Nowadays, there are a plethora of games that are centered around serious topics, but center it in a more lighthearted direction. While some may criticize this, I think it’s important to have both sides of the moral spectrum as evidenced by the comparisons that can be made between Overwatch and Lawbreakers, The Last of Us and Dead Island, Darkest Dungeon and Spelunky and so on. Now, developer East Asia Soft has implemented these themes, into a castaway tale with a procedurally generated twist. And while it’s not as epic as Castaway, it’s certainly got some charm. But is that enough to carry it to greatness? Here’s our answer.
Gameplay:
In Lost Sea, players will be traversing a variety of climates and landscapes to get to their objective. This seems like the type of thing that would be a shot in the arm for a game of this nature, and in some cases it is. (Combat feels well put together for example) but there are some glaring issues. Most of these lay in the design department, but we can’t move on without mentioning some technical and AI problems, that make the game feel lesser to whatever competitor may come its way.
Story & Design:
At it’s core, Lost Sea is fairly simplistic for a roguelike, which is a problem. I understand the casual demographic they were aiming for, but other games in the same genre have pulled off the same task without sacrificing measures. This is overwhelmingly evident in the tedious nature, that gets even worse with the lack of any true challenge. This continues well into some aspects of the presentation and leaves Lost Sea truly lost.
Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:
Lost Sea’s artstyle holds some personality, but it falls underneath it’s poor mechanical structure. You’ll feel that you’ve seen similar assets in areas that are supposed to be completely unfamiliar, which is completely unfulfilling. On top of this, the game has the guise of a pick up and play title, yet takes a good couple of hours to finish. With no save options merely existing, this feels downright criminal.
Conclusion:
Lost Sea is a game that could have been better with a bigger workforce or a better focus. While there was some passion poured in, so much feels cheap and or forceful. It’s a real shame, because you only get a game with a great premise like this so often.
Lost Sea gets a 4/10 (Bad)
We’d like to thank East Asia Soft for giving us a code!
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