Cute, wholesome and colourful. That's probably the easiest way to describe this endearing puzzle adventure game inspired by all those spirited cartoons we watched as kids. But, behind the wholesomeness lies mischief, whimsy and above all playfulness. The playful fancy permeates everything from the frisky visual style and charming animation to quite memorable music, equally quirky and mysterious, to whimsical sound design and funny nonsensical speech. Not to mention, the wacky childlike humour, crude but cute, made me laugh out loud quite a few times with its genuine, unabashed directness, free of any pretense. Simply disarming! I caught myself constantly grinning from ear to ear while playing this. Pure, unadulterated joy! It's a kitten with a yarn, a child with a... Oooohhh, shiny!!!

It's a nostalgia trip not out of some retro fad, but because it captures the essence of play. It's nostalgic simply because it made me remember what it felt like when I was a child. When the whole world um, my home was my playground, and all the everyday, boring, mundane things would become portals into magical and extraordinary by the sheer boldness of limitless creative imagination. It's as natural as breathing to see a washing machine tab become the belly of a giant fish, a sister with a cardboard box transform into a monster, and your own grandpa as a helpful fairy guiding you along this wayward, capricious escapade, helping you come down from a trip.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2848542367

The title Lost in Play may sound a bit generic at first, but it's never been more apt. The brother and sister duo are literally lost in their imagination that they need a bit of guidance to find their way back (the supper is probably getting cold). That's it, that's the story. Oh wait, what about that frog kingdom, green goblins and MacGuffin golden crown? Did we save the world or something? Who cares, it was so much fun. Hopping from chapter to chapter, from one fantastical world to another: running from an angry sister monster, flying a pelican, sailing away, under the sea, venturing into a post-apocalyptic world, into the dragon's cave... disco? winding up in the Eye of Sauron dungeon, and finally with the Sandfrog? where things get weirder as the dream and reality start to merge in something like the Alice's endless fall through the well - you finish how you started, at one helluva surrealist tea party!

Did I mention you get to build your own dragon? And ride it over the seven seas and seven... um, thingamajigs. In-between chapters are these great, sprawling cinematic segments with beautiful scenery evoking awe-inspiring fairy-tale-like worlds filled with spectacular, majestic creatures. Catch the flight of dragons eels, ride a huge stag beetle, climb a mountain? with hundreds of eyes, help a barefoot giant get the thorn cactus out of his pinky, encounter a terrifying spice sandworm, hop merrily over molten lava... These are automated sequences as colourful as kaleidoscopic retrospective, but by the time you finish the game, it feels like you've been through an adventure of many lifetimes, an amalgam of all the best bedtime stories.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2852367378

This is what I love about adventure games, this sense of, well, adventuring, which is at the essence of play. Investigating, improvising, clicking, testing, see where the curious spirit takes you. The game is intuitive like that and completely reliant on visual cues. There are no words, written or spoken (well, no intelligible words) that will tell you what to do, but instead everything is conveyed through pictures, from the hint system to all the puzzles and minigames tutorials. Lost in Play is a point'n'click at its core, but stylised and trimmed off most adventure games' pitfalls like pixel hunting, bloated inventory black hole and too busy screens. On the contrary, this part of the game just flows. There are only a couple of items to collect at most and you get to use them very quickly instead of dragging it with you endlessly. Even in those fetch-this-for-that sequences that require multiple steps, which is most chapters, things aren't convoluted. And if you get stuck, there are generous hints that either illustratively show you the next step or, when it comes to puzzles and minigames, reveal parts of the solution, just enough to nudge you in the right direction. With this picturesque hint system, you really don't need any guide because the game is designed for the whole family in mind, children and adults alike. This is the most impressive thing about the gameplay, this perfect balance in difficulty. Not too hard to be inaccessible to kids, but not too easy to be boring for adults.

Now, when I say suited for children, it doesn't equal dumbed down and simplistic. Far from it, some minigames can be quite challenging. But overall, they have a nice range in difficulty and variety, not too frustrating and always entertaining, making sure you can't wait to see what's next in store. The game's bursting with various puzzles: board games (crab-checkers, oof), cards, physics based, time travel manipulation, 'blind' labyrinth driving (this one gave me trouble), redirect the lasers, jellyfish pattern recognition puzzle (loved this one), connect the story (mwah) and many more. All logical and intuitive in equal measure. My favourite must be the time manipulation puzzle inside a storybook where the goal is to get to 'Rapunzel' in a tower using three timelines, except it's actually a prince with a really looong beard. The gameplay is positively addictive, it's so easy to get lost in it, just like Gal and Toto.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2869722019

Hamuchikamamanina! - must be a bad hair day. Kopropichekterarapotoylem. Proktoko; shloiniki (sister?) Liza baka choina - lizard's tail? I just love this gibberish talk. It's so silly and nonsensical that I started writing it down and even translating. Well, at least tried to. The game is genuinely funny and effortlessly cute. There's gotta be a word for it. Adorkable? Cheeky? Fute? Even the snot bubbles are cute. Have you ever gotten cute-rage over a granny trying to get her purse back? Well, I have now. There are so many wacky details and amusing gags, a lot of them involving a hilarious goofy chicken, who's also a badass hero; a metalhead sheep; how about a flying sheep with pink fart propulsion; convoluted elaborate cartoony plans; cat and dog running gag................................ Oh, there's also a huge derpy cat... just cause ;P

Like I said, this crude whimsical humour is so blatantly direct and irresistible, such jovial, mischievous expression of childlike charm. Playing this frollicking romp made me so happy, plastered with perpetual gleeful smile; it's dopamine galore, literally feelgood. I felt like a delighted child again. And I don't think I can give this game a bigger compliment.

