Can you escape the Bermuda Triangle?
Lost Sea is a pirate-themed rogue type of game where you are shipwrecked on an island around the Bermuda Triangle. The goal is to form a crew of survivors and search for resources to upgrade your ship so you can escape. You will travel to several islands on your journey, each of which is procedurally generated which includes many different environments and layouts including tropical beaches to ice, snow or dense rainforests.
Crew members you find have abilities like bridge-building and lock-picking. The goal is usually to bring a stone tablet to the docks, where you’ll get a randomly generated number chain of islands you can travel to. One thing that makes Lost Sea both challenging and frustrating is perma-death, essentially putting you back on the first island and losing all your skills. You do however still keep some experience, gold and the ability to teleport to the other islands you’ve unlocked.
The problem is that it becomes a grind in the end, it’s also very repetitive in its design. The perma-death will put off younger players, which is a shame because there is a good game to be found here…it just takes a lot of work to get it out of it. It would be a lot more accessible without the mode and definitely less of a grind, maybe they might listen and put the perma-death as a choice and not a requirement.
Visually, the game has a lot of charm to it…even if it is minimalist for the systems it’s on. The soundtrack however, is very good but it does tend to replay a lot…which gets a bit frustrating when you’re already doing something repetitive.
The Verdict
Lost Sea is a charming game, but it’s let down by it’s inclusion of a perma-death design that makes it drag on and puts off most who would play it. There is a good game here, it’s just buried underneath some dated choices.