Lost Words: Beyond the Page
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Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a puzzle-platform game developed by Sketchbook Games and published by Modus Games. The game was released for Stadia on March 27 2020, then for Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 6, 2021. PID Games released it for iOS and Android on May 9, 2023, and then, published again by the infamous streaming service, Crunchyroll Games in Crunchyroll Game Vault catalogue on December 2024.
Synopsis
Isabelle (Izzy) is a young, aspiring writer who keeps a personal journal. The game takes place in Estoria, a fantasy world which emerges from the diary entries that Isabelle keeps. The player character is crowned as the Guardian of Fireflies and must restore the fireflies to their village after it has been destroyed by a dragon. The real-world turmoil that affects Isabelle's life leads to consequences that affect the fantasy setting of Estoria.
Why It's Not A Lost Words
- The idea of making diary life with fantasy game is great mix, and the execution is absolutely good.
- The plot is really great and heartwarming.
- Beautiful music.
- Decent voice acting.
- The graphics is absolutely great and beautiful, with nice lighting and good atmosphere that fit perfectly for fantasy games.
- The gameplay is very unique; there's 2 sections, one of the diary and later the fantasy one. This words act like platforming, and it's a very unique elements.
- In the fantasy sections, the words act like a tool, such as "Break" words can destroy the destructible objects.
- You can collect the fireflies. Collecting all fireflies can give a true ending, which is nice addition, and give a replay value, even this game is very shorts.
- There's so many heartwarming and tearjerker here and there, even kids can feels sad, like when Grandma were died, Izzy's cried and it didn't make the journal, until they make it at the latter in the game.
- The controls is solid and tight as usual.
Bad Qualities
- Even the game has a replay value like collecting the fireflies, the game is very short, lasting 3-4 hours long.
- The game is very easy, and it make senses, because this game is made for all ages.
- In one scenes, the "Damnit" words can be inappropriate and out of the place for kids game.
- The Re-release games for Mobile devices is locked behind the subscription paywall, thanks to Crunchyroll greediness and inconsistent designs choice for mobile offline gaming.
Reception
Lost Words: Beyond the Page received mixed reviews for the Windows and PlayStation 4 versions, while the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Stadia versions received positive reviews, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.