I wouldn’t say I like reviews. There, I said it. Yes, I am responsible for lending the odd word here and there to the review format, but overall, reviews are just the worst. Now you might think I’m being ridiculous, but if I only told you how many times I found myself subconsciously avoiding something because the reviews were terrible, only to forget down the line, try the thing and love it more than anything, I could imagine then you’d understand and hate reviews too.
Lost In Random was one of the games that I was super excited to play before launch, only to read the reviews, and then, because of a sea of “the movement is clunky!” and “combat is boring!” and “the story SUCKS!” decided to ignore. Thankfully, over the last few weeks, I’ve been going out of my way to explore all that Xbox Game Pass has to offer. Lo-and-behold, Lost In Random was one of the games included in the service.
Now, let me give you the best, shortest and most genuine review of the game that I can muster: Lost In Random is undoubtedly one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. Not only did Lost In Random remind me of how amazing video games can be, but it also stirred something inside of me that wouldn’t stop nagging until I had binge-played through the entire game. Lost In Random has a fantastic dice/card-based combat system; the visuals are so beautiful my eyes want to live in the game’s world forever, and the story/narrating is so incredibly memorable and interesting that I was captivated for the entire 15-ish hours it took me to finish the game.
The story of Lost In Random is incredibly intertwined with the gameplay. One could not exist without the other. But to give you the briefest of overviews: Lost in Random is set in a world of randomness. There are six vastly different lands in Random, and the queen of Random determines everything in this world by rolling a magic die. One day the queen decides that when children turn 12, they will each roll her die, and the number rolled is where the child will go to live for the rest of their lives. You play as a little girl named Even, separated from her older sister Odd when Odd rolls the die and gets shipped off to live in Sixopolis. For the rest of the game, you play as Even, journeying through these strange and often volatile lands in an effort to be reunited with her sister.
It seems redundant to mention the very strong The Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline vibes that Lost In Random brings to the table. One only has to look at a single screenshot, and it will become instantly apparent. The dark and twisted style works so well for the story, and more than once, while playing, I had this sense that I was somehow playing through a stop-motion movie instead of a video game. But one of the best things about the art style in Lost In Random is how completely different each of the six worlds looks and yet, how eerie they remain.
In fact, the world looks and feels much like home for me that I spent HOURS running around, exploring and completing every single side quest I could. Something I usually don’t even give a second thought, but in Lost In Random, I never felt completely ready to say goodbye, so instead, I found ways to stay within the game just a little longer.
Don’t get me wrong, though; there is more to Lost In Random than just a moving story, killer art and spine-chilling narration. The game also has an entertaining combat system. Throughout your time in the game, you’ll encounter a fair few royal robots trying to ensure that Even never makes it to the queen and never sees her sister. All combat follows the same basic principle. First, you need to break crystals to gather energy. Then you roll the die and are dealt cards. Next, you use that energy to buy cards that allow you to do super cool and badass things in combat and, hopefully, win. Finally, you repeat this process until all the robots are dead and Even is left standing.
This system ensures that combat is always exciting. No two fights are ever the same, forcing me to constantly change my plans to adjust to the cards I’ve been dealt. It also brings out the same feeling I get when playing real-world card and dice games, which can only be a good thing. As you play the game, you can buy cards and slowly but surely, you’ll find yourself crafting your ideal deck to use in combat. It’s a fun system and one that I never found myself getting tired of throughout my journey through Random.
