Lost in Random

 

Sometimes games I wouldn't normally purchase just appear on the PS4. That's the fun thing about a shared console. And I have to at least try them just because they are there. I enjoyed this one enough to finish it and even upload a couple of videos.

Everything about this game is clever from the artwork to the game play, story, characters and dialogue. At it's core it is live action gwent or whatever similiar card game you fancy. The story revolves around a socially stratified realm called Random made up of six separated regions. Random is ruled by a mad queen who determines everyone's fate with the roll of a dice. It's like central planning was just Stalin sitting at a craps table. A robotic army keeps the enslaved citizenry in their place.

Our protagonist, a little girl named Even, travels through the six districts seeking her sister Odd who has been taken by the evil queen. Even's companion is a vocal albeit incomprehensible animated die she calls Dicey. And it is dicey. The die is powered by crystals Even must dislodge from enemies with her slingshot or other means. Once Dicey is powered up, Even can roll it and the roll result determines what cards Even can play in combat. The cards she selects determine what weapons and abilities she can activate. This adds some unpredictabiliy to combat despite the predictability of most enemies. I'm not even going to start with the puns here because there are enough of them in the game.

It's not a difficult game but it's not a piece of cake either. It has an interesting twist on board games as well and a couple of those were challenging to get through. I don't have much else to say about it. It's cute but a little dark and the game play is fun.