The Lost Preview

Crave and Irrational Games recently visited the GameSpot office to show off The Lost, their upcoming attempt to blend action, survival horror, and role-playing elements into a single game. The Lost will be released on the PlayStation 2, and it bears traits that should appeal to fans of a wide variety of genres--it plays like a third-person action adventure game, makes use of a number of RPG elements, and takes place in a setting that is unmistakably scary.

The Lost features an interesting premise: The setting, characters, and storytelling techniques used throughout the game are based directly upon Dante's Inferno, from the Divine Comedy, which chronicles his passage through hell on his way to paradise. Much like Dante's Inferno, The Lost's levels are composed of nine circles, each home to sinners whose crimes against God are successively worse than the last. While heavily modernized in The Lost, the nine circles of hell remain true at their heart to those found in Dante's telling. The protagonist in The Lost, a single mother named Amanda, is guided on her path through hell's confines by Virgil, an enigmatic presence whose true motivations are unknown to you. Amanda's reason for venturing through Inferno is a sobering one--her 4-year-old daughter, who died in a tragic accident, has had her soul derailed on its way toward heaven for some reason and is now trapped in hell. Amanda's quest is to investigate and hopefully rectify the situation by whatever means necessary.

Amanda is a character of modest capabilities, garbed in waitress attire and wielding only a kitchen knife--hardly capable of standing toe-to-toe with the hardiest of hell's inhabitants. Fortunately, Amanda is capable of meeting and recruiting anthropomorphic personifications of natural forces or aspects of her own human traits, such as the warrior woman Instinct, the stealthy Shadow, the magic-focused Corruption, and the benign Light.

Instinct is the most combat-focused of the playable characters, as she has the strongest hand-to-hand combat abilities and a formidable constitution. Players who want to deal with the challenges of hell in a confrontational manner will likely rely heavily on Instinct's sword. Shadow, the second playable character we were able to check out, is a hunched-over, shady-looking type who wears a wicked-looking claw but doesn't have quite the physical prowess of his feminine counterpart. Instead, Shadow's strengths lie in his stealth capabilities, which involve a wide variety of appropriate implements and techniques. Shadow can set traps in the form of unmanned gun turrets that serve the dual purpose of damaging opponents and drawing attention away from him. If allowed to strike an enemy from behind, Shadow can perform a powerful backstab attack. Shadow is also able to reach some of the less accessible areas, as his grappling hook can be used much like Spider-Man's webline or Bionic Commando's claw, allowing him to zip instantly to otherwise unreachable ledges and alcoves.

While the early build we were shown had only Instinct and Shadow as playable characters, the roles that Corruption and Light will play in the game were clearly explained. Corruption will serve as the magical mirror image to the melee-based Instinct, drawing his strengths from spells and powers that can degenerate enemies slowly or destroy them outright. The character of Light will serve a distinctly secondary role when compared with the other three alternate personalities, similar to that of the blacksmiths or trainers in fantasy-oriented role-playing games. Spending time improving Light's abilities will have a beneficial effect on all the other characters by raising their health and defensive capabilities, among other things. All the characters can be developed in a number of different ways, allowing them to advance through different stages of weapons, armor, and general capabilities.

With a focus on combat and free-range movement instead of item collection, The Lost shies away from the traditionally clunky control schemes of other survival horror thrillers and plays more like a traditional third-person action game. Movement and combat are fluid, the inventory and experience allocation menus are organized and intuitive, and changing between the various characters can be easily performed on the fly. The decision to use a specific character during each segment must be a conscious one, as each attack with Instinct, Shadow, or Corruption drains Amanda's magical energy--and when her store is fully depleted, you revert to her weak form. There will, however, be some item collection and management throughout the game, in the form of key collection and a variety of special items that fit into the overall theme, including misery, the currency of hell.

While active control of the characters in The Lost should provide a satisfyingly dynamic gameplay experience, much of the game's appeal lies in its compelling story and intense subject matter. Themes of suicide, torture, and damnation can be found throughout, and characters from The Divine Comedy have been reinvented to fit into the game's eerie storyline. For example, Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards hell's third circle, is perhaps more macabre in this modern retelling, as his trio of baying heads has been replaced by baby faces with sewn eyes and mouths and other gruesome attributes. The game's name is an homage to the primary goal of Amanda's journey: to save the lost, those tortured souls who ended up in hell undeservingly. Whether by completing a critical puzzle or defeating a guardian beast, saving these lost souls often cues a gratifying cutscene explaining how that character ended up in that situation.

The characters and gameworld of The Lost are brought to life in full 3D with nicely detailed textures, high-polygon models, and expansive environments. Amanda, Instinct, and the rest are large, well fleshed out character models that command attention onscreen, with unique animation that emphasizes their personalities with every movement. Shadow doesn't walk so much as lurk, Amanda's fear is easily distinguishable by the way she carries herself, and Instinct's footsteps echo with bravado. The other inhabitants of The Lost nicely fit into the grotesque atmosphere, and there is no shortage of dripping blood and entrails in this game. Care has been taken to put a great amount of horrid detail into each enemy. The harpies that inhabit hell have had their frayed and battered wings tightly bound to their backs with cloth, while security turrets are twisted devices manned by a few gruesomely assembled parts of a dismembered sentry. A number of the conventions of traditional adventure games have been twisted to suit the game's bizarre setting, including the large, bulbous insect forms that are ripped open throughout the game to reveal treasures. Additionally, in case the camera's natural alignment doesn't provide the clearest of perspectives, you will be able to actively manipulate it for an optimal view of the surroundings.

From what we gathered during our exposure to The Lost, the game is shaping up to be an original take on a number of popular genres. The adult subject matter and gruesome visuals should appeal to those who found Silent Hill's storyline compelling, while also attracting those who want a bit more action in their horror-themed RPGs. Stay tuned for an updated look at The Lost as it approaches release this June, and in the meanwhile, take a look at our new video footage.