Consoles: Ps4,Ps5,Xbox One,XBox Series X, Switch, PC
Published:EA Originals (ELectonic Arts)
Developers: Zoink games & Thunderful Group
Released: September 2021
Lost in Randomis an action adventure game developed by the Indie studio called Zoink games and more specifically the Thunderful group.
The game was published by Electonic Arts, mostly known as EA. More specifically the game was published under EA's subordinate team EA Originals. The team that
supports indie developers by funding their projects such as Unravel ,it takes two and others. In fact Lost in Random is the ninth project that EA originals
decided to publish and the third in 2021. First being It Takes two and the second one being the online dodge ball game knock out city.The game was released in Spetember
2021 for all available consoles including the next gen. Upon it's release the game received plenty of critisisms with the majority of them beeing mostly positive.
In fact the games lowest score is 7/10 which ain't even low. As of December 2021, the game does not have a physical release and it is only available as a digital release
through every online service of each respective platform (Playstation story, Nintendo store etc.)
World of Lost in Random and the Story of the game
In the world of Random everythin is judged and decided by the roll of the dice. Once an individual turns the age of twelve the Queen and her worshipers visit the individual in order for them to roll the dice.
The roll of the dice will decide if the thrower is worty to live a normal life or a bad one. If someone rolls a:
One: The person will have to live with the other Ones. Inhabitants in one are treated like pieces of trash who werent meant to be great. Anyone living in One is considered a loser and poor.
Two: The people in two town suffer from uncontrollable split personality. The city it self has two mayors, one who is calm and friendly and one who is scary and demanding. The ciry itself struggles with it
Three:The people living in three town suffer from an ongoing war of three siblings who hate each other after the death of their parents. Each day a roll of the queen decides who attacks who.
Four: The people of four town are gamblers and fortune tellers. Their goal is to become richer and richer. Outside of four town there's the dark forest where who ever is to visit it,nver comes back or be the same.
Five: The town of five is a laboratory where the cardmakers make the queens minions. The town consist of 6 floors that represent the town and the five floors representing the stages that take to make a card.
Six: The land of six is said to be heaven on earth, special place for lucky and special kids. It's also the place where the queen Stays, but some places are not as good as they sound.
The story focusses on two sisters, Even and Odd. The day found the two sisters and three kids of the neighborhood discussing what would their future be after they throw the dice once they reach the age of twelve.
Odd though crushes their fun as she claims its late and they should return to their home. Their fun was cut even shorter as the Queens minions came to the land of one in order to harverst all the twelve year old.
Even's family places both of them on a secret lair however nothing could stop the bots from finding Odd Who had just turn twelve. The queen herself gave Odd her dice and She rolled a six to become a sixer. A year later Even
is still having nightmares of Odd and wakes up, as her latest dream felt so real to her. Even decides she had enough and wishes to proceed in order to find and rescue her sister. The moment she leaves her parent's home she sees
a ghost and chooses to follow it, as she believes the ghost will lead her to her sister.
On her way out of one town, she finds herself in a weird location filled with various of dices. She soon attacked by enemies but she is rescued by a small dice. The two form a weird relationship and they soon begin their adventure
together through the land of Random.
Through this adventure they both get to know what was life prior to the current state. It turns out before the queen had become the Queen everyone use to have a dice on their own. There was no dice roll to decide where
people were meant to live and all the families used to stay together. Each of the areas have their unique story, that plays a small role in the overall tale but it does add to the bigger picture. The character development of
Even is really interesting and evolving. She bagans her adventure as a girl who wishes only but one thing and that is to resce her sister. She begans to feel alone and lost but she is soon joined by Dicey with whom build an interesting
relationship. Although she is serious about wanting to rescue her sister she begans to doubt everything. Did she do the right thing? is her sister who she think she knows? What's gonna happen when they meet? and all of that. Nevertheless
Even throughout the chapter became a complete hero with her goods, her flaws and her development.
