Lost in Play (2022) [Switch]

“When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.”
– Fred Rogers 

It feels safe to say that there is no stranger, wilder place than the inside of a child’s mind. That boundless imagination accessible only within their head and yet shareable through storytelling that they will usually be more than glad to share. Lost in Play feels like a trip back to that innocent time. The time where garden statues could come to life at any moment, where shallow ponds held sunken treasure, where gates and doors could lead anywhere, not just outside. A time when magic could be real, if you just said the right words or did the right movements, and by God, you were going to test every possible thing to get a glimpse of a possible world beyond our own.  Of course we all have to grow up eventually and learn and accept the hard truths about the world as we wanted it to be. Every so often, though, we can return to that time through books, movies, our own children, and, of course, games.

The Adventure Begins?

A monster under the bed? No, it’s just Fluffy, being rude.

The main duo are Gal and Toto, two normal kids in a pretty normal world. They have a cat and a dog and very active imaginations. Toto is starting to fall into the older kid habits of playing video games instead of toys (though you won’t hear me judging him). Gal, however, won’t let that stand. When Gal makes a troll mask and chases her big brother out through the frog-art decorated gates of their yard, though, the world changes, and, quite inevitably, they end up lost far from home. Are they even in their world anymore? Or is everything they’re about to encounter just one big game? That’s the big question that Lost in Play leaves you wondering. Of course the little old pigeon woman is real, but what about the goblin on the giant crane beside her? And even more importantly, does it matter if it’s real? Perhaps the most important thing is having fun. The kids certainly are. As a player, the real question is, will you?

The 8-bit Review

Visuals: 9/10

An uninformed observer could easily mistake a screenshot of Lost in Play for a modern cartoon. With smooth animations and a visual style reminiscent of Gravity Falls, it could be its own successful show. Instead, though, they chose to give us a game and let us play in their world alongside Gal and Toto. Everything is visually distinctive with only the most minor occasional question of what something is and what it’s for.

Audio: 7/10

Lost in Play has voice acting, but not in a way you’d expect. Rather than use dialogue to tell the story, the children and other characters converse in a nonsense language. I wondered briefly if it was the language of the children, a made-up secret between siblings (did you know this is called idioglossia?), but there were adults outside of their fantastical world (or are there?) that they converse with relatively early on, suggesting the language is just to avoid complicating gameplay with unnecessary discussion. It feels like a natural language, unlike the beeps and squeaks you sometimes get. Music-wise, it ranges from quiet, pleasant background music to unexpected jams during puzzles and minigames. 

Gameplay: 9/10

Lost in Play is, at its core, all about logic, which is odd for a game about a fantastical adventure. The point-and-click elements are step-by-step, rarely letting you gather a surfeit of items you don’t know what to do with. Instead, it’s more often like a trading game, where using one object will give you access to another. The end result is that you don’t end up feeling overwhelmed with choices, and you never carry any objects for more than the scene you’re in. 

The other half of the game is the puzzles and minigames. Each one requires different logic, never luck. They never repeat either, though some sets do go on a little longer than I expect or prefer. You’ll run from a troll along paths that only you or it can cross, play a betting game with cards and bottlecaps, try to outwit a seagull in lining up crabs, follow directions to build a flying machine, and more, all with different rules and the simplest instructions. You learn by paying attention, and sometimes even by failing. Reset as much as you like, as often as you like, and take as much time as you need. There’s no rush. After all, it’s just a game.

Narrative: 8/10

Is there any narrator more unreliable than a child? They’re seeing the world through the eyes of one who doesn’t understand much of what they see and thus, they invent things they do understand to explain it all. What is real, and what is imagination? That’s the question asked in Lost in Play. Are Toto and Gal really lost in a magical world with friendly frogs and deceitful goblins, or are they simply in a park, playing make-believe? You’re never entirely sure, and I love that mystery. Either way, they’re on an adventure of their own making. 

Accessibility: 6/10

I’ve never actually played a point-and-click game on a console before, so I was concerned about the ease of the “point” and “click” elements without a mouse. Would there be pixel hunting to find the one small thing I needed to interact with? How about wiggling around to get the right object when two interactables were side by side? How much precision would be required versus how much would the console be able to achieve? I ended up pleasantly surprised. Pixel hunting simply isn’t a part of the game, and interactables are clearly marked. There were some places where the wiggle was required, but only one that gave me any considerable issue targeting. There were also some minor issues of swapping between screens when you want to interact with something on the edge. I also encountered some minor fussy controls in the occasional minigame and using items from your inventory with targeted items not swapping like I expected or being used on the wrong source, but not enough to be a turn-off. 

As this is a game about kids, how good is it for kids? Much like LumbearJack, Lost in Play has no dialogue or text, the only words being in the menu (with a wide selection of languages despite the small amount). Directions and hints are all given visually and clearly, with no cases of “the object I wanted didn’t look like it did in the clue.” However, the challenge of the logic puzzles and minigames may be a bit much for the very young. 

Challenge: 10/10

I’m not usually good at point-and-clicks, though I enjoy them. Often, the logic twists for “what do I do with this object” get me stuck, or a puzzle traps me with circular thinking which I am not skilled at. I have no shame in turning to a guide. When you have a game that hasn’t been released yet, though, there are no guides. Getting stuck while trying to finish the game for review was a legitimate concern of mine. The concern was, thankfully, unfounded.

For the point-and-click elements, everything makes sense if you pay attention. There is no moon logic or convoluted plans for what to do with each object. It’s perhaps the most logical point-and-click I’ve ever played. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. The puzzle elements all offer a challenge, whether you’re playing a strange version of checkers, sliding blocks to guide a laser, or navigating ducks across a river. Many of them took me several tries, but none of them were insurmountable. For the point-and-click portions, there’s an optional, unobtrusive hint option that clearly gives you your next direction if needed. For the puzzles, restarts are unlimited and can’t be accidentally used. Suffice to say, Lost in Play is easy where it should be easy, and challenging where it should be challenging– a perfect blend of difficulty that left me completely satisfied.

Uniqueness: 7/10

I’ve played a good deal of point-and-click adventures over the years. It always interests me how they can follow such a similar mechanic yet all feel so different. The difference is in their art styles, humor, storytelling, and characters. Lost in Play is no different. At its core, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table besides its story, characters, and the way they interact with the world. For me, that’s enough. 

Personal: 8/10

One thing I really miss is the magic of youth. I still remember a lot of the stories I made up from my surroundings, how the hole in the tree trunk at my school was home to leprechauns, and the bushes and trees around my grandfather’s driveway hid a fairy grove. The places and things that only a child was small enough to see. Even now, I still love making up stories about fairies, though those secret places are harder to see from an adult perspective and most of my made-up tales are a lot darker. Lost in Play felt like a wonderful flashback to happier times. Even being an only child, I could associate with Gal and her desire to make everything a game and Toto with his vivid imagination despite being on that edge of childhood and teenager. I fell in love with these kids and their adventure. I would love to see the developers expand on their story. No doubt kids of all ages would love it, and I’m sure they’ll love this game too.

We would like to thank Happy Juice Games and Joystick Ventures for an advance copy of Lost in Play for this critique.