I can recommend it to everyone, it is meant for everyone: young children, old children, grumpy children, everyone who embraces the inner playful child (if not, they will), the childish and the childlike. I especially recommend it to jaded asses to put a smile on their faces. I dare you not to beam at this bubbliness.

To paraphrase C.S. Lewis for the end: Don't put away childish things, except the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up!

Beautify, witty, relaxing. As an older person which my primary goal when playing a game is to relax and enjoy good visuals and story without being too challenging, this is reaaally one of the best games i've played in a while, totally recommended

Lost in Play is a wholesome and whimsical adventure title that is truly a joy to play. Filled with cute cartoonish art and a vast array of puzzles, minigames and laughs, this is a game that the whole family can enjoy.

Pros

• Hand-drawn beautiful & cartoonish art style
  
• Feel-good, playful adventure
  
• Abundance of unique puzzles & minigames
  
• Smooth flowing gameplay, was never stuck, lost or confused
  
• A myriad of fantastical creatures and dreamscapes

Cons

• Little replayability value as there are no collectable items

Playing as a young brother and sister duo (Toto and Gal), players' first task as the sister is to capture your brother’s attention so that he will play with you. He is fixated on his hand-held gaming device and does not care for your mischief. However, once his imagination is spiked, the whimsical adventure commences.

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The two become completely lost in their vivid imaginations and the line between reality and fantasy is all but a blur. Their goal becomes to find a way home. Always working collaboratively, they find themselves in all sorts of bizarre situations, but they always have each other to rely on. Whether it be escaping from the goblin dungeon, freeing one another from the stomach of a fish, or sailing the seas, the two remain inseparable. There is no dialogue or even any text to read, but this feel-good story is extremely genuine, positive and authentically wholesome. The game is also designed to be family friendly and openly states on the store page "... have your children watch you play!", which I think is a fantastic concept. Despite the game itself being targeted for adults (due to the puzzles complexity), I think this would be a blast to play alongside young family members.


Lost in Play is an excellent and diverse adventure game with some point and click elements. Featuring a plethora of differing puzzles and minigames, as well as constant new environments to explore and characters to meet. The game remains completely fresh from beginning to end. Gameplay consists of either Toto or Gal (or both), exploring a small area, picking up objects to use in other parts of the environment whilst completing puzzles/minigames along the way. I found the difficulty to be perfectly balanced, it was neither too difficult, nor too easy. The environments were small, which made it straightforward to know which items to use in specific places. Although inventory management based puzzles is something we have seen repeatedly, the constant influx of new stimuli and introductions to short minigames made me feel as if I was playing a new game every time the setting changed, or when a minigame popped up. This helped to maintain my engagement, never knowing just what I will run into next.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2847523458

Puzzles & Minigames
The mixture of different mini games completely changes up the gameplay, making it feel fresh and exciting. The puzzles, although cute in aesthetic, are not braindead simple. I found them to be well-balanced, easy to understand, but definitely aimed at adults. Interestingly, most of the puzzles do not explain the goal, or if it does, it is in a very brief picture format (once again, no text). I could grasp almost every puzzle through this, and it was designed exceptionally well. There is also a hint system just in case you do not understand, or are just generally stuck. This gives a part of the solution, such as part of a combination, or the beginning solution to a pattern. I did find some complex puzzles which required a few resets and tries, such as the checkers puzzle, but it was not unreasonable or frustrating. The 30+ puzzles are completely different to each other, but some examples include card and board games, turn-based puzzles and even time-based puzzles, involving the manipulation of items in both the past and present to reach a specific goal.


Lost in Play's colourful hand-drawn art is eye-catching and stunning. Inspired by cartoons, just modernised to give its smooth and polished appearance. Each different area expertly portrays the vivid dreamscapes of a child's wildest imaginations. Ride beetles, talk to a pirate seagull, help three frogs and so much more. The characters overly theatrical facial expressions, dramatized colours, and wild environments all brilliantly portray the nonsensical universe both Toto and Gal have personally crafted.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2847523481

As mentioned previously, there is no dialogue, the characters speak, but only in random sounds, like the well-known “Sims language.” This cemented the separation from reality and the siblings' made-up world, further hyperbolised by the matching fairy-tale soundtrack.

