Narrative-driven puzzle platforms combine the art of storytelling with gameplay mechanics. Lost words beyond a page are an indie game by Sketchbook Games and published by Modus Games and take an emotional journey in the hands of the young girl, Izzy, who learns to cope with the loss of delusions. Not only the art of making use of a journal, but both the journal itself and in gameplay mechanics have rendered the game famous: its narrative is also heartwarming but deeply sad.
With all the gun-toting, riotous action and convoluted game mechanics that fill the world of gaming, lost words and all that are different – a focused experience that makes mothers encourage their children to slow down and reflect for the first time. In defiance of all these suitors, “Lost Words: Beyond the Page” promises a unique blend of narrative and gameplay complemented with its breathtaking hand-drawn art and evocative soundtrack, making it a memorable experience for those indulging in story-driven games. This review will delve into the game’s narrative, gameplay mechanics, visual and audio design, and overall impact.
Narrative: A Story of Grief, reparation
“The Lost Words: Beyond the Page” is a very personal tale concerning loss, healing, and the power of words. It is two tales side by side-the first goes into the journal of Izzy, where her feelings about her grandmother getting sick and ultimately dying are recorded; the second takes place in Estoria, which is a fantasy world, where the player controls a character by the name of Grace, a young heroine birthed from the imagination of Isy, who is on a quest to restore her world.
The journal sections allow much of those introspective sections to be played out as interactive sequences where the player shifts words around on the page to form sentences and ultimately reveal more of Izzy’s thoughts and feelings. These segments are highly introspective window-dressing into the mind of a very young girl wrestling with the many facets of loss. The writing is poignant and genuine, characterized by the innocent vulnerability of a child striving to make sense of an abruptly uncertain and painful world.
The remainder of the Estoria segments represent a much more conventional platforming experience but with a narrative spin. As Grace, you will roam through a variety of level spaces, solving puzzles and otherwise using the environment to advance the plot. Portions of these sections are visually distinguished because of their vibrant colors and whimsical designs, which tend to evoke a sense of wonder and adventure. Nevertheless, the trials that Grace must face in Estoria mirror the emotional travels of Izzy in her real life, thus tying the two narratives together.
It surrenders an enormous strength for “Lost Words: Beyond the Page” in this dual-narrative structure. The miracles which effect the real with whom Izzy struggles and Grace fantastic pilgrimage into Estoria create unique emotional conflict in today’s gaming age. Through the journey with an involved player, Izzy is observed through a growth and healing process reflected in Grace’s ups and downs as she travels through Estoria. Thus, emerges a story that feels so very personal, yet frank to everyone and is connected to such themes as love and loss and the need for the “telling” of it.
Play as Tools of Words
Just as excitingly innovative is the “Lost Words: Beyond the Page” gameplay-it has two major modes: the journal portions and the platforming sections held in Estoria. Each displays its identity through gameplay experience from the other; it joins together, however, in the principle of using words as effective implements for all the movements.
In journal sections, players interact with words by Izzy in order to expose more of the narrative. This would include shifting words around the page, using them to solve simple puzzles, and finding hidden messages. For example, a player would need to find just the right place for a word in a sentence in order to make it complete or use a word to open the path to the next section of the journal. While the puzzles are not all that difficult, they are still very much to be included as another thoughtful device through which the narrative engages the player and makes them feel more intimately involved with Izzy’s journey of emotional discovery.
On the one hand, the Estoria sections provide a more traditional platforming experience; on the other hand, they keep a unique twist. Here, the player has to control Grace, who has to use words she could find in Izzy’s journal while trying to manipulate the environment. For example, if Grace needs to go higher, she simply uses the word “rise,” and automatically the platform lifts her up to higher places, or she can use “break,” and it shatters all the obstacles hindering her from reaching certain points. The whole mechanism is cleverly incorporated into gameplay-as players learn to be imaginative about the words they find themselves using to break a hurdle, they become accustomed to thinking creatively.
Puzzles in Estoria are often mind-benders and outside the platforming; they do not require a lot of jumping through levels. In fact, word mechanics so distinguish themselves from the well-worn platforming tropes that they create an extra depth to the gameplay that is tied directly into everything happening on the narrative themes of the game.
One of the best things about “Lost Words: Beyond the Page” is using its game stories to strengthen the stories themselves. By those very estates of manipulating the words and progressing through the game with them, Izzy’s act of attempting to process emotions and discover a path forward after grandmother’s death is echoed in the very movement of the story. Such a way of approaching the gameplay-paltry though it may be in video games-is done beautifully within this one.
Lost Words: Beyond the Page – How long has it been since you heard the word “dream”? Maybe a long time ago!
But for how long? When we were too young to understand the weight of these two magic words?
With the rapid development of entertainment facilities, it can be said that it is not often that people sit alone in their rooms and dream of the day when they can fight dragons, play with fairies, adventure in the mountains mythical land, or marvel at fairy tales…
However, for little Isabelle, the joy of being immersed in the world of fantasy is still burning very strongly.
