Indie label Electronic Arts with dignified persistence and noticeable regularity continues to release small projects of independent studios. Recently launched Lost in Random from a small Swedish company Zoink marks the niche of unusual adventures, offering a bizarre world, as if crossed from fantasies Tim Burton and fetishes Americana McGee…
At the center of the story of Lost in Random is a quirky kingdom where all problems are solved with a die roll. True, the despotic queen, who destroyed all competitors a long time ago, has a monopoly on the possession of the bone messenger of fate. According to local laws, when a child in this country turns twelve years old, he must roll the dice. The dropped out number will change his fate – it will determine the city of his residence. Those lucky ones who throw the six will go to the palace to the cold queen. Sisters Ewen and Odd also test their fate cube, and if Ewen is forced to stay in the first settlement for losers, then Odd knocks out the six and goes to the queen’s chambers. But Ewen does not agree with this twist of fate and, in spite of everything, sets out in search of her beloved sister. On this fantastic journey, she has to find the last magic cube, which she affectionately calls Dysik, save the cities from the queen’s minions and oppose the mistress of darkness.
Combining elements of adventure, tactics and action, Lost in Random is quite adept at manipulating the player. You explore new locations, interact with quirky characters and complete quests in the spirit of “bring it and bring it”, but when you get bored, dynamic battles come to the fore. Having received a reasonable cube at his disposal, Ewen begins to find magic cards, each of which has its own effect during the fight. The first set appears randomly, and the rest have to be exchanged for gold coins from a local merchant. Cards allow you to automatically lay out or assemble your own battle deck depending on the tactics of the duel.
According to their properties, cards are divided into cheats, attacking, defensive and dangerous. Before the start of the battle, the heroine needs to knock down special crystals from the opponents from the slingshot, which fill the card scale. When one or several random cards open at once, you can roll the die. The number of points dropped allows you to use cards of different levels. And here consistency is important: some samples can reduce the cost of all other cards, others can create a force field, others turn into weapons or inflict poisonous damage on the enemy. Your task is to kill waves of enemies and, knocking down crystals, use random selections of cards from your personal deck.
From the very beginning of the battle, Ewen has nothing but a slingshot, which is only suitable for attacking crystals. But the dropped out sword or bow card will help her inflict damage on the enemy, and poison or a giant hand will speed up the destruction of even very formidable mechanical soldiers. Over time, Ewen will master the leap, which, if used correctly, can knock off a large number of crystals from enemies. At the end of the battle, all statuses received, including weapons, are reset to zero, and in the next battle everything has to start from the very beginning, although this rule does not always work. Sometimes you are given to keep some of the acquired skills, but only for a limited time.
This seemingly funny mechanic hides the main problem of Lost in Random. If at first rolling the dice and using the cards is fun, then over time the number of battles increases, they greatly add to the story, and it becomes just boring. The situation is not rescued by either new maps or similar mini-games where you need to move the figure, shoot the cannon and escape from the approaching death wall, passing the zones on the board. The fact is that the opponents in most cases remain the same, and the mechanics of the throw are very boring. The plot is designed to save the situation, but the authors are only enough for the first three cities, and then repeating elements are noticeable. In addition, side quests do not bring anything except trophies and coins, and their content does not go beyond the bounds of running around several points.
