The Lost Child: What to expect

2017's The Lost Child was one of the very last first-person dungeon crawler released on the Vita; and as a physical version is heading towards our shores (insert eyes teary with gratefulness), I had to check out somehow if it was worth a purchase. Normally, the mere fact that we're talking about a FPDC should have been enough to warrant a purchase of the "Shut up and take my money" sort; but in that particular case, I have to admit that the reviews somewhat confused me. With scores ranging from 81 to 50 and reviewers describing the game as a host of different (and sometimes conflicting) things, I had my doubts about TLC. Was it a tedious monstrosity mix of VN and dungeon-crawling à la Ray Gigant, as some reviews seemed to imply? Or was it a more classic FPDC with bits of storytelling in between? I had to check before commiting to a physical purchase; and lucky me, the PSN January sales were in the mood to humour me. TLC was here for the taking for a very cheap price, and that's how I unexpectedly found myself playing it — and loving it very much indeed. But more on that later; for now, let's shed a welcome light on what TLC is — and isn't.

It's not a visual novel: No matter what some reviews seem to imply, TLC cannot be described as a VN by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, there are some story-telling segments; but they are mercifully short, and few and far between to boot. Oh, and did I mention that the story is painfully erratic and makes little sense? Anybody who's in for a narrative treat should wisely abstain from coming close to TLC. On the other hand, all my fellow crawlers are more than welcome, as TLC's story-telling doesn't detract in any way from its (excellent) dungeon crawling.

It's derivative as heck: Nearly every feature and gameplay mechanic in TLC has been done before and is bound to remind you of another game or franchise. Its main feature, the monster-collecting and evolving thing, vigorously screams Pokemon; and some have even compared TLC to the Shin Megami Tensei series. I cannot comment on that supposed resemblance since I have yet to play a MegaTen game, but let me tell you this: if the Shin Megami Tensei series is anything like TLC, then I'm most certainly gonna have the time of my life when I finally play it, oooh yes precious.

Ia! Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The white goat with a thousand teeth!

It's definitely not a piece of Lovecraftian fanfiction: And that's all for the best, really. Lovecraft's creations were always designed as entities far beyond the scope of our pitifully limited human perception, and there's no way a mere budget dungeon crawler could have done them justice. The Lovecraft references in TLC are just as derivative as anything else in the game, being but a couple of names slapped on monsters, bosses, NPCs and whatnot; they could be seen as an homage at best — and as a shameless display of creative laziness at worst. As a matter of fact, they are far from being the only blatant source of inspiration here, as the game gaily and shamelessly pilfers names from religions, mythologies, legends, and whatever else the writers happened to fancy.

It's a total grindfest: It starts innocuously enough, with a forgiving encounter rate and quick battles; but before the end of the third dungeon, you'll be facing packages of 5 to 10 enemies on a regular basis. You cannot shy away from random encounters too often if you want to exploit your monster foils' full potential, given that they learn new skills solely in battle and level up through the use of resident resources obtained by killing trash mobs. And since backtracking is part and parcel of the roaming due to the dungeons' design and the absence of an instant save feature, that means even more grinding along the way.

It's really not optimized: I think this is the first time I encounter a FPDC that requires load times when entering dungeons and between dungeon floors. Not just load times, but very long load times. Text is ridiculously tiny and sometimes skips before you can read it, regardless of the selected text speed. More embarrassing is the game's unfortunate tendency to crash randomly, with my own version freezing on me a good five times since the beginning of my run — with collateral losses of good progression involved, as you'd expect. I can only hope that the upcoming physical version will alleviate those issues.

It's unabashedly old-fashioned: Let's face it, TLC is more Wizardry than Dungeon Travelers. Not only does it shamelessly dispense with player-friendly features such as instant save and warp points, but it makes no effort to charm the player's senses. TLC's dungeons are austere to a fault, with a bleakness pretty typical of old-school FPDCs — and so are its soundtrack and its character and enemy designs. The whole art style is highly reminiscent of '90s manga — early Bastard!, Psychometer Eiji and the like — and the dungeon themes are atmospheric and brooding pieces à la Ecco the Dolphin. This is a game that doesn't try to woo the player and draw them in, but rather dares said player to conquer it — and learn to love it while doing so.

In a nutshell, TLC doesn't try to be anything more than a serviceable FPDC for aficionados of the genre. It doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it does everything right nonetheless and delivers good, robust dungeon crawling by the truckload. I already have 18 hours of TLC under my belt, and I'm nowhere near finished with that game indeed. See you soon for more TLC goodness, dear fellow gamers! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!