A year after its stealthy release on Stadia, Lost Words Beyond the Page is coming on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and Steam. An opportunity for a large number of players to discover this small block.
“Lost Words: Beyond the Page” is the first game from a young British studio Sketchbook games, It consists of ten people, including Rihanna Pratchett. An amazingly autobiographical English screenwriter wrote the screenplay Mirror’s Edge, the new version of Tomb Raider that was released in 2013 and its sequel, Rise of the Tomb Rider. After these blockbuster films, I took up the pen to a more intimate project: Missing Words: Beyond the Page.
The game tells the story of Izzy, the young girl who dreams of becoming a writer who has just received her first diary. In young Izzy’s life, there are her parents, her little brother Ben, Pinky, her cat who is afraid of mice, and above all her grandmother who is very important to her. The Missing Words constantly alternate between two stages of play with a very different artistic direction and gameplay.
A game with an original concept
First of all, there are those moments when the player experiences what the little girl says in her diary. These stages of play take place directly inside the newspaper pages, illustrated in a very beautiful way with graphics and watercolor. Much like the platform game, you have to walk on certain words to play the animation, the pages turn over and the story goes on. You also have to play with words, move them around, and use them wisely. All while following Izzy’s voice narrating what she is writing and calming through the agonizing music. It is very simple, but original and beautiful.
Between these stages in the little girl’s diary, the player immerses herself in the world of Astoria and the story she imagines to escape from her daily life. Lost Words then becomes a less magical platform game, but still very original. Its peculiarity is the use of words to trigger actions on the screen and thus progress through the levels. Thus the player can choose powers such as “increase”, “break” or even “repair” by selecting them in his notebook.
“It is rare for the game to convey so much emotion.”
Through Izzy’s story and his relationship with his grandmother, “lost words” always precisely evokes powerful topics such as mourning, self-construction or even guilt. The result is very moving and moving. The game rarely conveys so much emotion. Here, there is no “game over”. The challenge is not met too. Even it is almost absent. But the target is not there.
“Lost Words: Beyond the Page” is a journey of less than 5 hours of fun filled with poetry and emotions. It is heart touching. Notice for narrative graphics, soundtracks and watercolor. In their first game, Sketchbook Games made a solid little, sad but good piece, and it probably fell into the most exciting game of the year.
The icing on the cake: “Missing Words: Beyond the Page” is available for download only at € 14.99.
explore Launch trailer :
