Lost At Sea – Review (PS5, Xbox Series X)

Our Rating: 6/10

The seemingly endless number of independent games that stake everything on the eagerness to thrill, touch the deepest emotions, and leave a lasting impression on the players’ minds reveals the path in which many productions, like Lost At Sea, are heading.

After difficult navigation in the open sea, Anna sets out to arrive on an islet. That island is a metaphor for a lifetime’s worth of experiences, rather than a physical location. The noteworthy memories of Anna’s life, now by herself, will be recapped to bring life to the woman’s story. They will be spread fittingly in open-world surroundings made up of many small biomes.

Lost at Sea tries to weave a vibrant and coherent story out of regrets, missed chances, happy moments, miseries, and the worries of growing older. However, it only succeeds in a limited way. The justifications can be found in a very cliched and boring story. As well as in lapidary and sparse sentences that leave the player cold and fail to feel empathy with the character and her emotions.

Expect a sandbox-like in which you are continuously moving from one point to another. The long walks transpire into almost nothing. The game will alert you from the start that you’ll have to overcome your fears and conquer the fear of dying that grips everyone as they grow older.

A sea of ​​joys and sorrows

Anna has been past her prime for a considerable time. The acceptance has become an unavoidable obligation in her quest for peaceful senility. The player will have to explore micro-areas that dot the vast desert that is that island. The sea and sand leave no other options for discovery or memorable scenes.

Provided that biomes represent different aspects of life, it was fair to expect a deeper understanding of the places. This includes significant moments that the objects within them portray. Those places with obvious symbolic meaning, on the other hand, appear as stacks of things piled up in the middle of nowhere. When you engage with furniture or toys, you will get at most a few trivial phrases.

The result is a jumbled narrative that is undeniably clear. However, they develop in a fraction of the time that it would take to learn everything Anna has gone through. The gameplay is also a co-conspirator in this great boredom, as it cannot cut corners to cut down on downtime.

Gameplay

Lost at Sea does not give you specific instructions or a clear explanation of the game’s main components. You essentially have to frame your fears before they get on you. They are demonstrated in single luminous globes formed by black fronds that can swarm anywhere.

You’ll dematerialize them this way. You won’t have to restart from the same checkpoints, no matter how well distributed they are. This is the only danger you’ll encounter in Lost at Sea, and it’s a truly unnerving cliche. It doesn’t get any better when it comes to exploration, which is at the heart of the whole gaming experience. Lost at Sea gives you a compass right away. However, the need to orient yourself is only related to locating the objects that unlock memories.

Essentially, once you’ve uncovered the points with which to interact, you’ll need to locate the missing piece that’s scattered throughout the island. Here, you can select a distinct moment in time by turning a specific ring of the dial. The objects in question will be visible on the upper part. White dots will then appear around the compass’s boundary. They roughly correspond to the exact location to follow while keeping the hand in the center to avoid getting lost.

Touches on delicate issues, but doesn’t believe it enough

Lost at Sea does not know how to utilize this aspect well, even giving a sense of early failure; you will recognize this when you understand that there is no need to select the object to put it where it is missing. If you have the correct object and are in the correct location, simply press the interact button. Everything will fall into place. What you’ll need to collect from time to time will only appear after you’ve come into contact with what appear to be tiny bright stars. They are arranged in such a way that you can easily move from one platform to the next.

The entire cast of Lost at Sea is present, and allusions to the deepest dramas are insufficient to revive the fortunes of a project that is too lazy and uninspired to capture the hearts of its users. There are some interesting elements and themes that are only briefly mentioned. For example, the protagonist’s empty nest syndrome, which has a significant impact and long-term consequences in parenting. Or the realization that the wounds will never heal, and that even when they stop bleeding, there will always be a scar to remind you of the upheavals of a personal journey that no one but you can fully comprehend.

Final Thoughts

Although Lost at Sea is free of major bugs that detract from the game’s enjoyment, it fails to pique the interest: Visually, it is below average; the surroundings are fairly plain. The polygonal modeling is normal, and there is nothing that can reflect a distinct character for the work. It seems to be forced to drown in the mare magnum in which far too many are lost.

There have been many emotional stories, which we have told in due time on these pages, singing their praises several times; we must say, they are far more deserving of your attention than this timid experiment, which is all too immature in intent and realization. Lost at sea and unsure of where to go, they decided to go adrift and drift away on the horizon until they became lost in the waves.