Gameplay
The Gameplay of Lost in Random is unique, but it may feel abit slow in the beginning, yet again this statement is not 100% accurate as each indvidual consumer can build their own deck based on the cards that they
can acquire. The more time the players spent exploring the areas and dealing with side quest the more money they ll have to spent on boosters. BUT before proceeding into further details it's only fair to begin from
the start. The game is an action adventure where the player gets control of Even. Early in chapter one Odd gave Even her slingshot in the hopes that it would be useful for Even. The Slingshot is mainly used
in order to solve puzzles and aid Even during combat. Combat becomes available in Two town, so during the first ,the gameplay is simple 3D Puzzle platforming with stealth elements. During her transaction form one to
two she was joined by Dicey with whom combat becomes available. During combat, the player has to use the slingshot and shoot the blue crystals located ontop of enemies. Once the crystals are shot, the broken pieces
will fall on the ground and Even will have to call on Dicey to go pick them up. In most cases Dicey is close to Even sho he will automatically collect them, if he is far off in the distance due to a prior event, Even
can call him with triangle and last but no least if crystals are away, the player can aim with L2 and then use R1 to pint point the location for Dicey to go. On bottom right, there's a face down card that fills blue
each time Dicey collects crystals. Once the card is filled, Even draws a card and places on her hand, this case bottom right. Even can hold up to 5 cards in total. No matter how many crystals Even collect, once there
are five cards on her hand she can't draw another one. In order to play a card, Even has to throw Dicey, first by pressing triangle to summon him close to her and another triangle to throw him. The moment dicey leaves
Even time freezes and the player gets to use the cards. The roll of the dice defines the points Even gets to use. Each card has a "paying fee" that is placed on top left of each card. The player is allowed to use as many
cards ast hey wish as long as the sum of the cards is equal or less the number of the dice. The cards themselves are seperate in 5 categories:
Weapon
These are cards that summon a weapon for the hero to use in combat
Cheat
These are cards that allow the player to cheat the dice. For example cards that add to the points or even cards that reduce the cost of cards
Damage
These are cards that deal alot of damage, setting bombs on the ground or powering up the weapons
Defense
These are cards that will grant Even shields and the ability to heal herself.
Hazard
These are cards that are placed around the map and each one is unique.
The player can build a deck of up to 15 cards. The player is allowed to use 2-3 copies of the same card in their deck given that is available to them. Cards can be collected through out the world of Random. The first way to
obtain cards is by visiting the store and purchasing cards with coins. When purchasing from the store, there is a vertical line on the right and when the player purchases enough, the store owner allows the player to open a new
booster in order for new cards to be placed on the store. Another benefit from purchasing items from the store is that the owner will reward the player with card pins.To access the store, Even will have to interact with the
store owner who is usuallly always available in big cities and before big battles. The other way for Even to gain cards is to complete side quests from the NPCs in a certain area. In order to build a deck the player will have to
open the menu and select Deck. They can then remove the cards from the automated Deck and select which 15 they prefer to use. The pins gained from the store can be used when the dice is thrown. Instead of playeing the cards
the player can use the up arrow on the keypad to keep the card safe with a pin,. By doing so, Even is able to store the card and and keep it when all the cards go away after she finishes using the cards. In order for Even to proceed
after the time is frozen from the dice roll, the player will have to either shoot the enemies crystals, shoot various Hazards placed on maps or even attack the enemies with a weapon. if none of the options are available the player can
use triangle to escaoe the frozen state.
It is important to note that the player can roll the dice as long as they re in possetion of at least one card. During normal combat the game proceeds as normal, shoot the crystals of the enemies,collect them with Dicey and then
throw it to use cards. The moment all the enemies are defeated, the combat phase ends. The same rules apply to boss battle combat. Lost in random though has a few board games to test the player. Board games are like normal battles
however, they objective is not to kill all the enemies currently available but first to finish the board game and then finish off the enemies. As long as the board piece doesnt reach the end point, enemies will keep on spawning for
Even to shoot and collect crystals to throw the dice. Each time the dice is thrown the boardpiece is moving on the board based on the number thrown. Certain board games place a card that spawn a monster that Even will have to defeat
in order for the card to unblock the path.
Outside of platforming and fighting the world of random has a lot of dialogue for the player to explore. In fact talking around with Npc and even Dicey allows the player to uderstand alot about the world. During a converstation the player is
given alot of dialogue options that will trigger a different response. NOTE: Some of them are important as they will reward the player with a trophy and a different dialogue.These type of dialogues are unique and the player wont be
able to be triggered again.
