've got to support the flawed-but-unique things, just so there's SOMETHING there that isn't another generic RPG.
Also, Death is there just for a deeply funny cameo and the narrator, who is just a disembodied voice, at one point is kidnapped which, like, that alone is 5 stars.
It has one of the most interesting worlds and stories I've seen in recent memory, the stylization is delightful, the ambience and music and character designs are all a pure joy.
I'm not someone who gets precious about realism in video games and I love some super crisp graphics, but it's so, so refreshing to see something that's a.) extremely stylized and b.) stylized in a way that's 'ugly' by design. The environments are genuinely lovely and play perfectly with the story. Each world feels distinct and unique despite being populated by the same handful of character models, and I didn't even mind the model reuse because they're all SO lovely to look at. And while the very end of the story does feel a bit like it comes out of nowhere, it still fits the established themes enough that I don't even really care. It has gorgeous, deeply poignant things to say about the nature of loss, how there's no real way to be truly safe in a world that's plagued by random chance, how even despite that we have to strive to find joy and love and closeness, and how attempts to force safety just limit connection and care. It has beautiful things to say about how even the kindest people can be turned into the worst versions of themselves by fear, and how, given a chance, those people can and will redeem themselves. It says, again and again, it's okay to be terrified or angry about how unfair it all is, but you have to keep going.
And the gameplay and general movement is just...not great. It's not HORRIBLE, it's just so SLOW. I kept thinking that if the combat and movement was snappier that this game would be perfect. It reminds me a bit of Alice: Madness Returns in that way; gorgeous aesthetic and design sensibilities and a lovely story let down by their often-boring movement. Which is especially frustrating because the combat here has SO much potential to be SO GOOD. The randomization element is SO fun in theory, it just, again, is hampered by the movement being slow as hell. None of the bossfights are standouts, though some of the minibosses bring interesting things to the table.
I know I'm not the first to make the Alice: Madness Returns reference, and they do have a lot in common aesthetically and, to a lesser extent, narratively. Broadly speaking, if you liked one you'll like the other. If I had to describe it, I'd say A:MA x Psychonauts x Lemony Snicket, which, again, should be the COOLEST THING EVER and it's so frustrating that it isn't.
Normally, my go-to rating for "this is a game I'm unlikely to play again due to its various flaws but that I still enjoyed for what it is" is 3 stars, but that just feels...not right here. Like I said, it comes SO CLOSE. It has SO MUCH potential to be one of my favourite games ever and I want to honor that. I'd love to see a sequel or a spiritual successor — a quick-moving 3D platformer in the style of Psychonauts 2 with this kind of aesthetic sensibilities and semi-randomized combat has so so soooo much potential.
Despite all my bitching, I still genuinely think it's a lovely game. It's unique, it's not another huge, generic game pumped out to appeal to the widest possible demographic, and it takes itself seriously without getting precious about it. At a certain point you've got to support the flawed-but-unique things, just so there's SOMETHING there that isn't another generic RPG.
Also, Death is there just for a deeply funny cameo and the narrator, who is just a disembodied voice, at one point is kidnapped which, like, that alone is 5 stars.
The combat was just okay, but it was the story, world, visuals, and characters that made the game shine.
Let's start with the good things:
The artstyle and atmosphere of this game is excellent (has a high production Tim Burton-esque vibe to it). The character designs were interesting and had loads of personality. The story was fairly generic but suitable and enjoyable. The game performed perfectly, no issues running this at full framerate. There were just a couple of minor bugs (e.g. a prompt staying in the corner of the screen) but were not at all game breaking. Everything aside from the gameplay was high quality.
Now the bad:
The gameplay however is really generic, uninspired and just flat-out annoying. I get that the focus of this game is the linear cinematic experience, but what they do to achieve that just doesn't make for fun gameplay. It is constantly interrupting your flow with cutscenes or disabling actions to get through dialog.
The combat itself is built around the idea of interrupting flow. The idea of constantly refreshing your moveset via a deck of cards is great on paper but it doesn't translate well in practice. You're constantly stopping to select from randomly drawn cards which just makes every instance of combat feel so drawn out and aggravating. The board game battles just added another layer of interruption on top of that lol. There's also just not that much variety. Thankfully it's extremely easy so it's not likely you're going to die and have to replay some areas.
They utilize a choice-based dialog mechanic when interacting with other characters but the choices don't matter. Seriously, don't do this, don't waste my time forcing me to choose responses if those choices don't matter. It's not fun, it just wastes the player's time. This, coupled with the combat system made me want to avoid interacting with characters when possible which meant avoiding any side quests.
Another time waster are these intermission sections between key sections of the game. All you do in them is walk forward for ages to trigger the next section of the game. If this wasn't mind-numbing enough, they have the nerve to slow your character down to a crawl.
It was such a shame given every other aspect of this game was so good. Unfortunately, you can't have a good game without good gameplay.
The artstyle and atmosphere of this game is excellent (has a high production Tim Burton-esque vibe to it). The character designs were interesting and had loads of personality. The story was fairly generic but suitable and enjoyable. The game performed perfectly, no issues running this at full framerate. There were just a couple of minor bugs (e.g. a prompt staying in the corner of the screen) but were not at all game breaking. Everything aside from the gameplay was high quality.
Now the bad:
The gameplay however is really generic, uninspired and just flat-out annoying. I get that the focus of this game is the linear cinematic experience, but what they do to achieve that just doesn't make for fun gameplay. It is constantly interrupting your flow with cutscenes or disabling actions to get through dialog.
The combat itself is built around the idea of interrupting flow. The idea of constantly refreshing your moveset via a deck of cards is great on paper but it doesn't translate well in practice. You're constantly stopping to select from randomly drawn cards which just makes every instance of combat feel so drawn out and aggravating. The board game battles just added another layer of interruption on top of that lol. There's also just not that much variety. Thankfully it's extremely easy so it's not likely you're going to die and have to replay some areas.
They utilize a choice-based dialog mechanic when interacting with other characters but the choices don't matter. Seriously, don't do this, don't waste my time forcing me to choose responses if those choices don't matter. It's not fun, it just wastes the player's time. This, coupled with the combat system made me want to avoid interacting with characters when possible which meant avoiding any side quests.
Another time waster are these intermission sections between key sections of the game. All you do in them is walk forward for ages to trigger the next section of the game. If this wasn't mind-numbing enough, they have the nerve to slow your character down to a crawl.
It was such a shame given every other aspect of this game was so good. Unfortunately, you can't have a good game without good gameplay.