OneOrEight
Disclaimer: A review copy was supplied.
In the world of Lost Epic, the world is ruled by the powerful New Gods and their followers, the Holy Ones. They compete to control the land and destroy the remnants of humanity and other intelligent beings who live there. People who have been rejected or been cast aside by these deities are known as The Perishing, left with little more in life than waiting for death to one day claim them.
As a chosen knight, the player has the power to stand up to the New Gods and serve as a beacon of hope for the people of the world.
Lost Epic is a side-scrolling platformer that can fit right in next to other action fantasy games like Bloodstained or the legendary Castlevania series. In this style of game, known as a Metroidvania, you explore a two-dimensional world, jumping and climbing through a variety of environments and searching for the tools you need to unlock new and more challenging areas.
There are also a variety of characters who offer invaluable services, including advice and side-quests, which lead the player on exciting journeys through unexplored territories to discover hidden items and unlock the lore of the game’s world.
The game uses a paper-doll style of animation for its characters. Static two-dimensional pieces of art that are manipulated to animate everything instead of drawing individual sprites for every movement. It’s not off-putting, but I’ve always found this style of animation lacks a sense of weight and personality.
The visuals look good, but are rough around the edges. The environments have a soft, storybook quality to them, but the artwork used is also noticeably low resolution next to the detailed character art. There are often visible seams in the backgrounds which drew my eyes. There’s little visual indication to distinguish items and objects you can interact with, and I ended up running right past notes on the ground and crafting items typically during the early tutorial areas.
The game’s combat system is one of its strongest points, with the ability to switch between weapons and various combo options. Double-jumping into a crowds of enemies, performing a slashing combo, dodging a counterattack with perfect timing, and following up with a blast of magic to knock back everything around you feels great. Learning the patterns of the different enemies and bosses is crucial to success, and there are a huge number of powers and weapons at your disposal. Each weapon has a unique special attack, and combining them with the abilities granted by other items you collect keeps the fighting from becoming repetitive.
The overwhelming upgrade tree could be a potential drawback for Lost Epic. While the game offers an extensive upgrade system with 20 pages of upgrades, some players may find it difficult to navigate and may feel lost in what upgrades to prioritise. However, this feature also adds to the game’s replayability, as players can experiment with different upgrade paths and playstyles.
Fans of Elden Ring or similar Dark Souls-style games will find the gameplay features familiar. Attacking or dodging uses stamina, using items to request assistance from other players or join their games, using collectable shards from downed enemies as currency or experience to level up when at a rest spot.
Lost Epic also offers a variety of enemies and bosses to battle, each with their unique fighting styles and weaknesses. The game’s challenging difficulty ensures that players must learn each enemy’s pattern and strategize their approach to succeed.
I noticed quite a few grammatical errors throughout the game. The development team is not made of native English speakers, but it still feels like these could have been ironed out, as it has been available on Steam for nearly a year at the time that I’m writing this.
Overall, Lost Epic is a fun and engaging game with unique visual style, deep combat mechanics, and an intriguing storyline. The game’s challenging difficulty, upgrade system, and multiplayer system make it a worthwhile purchase for fans of platformers and Dark Souls-style games. Despite its rough edges, Lost Epic is a hidden gem on the Nintendo Switch and is worth checking out.
4 Stars out of 5
Pros:
- Fluid and deep combat
- Beautiful visual style
- Atmospheric soundtrack
Cons:
- Rough graphics
- Occasional grammar problems
- Punishing (but adjustable) difficulty