Controls
The player controls Even with L3 and controls the camera with R3, R3 can also be used to lock on enemies, and tilting it will swap enemy targets. L1 is used to sprint. X is used to interact with the environment. Circle is used for dodging by
sliding towards the diretion given by the player. A Perfect dodge will reward the player with the crystals that are ontop of the given enemy/enemies. L2 is used to aim and R2 will make the shot with the slingshot or a bow in case the
player used the bow card. L2 and R1 commands the dice to go to a certain location. This can be used to sent the dice to collect crystals or to simply step on a platform to trigger a mechanism. Triangle as mentioned above, calls Dicey on Even
and also throws him during combat. Square is the button that is used in combat when Even plays the Sword,Spear or hammer card. It is important to note that each time a new weapon is placed it replaces the already existing one. For example if
the player has a sword and plays a spear the sword will be replaced, but if a sword is replaced with a sword it simply restores the sword durability. The weapons durability can be seen above the hero or even above the health bar or Even.
Collectables
The game doesnt have enough of collectables. It only has two types, these being :
Cards
Book pages.
Since the game's combat is based on cards it only made sense that the card themselves are one type of collectables. Even can collect them from side quest, the store and the main campaign. All of them can be used in combat. On the other hand, book
pages are scatter across the kingdom of random. Each page consist of a drawing and a story that pretty much explain the backstory of the kingdom even before the rise of the Queen. The pages also allow the narrtor to tell a story
of what is happening on the page. There is a total of 10 pages available for the hero to collect.
Final thoughts
Overall all Lost in Random is a really nice and unique game. It has a smart way of narrating the story and the characters themselves are very nice and well written. The art style of the game is heavily influenced by the animated movies
Nightmare before Christmas stop moton animation. The lands of random and the NPCs are each unique in their own way. Town of two is a split land where everyone suffers from split personalities, land of 4 is a messed up casino where gambling is
the main way to go , each one is unique. The NPCs on the other hand come in two packages. Some of the Npc's are repeated due to the fact that this is an indie game that was on a budget. These NPcs though do not add anything to the story other than some
temporary side quests. On the other hand there are NPC that have unique appearances who add alot to the story. The figures look way different and interesting. Their personalities are different and they both come with their ups and down.
The tale of Even in the land of Random feels complete as the entire story is being given to the player from voice acting cutscene and an amazing Narrator who did an amazing job narrating the story with a gentle and hilarious way. Although the tale
of the two sisters is over, there are a few story elements that left unanswered which is left up for the player's interpretation. For example Questions like, did Even and Odd went back to the land of one? what will happen to the Land of Random,
( there are dialogues that explain some changes in certain lands but still not enough), Will all the people find the lost land of the Dice like Even and another character did?, what happenned to the queen and many more.
This is a video with my Honest review close to when i played the Game
The Gameplay of Lost in Random is unique, but it may feel abit slow in the beginning, yet again this statement is not 100% accurate as each indvidual consumer can build their own deck based on the cards that they
can acquire. The more time the players spent exploring the areas and dealing with side quest the more money they ll have to spent on boosters. BUT before proceeding into further details it's only fair to begin from
the start. The game is an action adventure where the player gets control of Even. Early in chapter one Odd gave Even her slingshot in the hopes that it would be useful for Even. The Slingshot is mainly used
in order to solve puzzles and aid Even during combat. Combat becomes available in Two town, so during the first ,the gameplay is simple 3D Puzzle platforming with stealth elements. During her transaction form one to
two she was joined by Dicey with whom combat becomes available. During combat, the player has to use the slingshot and shoot the blue crystals located ontop of enemies. Once the crystals are shot, the broken pieces
will fall on the ground and Even will have to call on Dicey to go pick them up. In most cases Dicey is close to Even sho he will automatically collect them, if he is far off in the distance due to a prior event, Even
can call him with triangle and last but no least if crystals are away, the player can aim with L2 and then use R1 to pint point the location for Dicey to go. On bottom right, there's a face down card that fills blue
each time Dicey collects crystals. Once the card is filled, Even draws a card and places on her hand, this case bottom right. Even can hold up to 5 cards in total. No matter how many crystals Even collect, once there
are five cards on her hand she can't draw another one. In order to play a card, Even has to throw Dicey, first by pressing triangle to summon him close to her and another triangle to throw him. The moment dicey leaves
Even time freezes and the player gets to use the cards. The roll of the dice defines the points Even gets to use. Each card has a "paying fee" that is placed on top left of each card. The player is allowed to use as many
cards ast hey wish as long as the sum of the cards is equal or less the number of the dice. The cards themselves are seperate in 5 categories:
