Lost in Random: The Eternal Die Review — Playtime is Over

I’ve seen Lost in Random: The Eternal Die described as Tim Burton’s Hades. I think this is a fairly accurate comparison.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is a roguelite set within a twisted world of board games and dark whimsy. After a warrior queen is trapped within the confines of a dark god’s realm, it is up to her to survive his never-ending, cruel games in hopes of finally defeating the evil and releasing all imprisoned within.

What you’re going to notice about Lost in Random: The Eternal Die before anything else is the game’s gorgeous appearance. The aforementioned Tim Burton comparison is due to the highly unique grim puppetry aesthetic used in the game’s map and character designs. Everything in Lost in Random: The Eternal Die feels intentionally like you’ve been shrunk down and thrown into a twisted board game for the amusement of some off-screen giant. Gorgeous hand-drawn wood textures make up our doll-like protagonist, who summons up an incredibly satisfying little pitter-patter sound when walking across the board.

I would be lying to you if I didn’t say that the game’s fantastic art direction wasn’t my favorite part of Lost in Random: The Eternal Die. The macabre fairytale toybox look of every character and enemy is what drew me to the game in the first place, and I was pleasantly surprised by each new character or enemy I faced in the game. I can’t recall any that didn’t speak to me or that I was otherwise disappointed by. It is a very solid-looking game all around, and I have to praise the developers for excelling here.

That is not to say that the gameplay is bad in comparison. The twisted board game played in Lost in Random: The Eternal Die translates mechanically into a roguelite experience. Each level is procedurally generated, with bosses gatekeeping certain areas, and a collection of boons and power-ups available both in and out of levels to customize your runs. The Hades comparisons are easy to make, and I can clearly see that Lost in Random: The Eternal Die was inspired by that titan in the genre.

Also similar to Hades is how the game handles combat, with a handful of different enemies and a big focus on bullet-hell-type projectile dodging to stay alive in your encounters. There are a variety of different weapons, each with their own enhancements and attack patterns, and a series of different powers you can find during your run to augment your right-click projectile. Something unique the game also does is the inclusion of a die—a heavy AOE (Area of Attack) ranged attack that rolls a number on hit—something that can interact with the boons you find in-game for a variety of different results.

I have to say that my least favorite part of the game is how they handle your passive bonuses. Found throughout a level, these bonuses are slotted in a connect-three-style grid where you have to match colors in order to get passive effects. It is not simply that, early on into a run, this is rather hard to do, but the boons and buffs themselves I didn’t find particularly interesting.

The game, in general, felt a little afraid of giving players too many tools to play with. There is not a huge variety of weapons or powers to use, and little to no ways to dramatically alter them during a run for cool, satisfyingly powerful effects. Overall, it felt as though there was very little change in how my character played at the start and end of runs, with the only real noticeable difference being the numbers on my attacks or health bar. While you can be powerful in this way, these are not changes that feel meaningful for the player to actually play with.

This issue continues with out-of-run progression as well, with the boons or buffs you can unlock not being more than direct number changes—and not huge ones at that. It was bad enough that I quickly found myself not overly concerned with progression, because while I knew the buffs would help, they weren’t substantial or interesting enough for me to go out of my way to collect the resources I needed for them.

That being said, Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is a game that scratches that “one more run” roguelite itch for the vast uniqueness of its enemies and world, if not because the roguelike features themselves are overly exciting or interesting. While I never found myself chasing that next big build or excited to try out a new weapon or power, the eagerness to get to each new floor and see what the game had to offer me was always there, and the story kept me hooked for as long as I kept playing.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die was reviewed on the PC via Steam. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation.