Lost Review: Transforming into a Naughty Orange Cat, Roaming in the Cyber City

On a summer night in 2016, I stumbled upon a graphics test video for an independent game online. The film is only 12 seconds long and shows a little cat carrying a strange backpack, climbing and jumping along the drainage pipe and air conditioning unit in a small alley filled with robots and neon lights.

At that time, I had neither seen any cat playing games nor had my own cat, so I wrote down this work. This was my first encounter with Lost, or rather, it was called the HK Project at the time.

It is not accurate to say that it is recorded. Because several years have passed, I no longer have the intention to continue following its development trends. I only occasionally recall watching a game that played the role of a cat and wonder if it has quietly become difficult to produce and disappeared like many other independent games.

Until 2020, publisher Annapurna Interactive released the first trailer for Lost, and I once again saw familiar yet unfamiliar cities, robots, and cats. When most comments say "another cyberpunk theme" or "is the protagonist a cat?", I have a subtle feeling similar to watching high school classmates who have had a crush but have never spoken on TV after graduating from college.

Okay, it's time to play. No matter what it looks like or how much it costs to sell, I have decided to play it.

Perhaps the ultimate dream of humanity is to become a cat

Lost was developed by independent game studio BlueTwelve Studio and is their first work. Due to the fact that the two founders of the studio are both experienced cat slaves, they decided to create a game with cats as the main character from the beginning of the project. And this is precisely what attracts players the most in this game - perhaps the ultimate dream of humanity is to become a cat.

In Lost, players will play the role of an unnamed orange cat. Its image comes from Murtaugh, the CEO of the production team (Cat Executive Officer), so unfortunately, this game does not provide players with the opportunity to customize their cat image.

This game does not capture cat movements. But during the development process, the animator used the raised cat Oscar as a reference and made many adjustments to the animation of the game protagonist, effectively demonstrating the elegant and flexible characteristics of the cat.

In the game, whether the cat jumps, burrows, pounces on its companion's tail and licks its fur when idle, or is scared to explode and makes exploratory "cat punches" on various small objects, the details of the protagonist's actions remind me of my own little one, and I exclaim with a smirk, "That's it.". Even just watching it take small steps and stroll through various scenes makes me feel very happy.

Murtaugh (left) and Oscar (right)

In addition to ordinary running and jumping actions, Lost has also restored the mischievous and mischievous nature of cats to a certain extent. Players can rush to the feet of NPCs walking in the game and trip them up. They can meow or rub around while NPCs are working, disturb them, or scratch their paws and cause damage on carpets and sofas they discover. These practices will not be of any help in advancing the game process, but various seemingly meaningless "add scenes" are actually daily activities that cats love to do in reality, making the game protagonist appear more natural and like a real cat.

However, the physical effects of this game still need to be optimized. Whenever I jump onto a shelf filled with bottles and jars and push everything to the ground, there are always a few scattered objects that fly far away in an anti Newtonian manner, inevitably causing some mischief.

When others play cards, I lift the table

Previously, I thought that perhaps Lost could utilize the features of the PS5 controller to further enhance its performance. But in reality, only half of my expectations have been fulfilled.

When players control cats to scratch various objects in the environment, they can clearly feel the resistance of the trigger button; Players can also use a button to make the protagonist scream at any time in the game, and listening to the varying meowing sounds coming from the controller speaker is also very immersive. But both of these things are relatively ordinary and repetitive, and after trying a few times, there is no initial freshness.

What satisfies me the most is that when the cat takes a nap in the game, the PS5 controller will make a steady snoring sound and also vibrate slightly with the rhythm of breathing and inhaling. At this point, the game's visuals often gradually widen, creating a reassuring and relaxed atmosphere. In the later stages of the game, I may not scratch every time I encounter a sofa, but every time I encounter a cushion, I will definitely go to sleep for a while.

If we could add corresponding feedback every time the protagonist takes off and lands, it would definitely be fun to play. However, upon careful consideration, it is currently difficult for every game to achieve the level of the Space Robot Wireless Controller User's Guide in this regard, and we still need to continue to look forward to it with optimism.

