Xbox Series X|S Review Key Provided By Zoink Games
EA has been publishing some really interesting and innovative games over the last couple of years through their EA Originals program. It Takes Two was a shining example of that, and to a degree, its latest title Lost in Random has a few new ideas to spare as well.
Lost in Random was developed by Zoink Games and turns a standard hack ‘n slash into a fresh new take on how a combat system could work. Though its standout mechanics shine bright, the game is hampered by a couple of bugs as well as some other aspects that make the game feel stagnant at times.
Story
Lost in Random is a tale about a girl named Even as she journey’s through the realms of Random. This Tim Burton-esque world is filled with monstrous-looking characters as well as a society separated in the same vein as The Hunger Games’ districts. There are six different areas that Even will journey through as she seeks her sister, Odd.
You see, the game’s story takes off by explaining that upon reaching the age of 12, each child must roll a huge die and see which of the six towns they’ll be taken to. Odd rolls a 6 which gives her a spot in the same luxurious kingdom of The Queen, the dominant force in Random who controls all.
The story has the bones of something really good and for the most part, I think that it comes together great, overall. That’s not to say it’s perfect though. On Even’s journey, she’ll come to know very many different characters and I believe that sometimes, the exposition becomes easily tedious.
There are some RPG elements that don’t feel at home for this type of game at all. Because of that, and the fact that the game goes off-course to satisfy side-stories, the main plot seems to get washed out for a lot of the game. It comes as a great shame though as I would’ve liked to see more of Even and her sister’s relationship as opposed to the “relationships” she builds with throwaway characters.
Gameplay
Following in the same steps as the story, the gameplay offers uniqueness but then backtracks with underdeveloped and overused elements. It isn’t one of my favorite action games of the last year but does have instances of momentous gameplay that other games don’t necessarily have.
Lost in Random is a mixed bag of genres with a little of this and a little of that added in to create its essence. Its combat system implements real-time strategy elements through its use of boardgame ideas like cards, dice, and even game boards, which make for a pretty interesting and new take on what’s been done before.
With each fight, Even is equipped only with her slingshot. The goal is to hit your enemies’ highlighted points which hold a crystal that drops as you shoot it. Breaking this crystal results in multiple fragments hitting the ground which you’ll need to grab in order to actually start attacking. Building up more of these crystals will earn you more cards per hand until you reach a full one.
You can play your hand at any time but I always waited to play one until it was full because that’s how you’ll be sure to get at least one card to play. Playing cards are simple but I’ll admit that the in-game instructions weren’t so clear to me when I first started learning its ropes. To roll your hand, you’ll toss your buddy Dicey, and whatever number he lands on is the number of points that you’re allowed to spend on your current hand.
Combat is carried out through the cards that Even collects along her journey. While you’re going to build up a binder full of cards over the course of the game, you’re allotted 15 cards to add into your deck to use at a time. Additional cards can be purchased as well using the in-game currency which you’ll accrue as you play the game by completing objectives, side-quests, or even finding around Random.
Cards have different types as well as different uses altogether. There are weapon, damage, defense, cheat, and hazard cards at your disposal. There are cards that give Even a weapon for a duration, extra points during that hand, or even turn Dicey into a walking time-bomb. I found the majority of the cards to be very important to my hand with so many of them being ones that I leaned on every time.
When choosing your cards, your enemies are frozen in time until the moment you’re ready to fight again. I liked this aspect over just slowing time as it gave me the perfect leverage I needed during fights. I’d also like to point out that most fights aren’t all that easy either. They do seem to slog though, with most feeling longer than they need to be. It made a lot of the gameplay appear to be purposely dragged out which actually made me get irritated by just how obvious it was.
The devs do try to shake up the gameplay by implementing gameboards where your main goal is to get your game piece to its goal whilst fighting through hordes of enemies. I like how it’s carried out but I didn’t feel like it really saved the fact that the gameplay is pretty samey from start to finish, overall.
One of the worst aspects of Lost in Random though is its movement. Even is stiff to control, making combat feel like a chore most times. It’s like the game is actively working against you. I’d click things incorrectly, wasting cards and resources as inputs aren’t very responsive. Traversing around Random’s many towns is also quite lacking because of Even’s movement.
Audio and Visuals
Lost in Random is a feast for the eyes and ears in many ways; characters are well-acted with full personas being fleshed out and a fully realized world that they take part in. From the opening moments, the game oozes the atmosphere between its score and art style. It is most definitely inspire by Tim Burton and Laika Studios films for sure, but I think that Zoinks did a fantastic job at making this their own style overall.
It’s a title that runs beautifully smooth on the Series S, never missing a beat framerate-wise. I would’ve liked to see a broader color palette used though as the majority of the game is a deep blue or purple. A clearer distinction between the towns of random as well as their inhabitants would’ve given this world even more depth.
What It Could Have Done Better
This title seems to fall into a bout of laziness about halfway thru. The gameplay, dialogue, and even visuals seem to coast, and by this point it becomes unmissable. The game is about 10 hours long but could’ve even been trimmed down more due to its recycled bits.
Dialogue can be unbearable at times when you interact with characters. I’m not wholly sure if it’s the fact that characters tend to be extremely longwinded or the fact that when you choose dialogue, Even doesn’t speak aloud. She has a voice during cutscenes or while walking around though. It just makes interactions feel soulless and I found myself unable to care much about anything because of it.
The other thing is the fact that these RPG dialogue moments don’t impact the gameplay at all anyway. I’m not sure why they didn’t just cut these parts out and make smaller fully-voiced cutscenes. During these moments, the facial expressions and dialogue aren’t even in sync as characters kind of just have the same mouth movements whether they speak or not.
As I said, the movement could be improved on so much more. It seems like either an opportunity that was overlooked or just ignored once the devs made it “good enough”. Getting to the bug issues; there were many times where I’d get stuck on terrain when trying to traverse around random but I’d have to say that the worst offender was a game-breaking bug during a board game segment. The game just ceased to progress. It forced me to close the game and restart the segment entirely.
Verdict
Lost in Random is a game that had a chance to be something extraordinary but fails to stick its landing. It’s not a bad title by any means but it’s one that makes you feel disappointed by just how average its gameplay can be at times even with its grand ideas.
While I give credit to the devs for creating a fully developed and gorgeous world, I can’t really seem to say the same for the gameplay side of it aside from the card and dice aspects. If anything, try Lost in Random out simply to see the world and how the mechanics work, it’s also a pretty dark game so it hits just right for the fall season.
