Remember when you were a kid, and you would create fictional universes where you would pretend to be a knight, a hunter, a sailor, anything that seemed extraordinarily fun to you and having the time of your life with your friends in this make-believe world? Lost in Play takes that childhood innocence and neatly packs it for you to play in this game.

It is exactly as it sounds: Lost in Play is about two children who are literally “lost” in their game. As they go about their day, the siblings go through a portal where their make-believe worlds become a reality, and they find themselves in a magical world. Lost in Play game largely features the two sibling protagonists, and the player follows them as they jump from one adventure to another. It looks more like a cartoon than a game, which naturally helps with the immersion factor.
 

These cartoonish graphics are truly, truly magical. Many of us who love famous shows like Steven Universe and The Adventures of Gumball agree that these shows are both for kids and adults, right? The same goes for this game. Lost in Play is a game that could entertain children for hours. We can picture ourselves playing this as a flash game in our preteen years.

Furthermore, Lost in Play is a surprise by itself. It is so absurd and non-sensical that you never know what comes next. Rubber ducks carrying flags to the other side of the river? Frogs helping you get a sword out of a rock? A goblin playing guitar? All of these do take part in this game! This is what helps it keep this childlike spirit! This random, dry humor makes the game feel like it came out of a child’s imagination indeed.

But beneath all the magic and pretty visuals, what is it actually like? Lost in Play can be controlled by a mouse, a keyboard, or a controller. Although the game recommends playing it with a controller, it is possible to have fun with either of the options. As mentioned above, it has a really childish sense to it- Therefore, in the world of point-and-click adventures, Lost in Play remains one of the simpler games to play in your spare time.
 

With all that being said, a game that consists of different minigames and puzzles has to, at one point, have a difficulty issue. For instance, there are a lot of people who say they struggled with the first checkers minigame to the point where they had to check a walkthrough to solve. Other people claim they had problems with the ducks minigame- The list goes on and on, but you get the point. What might be difficult for one person cannot be difficult for another one, and since this game depends so much on the minigames it contains, you might get stuck in one puzzle and think it will get more challenging. However, there is no difficulty curve that I noticed, as explained above.

There is a hint option (which can be used multiple times) to get help when you are stuck on a minigame. However, this is not always feasible, for the hint can be very vague sometimes. How can you give a hint about logic or skill-based minigame? You can’t. Lost in Play can’t either- Sometimes, the hint option tells you to “achieve this to win the game.” This can be a bit frustrating.

Obvious as it may be, it might be beneficial to state that there is no replay value in Lost in Play. But for this genre in particular (point-and-click puzzle solving), it is not a bad thing per se. After completing a puzzle, there is no reason to go back to complete it once again; you will already know the answer. This fact, combined with the four-hour play time, may upset some people- But these four hours are charming indeed.
 

Everything in this game works together to create a dazzling cartoonish universe for the player. The sound design is also one of the elements that work out by itself. The playful music, combined with the gibberish language that the characters speak, and the noises made by the other (sometimes mythological) characters cooperate as they create this illusion of a cartoon rather than a game. I have nothing bad to say about the sound design, as well as all the other elements of the game.

Overall, Lost in Play keeps all of its promises, and it keeps them well. The gameplay can be tricky, but it is fun and exactly what you would expect from a point-and-click adventure time. The art style is incredible; the 2D graphics make it look straight out of a children’s program. The sound design is clever and helps to propagate the illusion of childhood. Every single element that makes up this game serves to create an atmosphere that feels unapologetically magical. Lost in Play is a game that both children and adults can enjoy, and we need more games like that.

Yagmur Sevinc (@yagmursevvinc)
Editor, NoobFeed