Scrambling over Izzy’s words – literally; that’s how we traverse here – I realise I don’t want to carry on. My avatar – a small, faceless girl with dark, flowing hair who pirouettes onto each word with the grace and elegance of the ballerina I never could be – stands still as my fingers sit motionless on my controller. There’s a little tear on the opposite side that signals it’s time to turn the page, but I can’t. I’m stuck. Not because I can’t move, but because I don’t want to. I know how this is going to end – we all know how this story ends.
Lost Words reviewDeveloper: Sketchbook GamesPublisher: Modus GamesPlatform: Reviewed on StadiaAvailability: Out now on Stadia
It’s been some time since I was the age of our protagonist. Like Izzy, I dreamed of being a writer and kept a journal through my formative years, vomiting my thoughts and desires and teenage angst onto the page in curly adolescent script. Like Izzy – like all of us – I’ve lost people I loved and didn’t know how to endure the devastation it caused, nor the white-hot rage and howling emptiness that followed.
Knowing it was coming didn’t even soften the blow, by the way. Lost Words: Beyond the Page gut-punched me in a way I didn’t quite expect. It’d lulled me into a false sense of security, disguising itself as a simple, if beautiful, 2D platformer that marries two disparate games that, if I’m honest, lack a little challenge and sophistication. There are no hyper-real graphics or intricate animations here. No complex puzzling or dexterous platforming. Just a poignant tale of love and loss tangled up in a make-believe world.
Curiously, Lost Words – which is penned by noted game writer Rhianna Pratchett – casts you as not one but two young girls. On one hand, you’re Isabelle, a wannabe writer experimenting with journaling for the first time. On the other, you’re the central character in the story Izzy is writing. Her name depends upon your choice – there are a handful of story options you can choose and on this occasion, I chose to be Robyn – but whatever you’re called, you’ll be Guardian of the Fireflies in the magical kingdom of Estoria. After a dragon swoops down and devastates your little village, it’s up to you to wander out into the big, wide world and gather up the missing fireflies once more.