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Lost in Random: The Eternal Die Review – Risky Roll, Rewarding Results

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die Review – Risky Roll, Rewarding Results

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die Review
This seems to be the season for surprises. Game developers are taking established IPs in unexpected directions, like FromSoftware’s out-of-nowhere Elden Ring spinoff, Nightreign. Maybe less dramatic is Lost in Random: The Eternal Die. Using the world and some key characters from the action-RPG Lost in Random, developer Stormteller has gone all in on a roguelike for its semi-sequel. It’s a roll of the dice — pun intended — that pays off.

Top Down Action
Having previously played Lost in Random is not a prerequisite, except maybe in one area, which is the story. It’s good to know, for example, that The Eternal Die’s antihero Aleksandra is actually the big bad from the first game, or that her faithful die companion Fortune is related to that of the original game. The game has a new antagonist, The Black Die, and henchman Mare the Knight, an interesting enemy. The narrative grows in complexity as it spins out. While references to Lost in Random abound, insider knowledge isn’t absolutely required, and the game does a good job of explaining itself.

As all roguelikes require, there is a hub area called Sanctuary to which Queen Aleksandra and Fortune return. Sanctuary is home to the game’s growing roster of vendor NPCs, and where the player spends accumulated items and XP for upgrades. This is a good place to mention that Lost in Random: The Eternal Die has a lot of fully voiced dialogue. By and large, the writing is good. It balances humor, drama, and its own weird sense of place pretty well.

One of Lost in Random’s standout aspects was its world. Inspired by the dark fantasy of people like Tim Burton, the moody, colorful, and surreal environments and characters made an impression. The Eternal Die moves the world of Random to a top-down, isometric view. The art style still works, but The Eternal Die leans into colorful effects a bit more.

Pick Your Weapon
Narrative and world-building count, of course. More important, however, are moment-to-moment action and game-play mechanics. It’s here that Lost in Random: The Eternal Die begins to shine. Generally, it doesn’t stray too far from familiar roguelike loops. That’s ok as long as it has a few new ideas.

As expected, everything revolves around cards, dice, and randomness to some extent. Queen Aleksandra heads into each run with one of four weapons — sword, bow, spear, or hammer. Back in Sanctuary, Aleksandra can use Pip Dust to upgrade her base stats and Cinder to upgrade her weapons. She heads into each run with a powerful, chargeable Card ability. Along the way, she collects relics that are color-coded. Relics add buffs and special powers. They have unique synergies with each other, depending on their placement on a grid.  Aleksandra’s final weapon is her companion die, Fortune. Fortune is used in a lot of ways. His main role is like a grenade, with various and devastating AOEs.

There are four worlds to unlock. Each run takes place through a series of interconnected rooms with random placements of enemies and rewards. Runs — no surprise — start easy and quickly escalate the challenge. The rooms themselves often contain a great many traps and hazards. The frantic action is paused now and then for small mini-game rooms or chances to regroup.

Thanks to all the variables of gear, Card powers, and relics, each run feels pretty unique. That delicious/compulsive “just one more chance” feeling is definitely there. My biggest complaint about The Eternal Die’s action is that the areas are often very small for the number of enemies that spawn. The game has some fairly abrupt spikes in difficulty between sections of the run that can frustrate.

More Than A Chance for Enjoyment
The Eternal Die’s art style is attractive. The game’s four areas are different enough to be interesting, but the level design relies a lot on repeated use of assets from room to room. While there are plenty of ways to approach a run via gear and luck, runs definitely started to feel a bit same-y and predictable. I suppose these are elements common to roguelikes, so I can’t really fault The Eternal Die in particular. Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is definitely a game that could be the platform for an endless amount of added content.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die isn’t literally a sequel, of course. It’s an interesting switch to a new genre, and a gamble that pays off. With its fast, challenging, colorful action and a unique setting, Lost in Random: The Eternal Die puts a compelling spin on familiar roguelike mechanics. Both fans of the genre and the first Lost in Random game should find plenty to enjoy.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***

The Good

Interesting world building
Lots of build options
Addictive gameplay

79

The Bad

Repetitive level design
Difficulty spikes
Fairly short

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Written by Mr Viral

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