EA had plenty to talk about at EA Play Live 2021. Naturally, it focused significantly on Battlefield 2042, the next step in the highly influential shooter franchise. EA also made time for Apex Legends, one of the biggest battle royales on the market today, and it also announced a Dead Space remake that many fans have been looking forward to. However, in between all of these big names, a small studio also had a game to present. Zoink Games just revealed the release date for Lost in Random, an action-adventure title about a fantasy world ruled by chance and heavily inspired by stop motion animation.
Specifically, Lost in Random looks a lot like something Tim Burton would've had a hand in. It's a dark and mysterious world full of looming, disproportionate creatures, and yet there's something oddly charming about the game's characters. Director Tim Burton is famous for his gothic stories and the uncanny worlds that he loves to create; Lost in Random falls very much in line with Tim Burton's aesthetics, as the newest trailer for the game drives home. Anyone who loves Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas will probably get a big kick out of the design philosophy at the heart of Lost in Random.
Lost in Random's Tim Burton Aesthetics
The character designs in Lost in Random speak very much to the game's Tim Burton inspirations. In movies like Corpse Bride, it's common for characters to have long, spindly limbs and large heads with highly expressive eyes. Lost in Random's protagonist Even, who sets off on an adventure to save her sister Odd from the menacing Queen of Random, has these kinds of proportions. Many of Lost in Random's monsters also look like iconic Tim Burton creatures, designed with lopsided bodies, grotesque faces, and so on.
Plenty of other design elements are right out of a Tim Burton flick too. For instance, some of Lost in Random's worlds are partially made of haphazard villages with buildings constructed at odd angles and piled on top of each other, giving a chaotic, fantastical look to the world reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas' Halloween Town. The orchestral musical score showcased in Lost in Random's latest trailer also feels reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is famously beloved for its music. Gothic stop-motion shows its influence throughout Lost in Random, getting repurposed and reimagined in a very different genre from film.
Lost in Random Stands Out
Although it clearly borrows a lot of ideas from classic stop-motion animation, Lost in Random isn't just rehashing Tim Burton's stories. The EA-published indie title has plenty of unique ideas that make it a game all its own. Lost in Random's combat looks extremely clever, for instance, asking players to charge up Even's companion Dicey until they can roll Dicey to use various collectible techniques to finish off enemies. The lore of Lost in Random is pretty compelling too. The various worlds of Random promise a broad variety of settings in which the game's themes of chance and gambling can be explored, and the mysterious Queen looks like a solid antagonist.
Not every indie game can stand next to games with AAA developers and get as much attention as them. EA had some major games to talk about at this latest event, but Lost in Random didn't feel out of place next to Apex Legends and Dead Space. It's a very charming game that EA clearly feels confident in if it's advertising it in the same breath as these other titles. Knowing how much love there is for the works of Tim Burton, there's definitely a market out there for Lost in Random, which so thoroughly channels the vision he has for his movies.
Lost in Random releases September 10, 2021 for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.