Lost in Play - Switch Review
"The tongue-and-cheek humour that'd make Tim Schafer smile."
Lost in Play has the player control brother and sister duo Toto and Gal as they set out on a mission to find their way home after getting, for lack of a better phrase, lost in play. The game is a point and click adventure with the tongue-and-cheek humour that'd make Tim Schafer smile. The siblings will brave pointy-hat frogs, an elderly pigeon lady and a mischevous goblin up to no good.
The Good
I seem to have become the default writer for point and click adventure games here at Switchaboo and for every review, I've mentioned how they tend to struggle on console due to the mechanics that the genre is built around: pointing and clicking. However, developers are beginning to learn and adapt these experiences more effectively when bringing their games to consoles and Lost in Play seems to have jotted down some notes. Lost in Play is less about pointing and clicking and more about moving and interacting, giving the player complete freedom to move with the left analogue stick and not have to use an awkward cursor to engage with objects and NPCs.
So much of Lost in Play feels like it's been plucked directly from a children's picture book. It wonderfully encapsulates the magic of being a child filled with bright-eyed imagination. On top of that, the characters are delightful, with the two main protagonists being a brother and sister duo. There is no dialogue whatsoever and speech is made audible through Sims-like voiceovers. Instead, puzzles are primarily logic-based, with hints from NPCs usually provided through speech bubbles or physical movements.
The game gives you the option to use a hint-system by holding down the Y button. It won't flat-out give you the answer, it'll just have the character hold up a piece of paper with an image on it in order to nudge you in the right direction. While this is bad news for websites that write walkthroughs (the 1%), it's a fantastic system for the players (the other 99%).
TL;DR
- Well adapted for console
- Plucked directly from a children's picture book
- Convenient hint system
The Bad
Due to the lack of dialogue, while it's cute, it can sometimes make puzzle tutorials somewhat difficult to fully comprehend. This often leads to a series of trial-and-error approaches until you either begin to understand what the game is wanting from you, or simply solving puzzles out of sheer luck.
TL;DR
- Occasional obtuse puzzle tutorials
Final Score: 9/10
I absolutely adored my time with Lost in Play. The puzzles, the atmosphere, the personality; it all cultimated to a gaming experience that I'll always remember. Everything feels like it's been plucked directly from a Saturday morning cartoon and its wacky humour provides an experience that is guaranteed to have the player smiling from ear-to-ear. Lost in Play was an absolute pleasure to play and with it being their second game after they release The Office Quest back in 2019 (on Nintendo Switch), Happy Juice Games are a team to keep your eye on.
Thank you for checking out our Lost in Play Switch review, thank you to Joystick Ventures (via Renaissance PR) for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
- Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
- Bel Cubitt
- NintenVania Podcast
- Rachelle Suri-Tucker