Lost in Random - Review

There are a few developers that I will always want to play their games, Zoink is one such studio, their games are usually filled with mechanics I enjoy, along with unique are and characters, but Lost in Random was going to use cards in the battles and card games, or games that make use of cards are not my thing. Having played the game though, did my love of the developer overrule the distaste I have for cards, or was I dealt a hand I had expected?

Lost in Random tells the story of a pair of sisters, Even and Odd, who live in Onecroft, (the dice and number related names are only going to increase from here, so get ready,) and as is custom, when someone turns 12, they are forced by the Queen to roll her dice, which decides where they will move to, with one being the worst and six being described as a paradise. While the sisters attempt to hide, Odd is discovered and forced to roll the dice, with it landing on a Six and with the sisters separated, things pick up from there, as Even decides to get her sister back. She doesn’t really decide so much as a spirit inhabits her dreams, and a voice calls out to her, so she sneaks off in the dead of night, stealing passage upon a ship bound of unknown lands. But, in the land of Random, things happen without notice and the ship is damaged in flight and Even must abandon the ship and when she comes to, she finds herself in the hidden valley of the dice.

Long before Even was the star of the tale, the land of Random was ruled by the throw of a dice, and everyone had one, but in a cataclysmic war, one dice ruler decided she was the only one who could wield the dice and set out to destroy all the others. Back to Even, with her new dice companion, named Dicey, by her side, she set out towards Sixtopia and her chance to rescue Odd, but something the game fails to work out properly is that Even is only 10 when she leaves home. Throughout the story, as Even meets a variety of characters, some entertaining and some frustrating, she behaves more like a teenager, complete with angsty attitude and a disregard at times for common sense, but then randomly they will have her act her real age, it is an odd design choice. Even might be the star, but she is not alone, Dicey is there as well and while they don’t speak in English, the gibberish speech does feel right at times, leaving Even and other folks to interact with them, in a somewhat entertaining way.

As Even progresses through the world of Random, venturing from one number themed town to the next, everything seems based around the concept that a number can create, Two-Town is where everything is duplicated, even personalities of the folks that live there. Four-burg on the other hand has people doing things multiple times, in order to win at whatever task, they are doing, even Even is caught up in that. While some of the characters you meet, like Seemore are great, no matter their setting, others feel campier and it just hurts the story. While I would have loved to have seen more variety in the towns, to help elevate the story higher, it is solid, so you shouldn’t have any issues exploring each.

Exploration isn’t the big draw though, for Lost in Random, that is all about the battles, which are a combination of real time battles and turn based strategy and neither really feels right. When Even enters into any battle, even the boardgames, she has to farm for gems from enemies, this can be achieved by shooting them with her slingshot and while you are attempting to collect enough to deal a full hand of cards, you have to dodge the enemies. Early on this isn’t a real issue, but when you start getting enemies that dive bomb you, or drop actual bombs, it can be a pain to manage both and let’s not get into the late game arenas. Once you have your hand full of cards, you can throw Dicey and literally, your next actions are determined by that roll of the dice, the higher the number you get, the better your next actions are. Once you have selected your actions, you can jump back into the battle and attempt to attack the enemies in front of you, I say attempt because you might be dealt a hand of cards that are all buffs to your attacks, or health items, leaving you to repeat from the start.

The deck is not random, at least in a sense, as you progress through your adventure, you can purchase cards from Mannie Dex, the walking wardrobe, who lives for cards. As you collect cards, you can opt to remove some, in order to make room for more, meaning your hand can be nothing but attack cards, or you can mix in some cheat cards, to give you a better change in battle. You can also pin cards from one hand, letting them linger until you can make use of them, but you only get that option, once you have bought a number of them, so that is a little weird. What I did find odd, is that battles can be quite short, or long, depending on the cards you get to choose from with each roll of the dice and that causes the pacing to be off.

Sadly though, it is not the only thing that feels off, because if regular battles were not enough, the game also has you playing on special boardgame arenas, that require you to get a piece to move around a board, in order to move on. The problem is that the piece will move, only as much as your dice roll is worth, so if you get a few one’s in a row, your piece is not going to get much travel distance and while all this happens, you have to constantly face off against enemies. Which results in a lot happening at once, that it can be more chaotic than anyone ever thought possible and that can be frustrating at times as well.

Leaving the battles behind, there are side quests that you can complete, collecting items for folks or just having nice conversations with some and that will get you more cards. Scattered around the world are little jugs/vases that when you shoot them drop coins you can spend with Mannie Dex, but you also earn a good chunk of coinage from your battles, so you don’t need to collect them all. The problem is that most of the side quests are pretty generic and never really feel like you are doing much, with the character giving you the quest, more interesting than the quest itself and after a while, I just stopped talking to folks, unless the game told me I had to.

Something that I did find very nice was the games presentation, at least the visual style, because if you have seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, Frankenweenie or basically any Tim Burton production, there is a similar aesthetic running through everything. Zoink have even said that Shaun Tan, an Australian artist was part of their inspiration, so combined with the Burton style, everything looks like it could be a stop motion movie, it really does look incredible, screens don’t do it justice. Even and Odd looks good, but as most of the time you will see Even from behind, so it is good that she has a distinct silhouette. The other characters, like the Queen, Seemore, the Nanny and others, also look great, and while there are only really a handful of NPC designs, that repeat quite often, they still have enough charm to overcome their repetition.

I did encounter a few issues though, the first is that sometimes textures wouldn’t load, so I had roads I could walk upon, but couldn’t see, which caused me to go real slow, unless I fell through the ground. The second issue is that the game is dark and while yes tonally it is meant to be, I mean brightness wise it is, from dark locations, to narrow pathways, sometimes it is hard to see where you are going. This is offset at times, by their use of fog, which when they work together properly, you can get some amazing reveals.

On the audio side of things though, there is mixed bag of sounds and one of them had to be a design choice, first the music, the soundtrack is great. The music is moody and fits each location wonderful, even once you reach Sixtopia, the music fits what you see, but doesn’t feel like its out of place, even when the boss fights get chaotic, the music enhances the action. On the vocal side, this is where things fall down, while there is an actual mix of accents, mostly English and American, there are the odd Australian accents and what I assume is Swedish, along with Dicey’s gibberish and they sound find. The issue comes from when you encounter anyone evil, you will know they are evil, because their voice has layers to it, like how movies and tv shows do that, to show someone is possessed. From your encounter with Royam and to the Queen, they all have that two-tone vocal pattern and it really becomes annoying quickly, none of the characters sound even because of how they speak, which for me, made them seem more like wanna-be baddies.

Lost in Random is a unique game, it has a striking visual style that looks great, in almost every location, though the game can feel a little dark at times. In addition, it has a battle system that requires you to plan and think ahead, but as everything is built on the roll of a dice, there are times when you can roll a few turns in a row and feel like you have not achieved much. I am not a fan of card-based games and while Lost in Random hasn’t changed that, I am still glad I played it, it has an intriguing tale, delightful characters and more number related puns than you can possible imagine, which is something I really enjoy.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Electronic Arts

The Pros

+Wonderful presentation that feels like an interactive stop motion movie

+Battle system is unique and once your desk is built the way you like, can feel amazing

The Cons

-Battles are a lttle to dependent on the dice roll, meaning you can sometimes get stuck in battles, until you get lucky

-The bad characters are only made to sound bad, which cheapens their potential threat they pose