This game was played using a controller, and with the following PC specs.:
Intel i5-9400 2.9 GHz
16GB RAM
GeForce RTX 2060 6GB
2560x1440 resolution
HDD
Windows 10

Playtime: Approximately six hours.

Controller Recommended? Yes

Replayability value: None, it is linear with no collectable items.


Lost in Play is a standout puzzle adventure game. Its feel-good story and eccentric environments, characters and mini games made it a complete blast to play. It is one of the rare titles without any major faults to comment on, and I recommend it to all fans of the genre, anyone looking for a family friendly game, or lovers of all things cute and wholesome. This is a brilliant game and a must play!

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Gravity Falls season sure 3 looks interesting.

This is basically CalArts: The Game.

It’s as if Pajama Sam and Over the Garden Wall had a child together.

As a 90’s kid who grew up with Saturday morning cartoons and adventure games from Sierra and Lucas Arts, this game feels like it combines the best of both worlds perfectly. The game plays very well and I especially loved the graphics and animations. Extra kudos for the tiny team behind this!

It was really such an amazing experience. Imagination means so much to me and I feel like as we grow up we begin to replace our imaginations more and more with grown up things without realizing that we're all kids who have only gotten a little taller and wiser.

It took me back to my childhood, from when my siblings and I would get so much in trouble, to the time we took our bikes to the top of the hill and rode it all the way down crashing at moms backyard gate, to the time we got our first Nintendo and played for hours... good memories, and I hope to see more games like this in the future.

I'm honestly generally not a fan of puzzles (because they make me look really stupid, really quick, let's be honest), but this was ADORABLE! It even motivated me to finally put some writing down for what I can only hope will turn into my own little game/visual novel one day. Just what I needed! This game is only a few hours long but every single moment is memorable. I loved the humor, the art style, the fantasy world, the characters, the music... just everything.

Lost in Play manages to combine together two worlds that I always thought were kinda born to be put together into one package (animated series of today, and point & click adventure games), and does so while making a big effort in standing out on its own. The best part about the game is for sure the atmosphere, helped by the well-composed soundtrack and the absolutely great art that supports its presentation from start to finish, plus some stylistic choices (such as the entire game being dubbed via a gibberish language) that I qucikly began to associate to this game specifically as I played it. The premise of the story itself helps in this regard, a simple one about a pair of imaginative siblings busy exploring dreamscapes and made-up worlds.

Gameplay-wise the game is very far from point & click adventure classics, since the puzzles often take the form of mini-games or small interactions with single objects, and the inventory rarelys gets filled to the limit. With a couple of exceptions, the game will feel like a clean and stress-free ride, which indeed is what the game aims for: don't expect enigmas that will make you pull at your hair while shouting obscenities at the screen, but rather some small puzzles that often are used as an excuse for some little humour moments here and there.

Perhaps my only gripe is that the game can end quite soon, not because short games are a no-no, but rather because the 'I want more' feeling is very much present after seeing the final credits. More so when there are hints at what might have been possible within the story itself (I won't go in the specifics to avoid spoilers). It is so whimsical and wholesome. I was so sad to have finished it.

Still, Lost in Play is definitely a game that ends before it gets repetitive and too long, and the experience itself is absolutely worth a buy, if only to go to a trip down memory lane and play a game that doesn't need complex gameplay or a bombastic presentation to tell its story and offer a few hours of fantastic fun.

It's one of the best games I've played in the last few years, definitely recommend everyone giving it a try. Sure 20 bucks is expensive for 4 hours for a game today, but I believe this kind of game doesnt strive on longevity, but on the intensity and quality of the short playthrough. Today, many of us as busy adults now have at LEAST 10 games with relatively good quality, and more than 10 to 20 hours of content in them... and we dont have the time, the opportunity, the will or the whatever to play them. Then comes a game that delivers a fun, organic experience, with a great story and soundtrack next to it, and it comes in a short punch of +- 3 hours? That sounds great to me, honestly!

10/10

A game I would like to put in my treasure box and open later together with my kids when they become 10 years old

Like gravity falls and over the garden wall had a game baby

Absolutely adorable. If you can't enjoy a game like this, it's because you are too occupied running a failing law firm, and the stress of trying to keep your soul in your body, for another day, has rendered your joy organs sterile. Punch the metaphorical teeth out of whatever it is that is blinding your inner child with unjustified maturity and play this game at all cost.

A wonderful adventure with amazing art syle.

Game is easily bingable in a weekend or in a couple of hours so please be aware if the price is an issue; however, the joy and the adventure it gives you definitely worth it. Art style is gorgeous and deserves a praise. Puzzles are sometimes hard to understand but there's a hint option that will ease your pain if the situation arise. There are mini games as well and the top one is on Chapter 13, it's an amazing concept.

Not much to say to be honest, buy it, binge it and enjoy it. The game definitely deserves it.

An amazing point and click adventure that is overflowing with absurd creativity and humour.
Really makes you FEEL like a kid again.

The game reminded me of the animated series "Over the Garden Wall" and "Adventure Times" <3