Traverse labyrinthine dungeons on a holy mission from God. Is The Lost Child Worth Playing in 2023?
Table of Contents
Background
The Lost Child is a first person dungeon crawler that serves as a sequel to El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of either of these games, because neither sold well. I was surprised to stumble across this game: a dungeon crawler in the vein of Shin Megami Tensei? How did I miss this? As it turns out, it’s because it’s not a very good game. This game clearly suffered from a lack of budget and could have used an additional pass for some polish.
What does The Lost Child do well?
There are some interesting ideas on display here; for starters there’s clearly a big overarching narrative that they didn’t get a chance to fully realize. There’s a Who’s Who of characters here from mythology and the public domain.
You capture demons by shooting them with a “bullet” generated from the strength of your party. Demons must then be purified by using one of three types of karma (good, evil, or dual). You use that same karma to level up your demons, who don’t otherwise gain any experience from battle. Once your demon/angel/fallen angel reaches their max level, you can upgrade their Evil Level, further increasing their stats.
What could The Lost Child do better?
This game is a masterclass in wasted potential. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that any particular concepts are done badly per se, but none of them are executed well. The art looks amateurish, demon designs aren’t good, and neither the plot nor the characters are interesting. The Japanese voice cast does a decent job, but the English dub isn’t so lucky. Mechanics aren’t fleshed out or are explained poorly; for example, equipment modifiers are obtuse and lack any context.
Was The Lost Child fun?
This game is mind-numbingly boring. This wasn’t the first NIS-published game that had gone under my radar, but in hindsight I can see why this game’s delisting is the most buzz it has ever gotten.
Is The Lost Child good value?
This isn’t a brief game, which means that you’re stuck looking at your ugly demons for that much longer if you stick it out.
Who is this game for?
The Lost Child is an apt name, because this game was someone’s baby that got left out in the cold. If you were looking for a mediocre dungeon crawler, then the time to buy would have been when it was 90% off. As it stands, the only way to obtain this game now is by forking out for a physical copy.
Is The Lost Child worth Playing in 2023?
The Lost Child is a good candidate for being lost to time, as it just got delisted from the eShop. Neither NIS nor Kadokawa list this game on their websites, so if they don’t care, why should you? Don’t fall prey to FOMO for a physical copy of this game. You can safely pass on The Lost Child, which could have definitely benefitted from some TLC.
Unfortunately, the consistent theme of The Lost Child is that it feels like the awkward first game in a series; ostensibly some of the annoyances would have been ironed out if it had received a sequel.
Buyer beware: I’ve seen reports of bugs in chapter 7 relating to demons that can only be obtained once. Genre veterans already know this, but make sure you save often.
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