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In a sense, making a video game about randomness is simultaneously a strange and obvious idea. After all, chance is a part of virtually all games in some capacity, whether it’s the RNG that decides whether an attack hits or a dice roll in a tabletop game that determines whether a player character lives or dies. However, Lost in Random take that concept and thrusts it into the foreground, making randomness literally the name of the game.
Combine that with a dark fantasy Tim Burton-inspired aesthetic, a unique combat system that combines action and card battler elements, and a story that’s both whimsical and grounded in universal themes, and the result is a gripping and powerful game unlike anything else. Lost in Random pulls off the challenging task of paying homage to gaming and randomness itself while still charting its own course and keeping players engaged with all of its twists and turns.
From the start, Lost in Random establishes its grim and fantastical setting. The Kingdom of Random was once a place where dice wielders and their six-sided companions lived and worked together, but that all changed when the Queen took power and declared that hers was the one true dice. Years later, that era is a distant memory, and the people of Random live under the Queen’s tyrannical rule. Most will only see a die once in their entire lives: when the Queen visits on their twelfth birthday, allowing them to roll her black die to determine which of Random’s six realms they will spend the rest of their lives in.
Even’s journey begins a year after her older sister, Odd, is whisked away from the impoverished Onecroft to live a supposed life of luxury alongside the Queen. When the young girl begins to suspect Odd is in danger, she runs away from home to find her — but instead of a straightforward trip to Sixtopia, Even’s mission takes her to all six of Random’s numbered and distinct realms.
Of course, Even does not go on this journey alone; she quickly meets Dicey, a sentient dice missing some pips who becomes her partner, helping her in combat and keeping her company as she experiences the world for the first time. Even and Dicey’s bond is one of the most charming elements of the game, with the young girl holding conversations with and understanding a companion who replies with incoherent babbling à la Han Solo and Chewbacca.
Along the way, Even will have to defend herself in battles against mechanical monsters and other bosses. Lost in Random‘s combat system may be the most unique aspect of a game filled with creative ideas. While Even is armed only with a non-damaging slingshot, she can use it to obtain energy cubes, gathering cards and throwing Dicey to use whatever hand she’s been dealt.
Time freezes as the player repositions Even and chooses which cards to play, obtaining temporary weapons or other bonuses, and restarts once the player attacks. The cards and time stopping mechanic add an element of strategy to the action-packed battles, letting the player explore the battlefield or get in an optimal position. There are also plenty of cards to obtain and abilities to try, with additional ones unlocking as the player purchases more from the merchant Mannie Dex.
The game encourages players to buy more cards by rewarding them with new packs and golden pins that let them keep select cards in their hand. However, once you’ve found cards that work for your playstyle, there’s rarely a reason to change up your deck. You can’t change up your hand during combat, and you generally won’t know what kind of battle gimmicks or foes will be involved beforehand, meaning there’s no way to adjust your deck to suit the fight at hand.
However, while some cards are more helpful in certain kinds of battles, you likely won’t run into a situation where your hand puts you at a complete disadvantage. Still, with so many interesting abilities and a maximum of 15 cards in your deck at any given time, it would have been nice to have a reason to actually experiment with more of them rather than sticking to the ones that prove reliable early on.
Needing to change up decks before or during important fights could have been especially engaging considering how many different types of battles the game throws at players. In addition to standard “defeat all enemies” fights, there are also arenas based on board games with different mechanics to work around and overcome. These shakeups keep the game fresh while fitting with the game’s overall homage to the simplistic randomness of board games, requiring players to take a different approach without being so obtuse that it’s hard to catch on.
Lost in Random‘s story shares a similar, fitting balance of familiar and unpredictable. While it features the dark fantasy elements fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline would expect — such as a child exploring the world for the first time and monsters that are technically family-friendly but may scare small children — the game also subverts the formula it sets up early on.
After leaving Onecroft and meeting Dicey, Two Town has Even finding the gate to the next world, realizing Dicey doesn’t have enough pips for the necessary roll to open it, completing quests to upgrade him and finally moving on to the next numerical world. But instead of simply repeating that cycle ad nauseam until reaching Sixtopia, her goals and adventures vary, keeping the adventure from feeling monotonous or stale. Paired with the game’s creative battle concepts, Lost in Random will keep players wondering what’s coming next.
Ultimately, Lost in Random offers a refreshingly unique adventure through its charming and whimsical world. While it does have its flaws — the aforementioned lack of incentive to switch up your deck, slow traversal and an awkwardly-placed run button, and a difficult to use map among them — its brilliant world design, quirky characters, engaging combat system snd heartwarming story are more than enough to make the Kingdom of Random worth getting lost in.
Developed by Zoink and published by EA, Lost in Random is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. A review copy was provided by the publisher.
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