Hey Gamers
This past weekend I picked up an interesting title for my 7 year old nephew to play.
The game is called Lost Words -Beyond The Page
I picked up the Steam version of the game for £11.99 , I believe it is also available on PS4 and Xbox one.
The game was released on April 6th.The watercolor storybook aesthetic and the games description on Steam are what caught my attention.
The Steam description reads..
"An atmospheric narrative adventure written by Rhianna Pratchett. Set between the pages of a diary and a fantasy story where you run on words and use them to interact with the world around you."
In this video we go through the first hour of the story.I will do my best to explain and show some of the magic of this game with screenshots below but the visual style of the game,presented as an interactive fantasy story book painted with watercolors really needs to be seen in motion to be fully appreciated.
Our story starts with a young girl receiving a journal for her birthday from her grandmother...
We control the girl as she runs over the words on the page.Jumping through the holes in the book we move on to the next page...
On certain pages we need to drag words into the blank space to continue the story...
Jumping on highlighted words activates new parts of the journal...
This makes the story feel alive ,its an effect which is pulled of beautifully making the player want to see what will happen on the next page...
Certain words are used to interact with the watercolour illustarions.In this instance we use the word blew to blow out the candles on a birthday cake...
The girl in the story ,Isabelle dreams of becoming a writer...
To encourage this her gran has given her the gift of this journal...
"Gran always says..."A writer writes""
"No one ever got anything just by wanting it"
"Gran said writing is about exploring your thoughts..."
"It helps to unlock your feelings"
I thought this page was particularly magical...
"I'd like to write something that will make gran smile,she always talks about little acorns growing into big trees"
We need to pick up the watering can...
And move it over to pour water on the little acorn...
So it will grow into a big tree...
Allowing Isabelle to reach the top of the page and move onto the next part of the journal...
Its touches like this that make the journal feel alive...I've never seen this in any game before.
Isabelle decides the type of story she is going to write will be a fantasy story.
"So how do I start my fantasy story?"
"Once upon a time..."
"Ugh already boring!...No one said this would be easy...Lets start again from the top!"
"Not so far away..."
"In the land of..."
"Estoria"
"A place of peace and magic"
In this next part of the journal we have to make a ew choices to personalise the story.First we choose the name of our story's main character.
We have 3 choices Robyn,Grace or Georgia.I went with Robyn,free as a bird in the sky.
Next we need to pick the color of Robyns dress...
Red seems right for Robyn...
"She was ready to begin her adventure!"
"In fact ,she had been preparing for it her whole life!For she was the only apprentice of the village guardian.Elder Ava!"
Another choice this time describing Robyns personality.We can choose from kind,smart or playful.
I went with playful.
And with that the first chapter of the journal is complete and we fall into the fantasy world of Estoria...
"Not too far away,in the land of Estoria..."
"There lived a young girl named Robyn"
"She was playful and loved using her wit and imagination"
"Suddenly a faint spec of light floated down and began to buzz around Robyn"
"Hello little firefly!"
"Did you come for my birthday?"
"Ooh! Elder Ava is going to be so happy!"
"Let's head back to the village"
"The firefly shared Robyn's excitement"
"We should pick up my gaming marbles on the way back"
"They are all over the place because I...I fought a giant with them!Right firefly?
We now find ourselves in control of Robyn.The right analog stick on the joypad controls her movement while the left stick controls the firefly...
We start by collecting a few marbles...
We can move objects around to reach higher areas in a classic platform game style...
"The village is just a bit further down."
Sliding down hills is fun :)
"The bridge was an old creaky affair."
"Robyn imagined shark fins circling below"
"Aaand...!"
"Doooooooooooooown!"
"Robyn knew many secret paths back to the village."
"Like this one!"
"She loved feeling the roots around her,as if the tree..."
"Was giving her a gentle hug"
"Just one more little slide..."
"Here...we..."
"The old cargo lift.Barley used"
"Her own secret entrance"
"To the village above.Robyn couldnt wait"
"To show her firefly the village.Maybe run on the rooftops"
"Look firefly..."
"Home!"
"The warm lights and enticing smells..."
"Of Elder Ava's hut welcomed her."
"Elder Ava!"
"Happy Birthday Robyn!"
"I've made a new friend"
"One of our sacred fireflies!"
"This is a very special thing indeed"
"Does this mean...?"
"Yes it is time."
"Would you fetch me that box, please?"
Rise is the first of Robyns magic words.
Using it here we raise the box up...
Elder Ava presents Robyn with a book that is used to store magic words...
Pressing the left shoulder button we bring up the book...
"This will store all the magic words you find"
"Some will stay with you.Others are fleeting"
"They will help you overcome any obstacle"
"Now your training is complete!"
"Congratulations new guardian of the fireflies"
"Guardian?"
"But that's you"
"Guardian-in-retirement,now"
"You should head to the shrine tree for the other fireflies blessing"
"Ill join you shortly dear."
"Oh,before I forget."
"A little something of mine to mark the occasion"
We have another choice to make here,since we are going with the theme of red I choose a ruby pendant as our gift from Elder Ava.
Robyn heads of to the firefly shrine eager to try out the new book.
"And all at once Robyn was surrounded"
"By the hustle and bustle of village life"
We get to try the magic book on a stack of wooden planks.
The towns people seem impressed...
Onward to the firefly shrine!
"She looked over her bustling treetop village"
"This was all she knew"
"And it was home"
"But inside she was still curious..."
"About the world that lay beyond"
"The bridge swayed in the warm breeze..."
"Its slats creaked with a gentle familiarity as Robyn crossed it"
We can use these planks as a lift with our magic word...
This guy tries to open the gate for Robyn...
but the rope snaps...
Not to worry this looks like a job for our magic book...
Robyn couldn't wait to see the fireflies
Soon they'd bless her...
As new village guardian!
"What's being guardian going to be like firefly?"
"I hope its..."
"adventurous!"
"Lets swing into adventure!"
Nearly there now just this cliff face to climb...
The rocky cliff face posed no challenge to her now
One more slide :)
The sacred bell...
To announce her arrival...
At last the tree was in sight...
Home to the fireflies whose ancient energy kept the village safe from harm...
Glowing light surrounded her......A timeless energy
That birthed stars and forged suns.....now she was part of it
Forever...
And so Robyn became the new firefly gaurdian.But her biggest adventure was yet to come.
This concludes chapter 1 and the start of Robyns adventure in Estoria...
In the next episode we will learn about bioluminescent algae...
Meet a Genie...
Learn new magic words...
And chase after a dragon!
