Lost in Play – A Surprisingly Tricky Puzzle Adventure!

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein

Overview

Lost in Play is a delightful point-and-click puzzle game about a brother and sister who are playing make-believe and travel too far. Lost, they must embark on an adventurous journey back home, encountering many perils along the way.

This game is being reviewed as part of the Indie Game Collective (IGC) showcase.

Gameplay

Lost in Play mixes point-and-click gameplay with more traditional-style puzzles. Players will find themselves exploring and solving inventory-based puzzles typical of the genre and then be faced with logic-based puzzles or mini-games such as cards! The family-friendly vibe and twee styling lull the player into a false sense of security and belie the challenging nature of some of the puzzles, which are actually quite difficult at times. Luckily there is a hint system that can be used to offer some direction at any point in the game with no penalty.

Narrative

Lost in Play does not use any speech or text and relies on the gameplay and visuals to deliver its narrative. There is no voice acting as such but the characters do emit a cute gobbledegook in place of dialogue. The game takes players on an engaging and enchanting story that flits between reality and imagination. The two children find themselves faced with a number of conundrums and must do things such as escape a bear, order pizza, fly millions of kilometres and even start a rebellion in a goblin village on their quest to get home.

Styling

The vibrant cartoon art style uses bold lines and colours yet has a softness about it, a combination that perfectly matches the narrative and general tone of the game. Lighting is used to great effect to determine the atmosphere, ranging from bright and jolly, to mysterious to dark and sinister. The diverse range of environments makes the game a joy to explore and includes underwater, the inside of a book, a goblin castle and floating islands. There is a hint of silliness throughout the visuals and the charming animations bring this to the forefront in a wonderful way.

Lost in Play has an eclectic mix of background music that ranges from calm and jovial piano, to ethereal chimes to energetic guitars or electronic tracks. The songs are well implemented, matching the narrative brilliantly and really helping to bring each scene to life.

Summary

Lost in Play is a wholesome and fun game that offers an engaging narrative, highly satisfying puzzles, delightful characters and a charming aesthetic. All the elements of the game work together perfectly to create a wonderful adventure to be enjoyed by many. A single playthrough could take anywhere from 5-8 enjoyable hours, there is not a huge amount of replayability but the quality of the game makes it well worth its price tag. I highly recommend this whimsical game to fans of point-and-click and puzzle games.

For more point-and-click puzzle games take a look at:
Intruder in Antiquonia – An Intriguing Mystery and Satisfying Puzzles! – Pants Quest – Puzzles and Struggles in this Everyday Adventure – Outsider: After Life – An Emotional New Sci-Fi Puzzle Game

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