Lost in Random Review: A Tale of Two Sisters

Do you ever play tabletop games? We’ve all had a round of Monopoly or twelve, tears falling as we face bankruptcy, but there’s something special about sitting down with friends, breaking out those fancy dice you definitely didn’t need as you roll for attack. By tapping into that experience through a gothic action-adventure fairy tale, Zoink’s Lost In Random is a certified winner.

Dice To See You

The tabletop-themed Kingdom of Random plays host to a beautifully realized world, and we find a land ruled by an oppressive queen. Having banished dice across the kingdom’s six realms, our cold-hearted monarch remains the sole dice-wielder, rolling a D6 upon your 12th birthday to determine your destiny. Whether you’ll spend your days in Onecroft, Two-Town, Threedom, Fourburg, Fivetropolis, or Sixtopia, that’s settled in a single roll.

This adventure sees us playing as Even, a young girl who lives with her family in Onecroft. After her older sister, Odd, is sentenced to become a Sixer, Even begins experiencing visions of her sister a year later, alongside the appearance of a mysterious ghost that beckons her. It's a compelling tale of sisterly love, and we're soon joined by a sentient and rather adorable D6 called Dicey, travelling together to ultimately threaten the Queen’s long-standing reign.

Each realm feels pretty distinctive. While Onecroft’s considered the slums of this Kingdom, Two-Town brings an obsession with duality, and you get the idea. There's welcome variety that keeps life interesting and while you can proceed with the main story, each major area also includes an intriguing set of collectible storybook pages that tell the Kingdom’s history. That's further balanced with side quests like finding potion ingredients or tearing down wanted posters, and more. There’s only one set ending, so don’t worry about missing anything, and it took me 14 hours to complete.

Play Your Cards Right

Shockingly, not everyone’s thrilled about Even’s adventure, and you’ll be fighting your way through the six realms. Taking influence from deck-builders, Lost in Random lets you customise a deck of 15 cards, coming in five varieties: weapon, damage, defence, hazard, and cheat. Obtained by defeating strong opponents or using your coins to buy more Random’s omnipresent card merchant, Mannie Dex, these fights surprisingly involve real-time combat.

So, how does this work? Once in battle, you’ll need to collect dice shards to fill up your dice meter, commonly gained by shooting blue crystals off enemies with your slingshot. That can be a little awkward against faster enemies but once filled, cards become available up to a maximum of five, each with a token cost. There’s some great customisation involved here, letting you choose between melee weapons like a Warhammer and swords, area of effect attacks like bombs, crossbows for long range, status restorers like health elixirs and more, all proving incredibly versatile.

Once filled, Even then throws Dicey to enter the “dicemension”, freezing time as you choose your card. Depending on the number Dicey’s landed on, that determines how many tokens you get, potentially picking multiple cards. Relying on Dicey’s rolls means obtaining tokens is essentially down to chance, which can prove frustrating. If you’ve not got enough tokens, Mannie fortunately gives you golden pins, letting you secure a card for your next turn.

Across The Board

Several sequences involve battling across a board game, where Dicey’s rolls determine how far your piece moves in one turn. That involves defeating enemies alongside it and while enemy variety often feels lacking, it largely sticks the landing. By eliminating that turn-based nature of tabletop experiences, Lost in Random benefits significantly from faster combat and though fights can start slow as you’re building up the meter, it's really enjoyable.

It’s also slightly challenging at times if you’re not quick on the defensive rolls, though if Lost in Random’s proving tough, there’s a “story mode” difficulty you can fall back on. That can thankfully be changed anytime, so you’re not stuck with that decision.

I’d be remiss not to discuss Lost in Random’s stunning presentation, too. Random’s a well-realised world, beautifully portrayed with an art style reminiscent of Tim Burton’s films and Little Nightmares. Admittedly, the six regions aren’t that visually distinctive from each other, but the stories they tell give each land some much-needed personality. Zoink’s done well and that's all backed up with a fitting soundtrack.

Verdict

Lost in Random is one of the more unique games I’ve encountered recently. Offering an entertaining fusion of deck-builders and real-time combat, Zoink’s realised its vision gracefully. A lack of enemy variety, slow starts to combat and some long-winded dialogue with NPCs mean there's room for improvement, but that's balanced out with strong combat customisation through the card deck, a captivating story and excellent art style. This one’s worth a look.

8/10

Lost in Random was reviewed on PS5, and a review code was provided by the publisher. It's also available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox.

Rewinder uses a 10-point scoring scale in our reviews, and we've detailed our review scoring policy here for more information.