Lost in Play Review

Developer: Happy Juice Games

Platforms: PC (Reviewed), Switch

Genre: Adventure

Publisher: Joystick Ventures

Lost in Play is an innovative animated adventure game developed by Happy Juice Games and published by Joystick Ventures. The game reminds me of those old 2D point-and-click investigative games.

Lost in Play is a 2D adventure puzzle game about two siblings, a brother and sister, trying to find their way back home. Throughout their adventure, they encounter many magical creatures and frogs! Various puzzles are presented to them to help them work their way over to the next area. This game is a single-player game. There are two main characters, where in certain scenarios, you are required to change to the other character. The non-selected character stays in position through the computer AI.

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The controls of this game are simple. I like what they have done with the controller selection screen. At the start of the game, you can pick between three different; control layouts; mouse, keyboard and controller. For this review, I played this on the keyboard setting. I found the controls very easy to follow. I like how while playing the game, you see a pop-up for what you can interact with and the control written by it. If there were no pop-up icons for interactions, the game would have been a bit tedious.

The visuals of this game are drawn as they would belong in a cartoon. A very cartoonish style with bright colours. The overall design of the game reminds me of a show named Gravity Falls. This game is a mix between 2D and 3D aspects, the game; really has a bit of everything. The art style also adapts for certain puzzles, like the dog and sheep one; at the beginning looks more like a sketch than refined drawings. The animation for this game is very smooth and appealing to look at.

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I enjoyed the characters speaking gibberish rather than actual words. It fits well with the style of the game, and to show what is next, they have little icon dialogues. The music in the game is whimsical for certain situations. I do have to say the whacky and loud sound effects, like the bear growling, add more joy and thrill to the game. The sound effects go really well with the outlandish style, so everything in the game is outlandish!

I found this game to be very interesting; it definitely brought some nostalgia back, as I would play games similar to this when I was little. The game features all sorts of unique puzzles, though I would say at times they were more challenging than others. The hints given for some puzzles were not the best hints at times, so I would hope that the hints were a bit more useful for some of the puzzles. I love how no puzzle is similar to the other and fits the theme of the situation the kids are in. Overall, the game was very fun to play because of how challenging it was.

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If you want to play a challenging puzzle game with a magical story, then Lost in Play is the game for you! You encounter various puzzles that each have such amazing themes. Enjoy this interactive, exciting puzzle game with wonderful animations.

Overall: 7/10