Can you sympathize with the little girl who is angry because her childhood was ruined by a crazy story of children?
What does a 10-year-old’s imagination look like?
If we have to write a fantasy adventure story, we always draw “real” scenarios with words to show that “it is a real-world”.
But not a child. A fantasy world with children who are simply “virtual” and they don’t try to make them real.
Sometimes the world is beautiful, sometimes they are angry, sometimes they are sweet, and sometimes they are sad.
There is no structure or chapters, just stories within stories.
Lost Words: Beyond the Page has done something that few games can do.
A heart-wrenchingly honest adventure delves into the words of little Isabella.
The first lines tell us about Isabella – a little girl who lives happily with her parents, grandmother, and younger brother.
If there are a few lines to describe her personality, then Isabella is a hyperactive girl and full of curiosity about the outside world.
With her support, Isabella is determined to make her “masterpiece of a lifetime” and fulfill her dream of becoming a writer.
The girl’s story tells of a princess from a foreign land and her walks with “everything around her”.
You can choose a name and personality for the “girl in the book” from the options available, and the writer chose a girl named Georgia.
Georgia is a magician living with a great elder, her mission is to protect the magical world named Estoria. However, in a moment of carelessness, her village was destroyed by a dragon.
And with the duty of a magician, Georgia set out to “correct mistakes” and avenge the evil dragon.
The princess’s curiosity is vivid in the eyes of readers, the simple things of life are also something new when one is a child.
Georgia takes us on adventures into her kingdom of lava mushrooms, her spaceship, fearsome guardians and mythical desert kingdoms, talking whales in a gray world…
With overwhelming strength, moving mountains, and the help of a trusted friend “firefly”, the adventures in the game are always filled with color and magic.
Yet, it’s paradoxical that Georgia’s story isn’t as engaging because you have another story you’d rather follow.
Isabella’s story.
A child’s world is not always filled with joy.
Sad days after sadness!
The world of the princess, which is also the world of Isabella, gradually becomes transformed when her spiritual support is her respectable grandmother who is hospitalized due to a stroke.
The family tragedies, the painful things in life, and the journeys on paper have since become more intense and painful.
And then, as a rule, when you go through childhood with sad days too long, the pages of books can’t hold us back.
The adventure of “little” Isabella ends here.
And the next part of the story is about a “big” Isabella who writes the adventures of a “little” princess as a tribute to her childhood.
Time will help you accept the changes, but that doesn’t mean the pain will end. And the music of the game makes the emotional levels also become stronger.
You feel like you’re going through a person’s life in 4 hours.
The gameplay of the game is also quite gentle with the classic “Point-n-click” (point-and-click) puzzle style.
You can easily get used to the gameplay and storytelling style of the game when you have tried the game series of the same genre such as Nairi: Tower of Shirin, Luna: The Shadow Dust…
That said, the game’s approach also has certain limitations and players may not be very comfortable with the following.
Not everyone is patient enough to “read someone else’s diary”, so leading the game in a narrative style is both a strength and a weakness of the game.
What’s more, the timelines of Lost Words: Beyond the Page are quite coherent but very slow, accompanied by a slow-paced arrangement of puzzles that “force you to do something to ease boredom” rather than making you feel like you’re playing a real game.
Some easygoing people will accept that the main character’s inner transformation is purposefully slowed down, but if you are a fan of the “visual novel” series and are used to Because of the overlapping drama scenes between the characters, it is easy to see that the plot of Lost Words: Beyond the Page takes place relatively safely.
The end of the game is an interesting twist, but giving an open ending along with the transition from Isabella (little) to Isabella (big) is still not really “smooth” as the writer expected.
The elements of fantasy, dream, and fantasy also gradually disappear as the game reaches its climax, Isabella’s world gradually influences Georgia’s decisions and makes it seem like a personal matter of the writer rather than an indie game.
The game dialogue is gentle but also not very positive, especially when you have to hear the phrase “this world is meaningless” too many times.
Last Words: A True Experience
“Lost Words: Beyond the Page” is one of the rare games that actually merge narrative and gameplay. The journey would not have been completed without going through this game with an emotional impact, which although is showcased with a big word, is for the reader ultimately an experience of grief and healing and, perhaps even more so, the power of story. Certainly, there would be those who could not relate all that much to it, like in the case of action-adventure combat and puzzle solution people, yet when one would develop an emotional bond with the story, it should stay with them.
Words are molded in something interesting, unique, and innovative as a narrative mechanic and also a gameplay mechanic. Thus, the experience is an entirely fresh combination of a thoughtful and enjoyable one. It is thus very memorable.
In the end, “Lost Words: Beyond the Page” does not constitute mere gaming; instead, it leads through a depth of what emotional states can be and how creativity could heal. With the finding that tales we tell and those we write light a path in the darkest nights, “Lost Words: Beyond the Page” is the experience that will be remembered and that will resonate for anyone willing to embrace its emotional depth.