The story of The Lost focuses on the Dokta tribe. An unexpected thread is looming and the peaceful world of the desert tribes is in grave danger. I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful artwork at the start of the game.

When starting the prologue you’re thrown right into the middle of a giant war. At first it was a bit overwhelming and confusing, as you’re suddenly introduced to a whole lot of characters without much exposition. Throughout the prologue I wasn’t really invested in the characters because of that. The tragic conclusion didn’t hit me the way it should because I didn’t seem to know the characters that well yet.

In the midst of the chaos you get to know a complex battle system. After a while I started to grasp the ins and outs of the system. I liked the fact that your position in battle determines the options you have. Especially in the final boss fight, I was strategically thinking about my options. Just mashing attack will surely not get you to victory, which is a huge plus in my opinion.

Overall I think it doesn’t really work to start game with this prologue. It makes it pretty hard to get into the game, as you’re confronted with a lot of information (characters, huge map with lots of sprites and a complex battle system) all at once.

As I reached the main game I finally got more freedom to walk around and start exploring the world at my own pace. There is some excellent writing to be found in the first town, I enjoyed the dialogues between the citizens. Also a huge plus to all the small details, that make this town feel alive, like the emoticons above people’s head, the moving around and all the details in the environment.

Too bad the graphical style doesn’t match the artwork at the start of the game. There is a lot to see, but for me it was a bit too much. For me it would’ve been better if the game would zoom in a bit more. Now I got a bit overwhelmed with all the things on screen. Also, a bleaker art style for the world could work better for the dark and serious tone of the story. The colorful and happy characters from RPG Maker MV didn’t really fit well into the narrative for me. Though the map design itself was really well done!

Things I really enjoyed were the rich world and lore, the excellent music and the writing. Those are the main reasons I’m intrigued by a complete version of this game. I hope Dutch can keep up this quality in the rest of the game.

I would like to end with some advice. I encountered several hugely dramatic scenes in the game. However, they didn’t really hit me, because of two reasons. I wasn’t connected enough yet to the characters involved, and the scenes went by way too fast. Maybe you could try to slow down these scenes, not by adding more text, but by adding more character expressions and effect. Also, take the time to let the music do its work. Take for example key scenes in Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger and Lufia II.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with The Lost. Dutch created an impressive world, that’s worth your time to explore. It’s an original take on the JRPG genre and I’m looking forward to get to know the Dokta tribe better!