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The Lost and The Wicked PC Review

Curiously, I only found out about this game through the ‘100 demos in 48 hours’ event I ran for the Steam Summer Next Fest last June. At the end of a gruelling two days of no sleep and a lot of games – and after I’d already ended the stream prematurely believing to have hit the goal – The Lost and The Wicked was the middle of three titles I had to begrudgingly go live again for if I wanted to make that magic number. At the time it was a Godsend. I needed games that would keep me engaged and help me pull through, not just anything could have done it. You have to understand the fatigue that builds from a long-stretch set of live-plays like that, where the premise is constantly switching gears to learn and interact with new mechanics. This one just so happened to be the perfect injection of trippy weirdness and simple gameplay to boost my energy and get me across the finish line. But more than all of that, it was the bizarre and unique breed of psychedelic horror it wears on its sleeve that imprinted itself on my brain. I had to know what the game meant and I found myself thinking about it frequently after that first taste.

The core gameplay is pretty simple – a twin-stick shooter where the idea is to keep cycling through the different weapons you’ve collected in order to not get caught in a bad spot reloading. To help navigate the rabble of disturbing enemies that aim to swarm you, such as the long-necked spider hives and bowling balls in pants, is the ability to dash. Aaaand…that’s pretty much it! The systems are basic enough that just about anybody could jump in and start playing. The weirdness of the HUD being a red bar representing life next to an entire limbless body covering up the bottom right segment of the screen, however, is another thing entirely, and all part of the nightmarish ambience crafted to make the player uncomfortable and confused. On the other hand, although the game plays pretty straightforwardly, the actual manoeuvring and combat awareness is where it can get you. Personally I found it rather easy, but I blame Geometry Wars and similarly insane shooters for forcing me to learn the more advanced crowd-control techniques of squeezing through waves, prioritising enemies, and making and controlling space. Either way though, it’s only going to take 3-4 hours to get through the entire thing.

Due to the random nature of the level types and their layouts, which includes needing to directly kill everything, survive hordes, and hunt a set of artefacts, it’s fair to label The Lost and The Wicked as a stage-based roguelite. The way each ‘run’ is unique and the permanent upgrade system has players improve key stats like damage and health makes it feel very familiar but also boiled down and refined. There’s no complexity here, only a distilled set of rules that allow anybody to experience the title for what it’s really all about – a tragic and dark story told via psychedelic horror set-pieces, otherworldly enemies, melancholy mini-game events, and despairing revelations that will have you constantly wondering “is this real? Is this just a horrible representation of one man’s ghastly tale and subsequent inner torment, or am I in hell?”. Told between each of the seven stages and culminating boss fights, which all have names like ‘The Hatred’ and take the forms of angler fish, crazed smiling faces, and a bunch of white lines (not joking), are small parts of this story told between the protagonist and three talking skulls.

Although you aren’t initially aware of the characters’ connections with each other, it quickly becomes clear that they were all part of some sort of army squad that had more than their fair share of bloodshed, haunting commands from superiors, and have long-since felt the cruel aftermath of those decisions even after returning home. These grim acts and how they affected the group slowly unfold after each disturbing confrontation with a new boss entity and we learn why they all might be trapped in this agonising purgatory. Still, before each of these ‘hubworld’ sections is usually a short sequence that represents the protagonist gradually recovering from memory loss. This includes having a large pair of eyes gaze at you as you click away at raining hearts, or having to tattoo your wrist. Incredibly surreal episodes, each a peek at the larger narrative and an unbreakable bond with someone that can’t quite seem to be recalled. This is what The Lost and The Wicked is all about. It is the reason it exists. The gameplay merely downtime to take in what has been discovered and to revel in the madness of the environment our protagonist finds himself in. To experience the turmoil and fear first-hand.

It does a good job of gelling these two halves together and the mystery is more than enough to pull a player through the trials of chaotic shooting, even when the levels can start to feel repetitive. The short and sweet approach is effective. It means not dragging out any of the major plot points, allowing for constant epiphanies; and letting players dive into this horrific world for an evening, coming away just a little bit changed. Outside of being the first game to have its own strain of branded weed currently available across California (also not kidding), it’s by no means revolutionary, but it is a whirlwind of unsettling ‘a-ha’ moments, enjoyable twin-stick gameplay, and the bleak story-telling that I personally often crave. Be warned, themes of genocide, drugs, gore, and sexual violence are all present here and they work hard to make you feel them indirectly, in a very Silent Hill sort of way. It might not be a title you cherish forever, but I guarantee it will leave a bit of itself with you. An interesting twisted take on a classic, with accessible mechanics, and a powerful soundtrack that annoyingly still hasn’t yet become available for purchase. The Lost and The Wicked will make you feel both.

7 out of 10