Cats, Death, and Robots

At the beginning of Lost, the protagonist falls to the bottom of a cyberpunk style city. The residents of this city are all square headed robots, and there are also large areas of abandoned urban areas covered by dangerous insect enemies such as Junk and their eggs.

As the game progresses, the protagonist will traverse several urban areas, including dilapidated and chaotic slums, as well as neon lit commercial streets. With the support of technologies such as ray tracing, simply strolling around the streets and experiencing the atmosphere is a unique pleasure.

If you are willing to explore carefully, you can discover additional secrets and details in various scenes, gradually understanding what the city has gone through. The small drone B-12, symbolizing BlueTwelve Studio, will embark on adventures with the protagonist.

Due to the protagonist not being able to speak, B-12 will serve as a translator in the game, helping the former communicate with the robot residents. With its companionship, players can learn about the daily lives of robot humans and discover that they actually have different personalities, as well as their own interests and dissatisfaction. Players can also receive simple side quests such as searching for lost items and collecting flowers from the robots in exchange for rewards.

However, to be honest, these explorations and side quests are not necessary to complete the game. If players go straight to the main storyline, it exposes the problem of insufficient capacity in this game. On this basis, the plot of this game is actually very plain and clich é d, but it still adds a lot of collection elements and deliberately prolongs the game.

The cyberpunk style background of Lost may make some players look forward to the possibility of modifying and enhancing the protagonist in the game. But in reality, this is just the most realistic and ordinary cat, without any second jump, alloy cat paws, or electronic eye scanning.

The operation of this game is very pure. Perhaps due to the limitations of the protagonist's identity, most of the time players only need to use the operation of "jumping" - after all, we are only playing an ordinary cat, what tricks can cats do?

Due to the protagonist's lack of growth in abilities, the level design of this game can only revolve around the most basic jumping movements. Some scenes in the game contain simple environmental puzzle elements, but they are often limited to connecting the power and pressing the corresponding switch, and moving items to the appropriate position to support the feet. The biggest "difficulty" of the game is still finding the way forward in this city with lights and no map.

Although there are also a few puzzles that surprised me, because they are too rare, I think describing any one here would seriously damage everyone's gaming experience.

This brings two problems: firstly, overly simple puzzles and actions may make puzzle enthusiasts feel uninterested, and secondly, some complex scenes may make players truly "lost" and become restless. The only truly "meaningful" operations in the game are jumping up and down, and this slightly monotonous basic gameplay further amplifies the boredom during the gameplay process.

Moreover, although sometimes there is a cat like feeling when flying between clotheslines and billboards, it seems that even if the protagonist is designed as a dog, mouse, or even a special human like a ninja or assassin, most scenes can still be used directly without any sense of conflict.

's messy lights are gradually getting mesmerized by the cat's eyes

In some levels, players may encounter bacteria or patrol drones. As players have almost no means of confrontation, they need to sneak or escape, otherwise they will be killed on the spot. These levels are not difficult, even players who are not good at related gameplay can easily pass them, mainly improving the game's rhythm slightly.

But what confuses me is that the environmental design of a certain level of this kind has some mental pollution, which may make some players feel uncomfortable. But there is no explanation for this in the plot of the game, which makes me suspect that the level was intentionally disgusting.

epilogue

On the negative side, the story of Lost is relatively simple, and the gameplay and environmental puzzles are not rich; But in terms of advantages, the most attractive element of this game is actually the ability to operate cats for adventure, and its performance in this area is not a problem.

In addition, the art and scene design of this work are also very solid, which can satisfy me at least in the first half of the week. The only problem is that a large number of high saturation billboards sway and make me dizzy. If there are more realistic or natural scenes, the overall atmosphere of the game will be more relaxed and more in line with the Buddhist style puzzles and gameplay design.

Lost presents the cat's approach in a realistic way, making it difficult for players to truly immerse themselves in the protagonist's identity. Instead, it becomes more like an outsider's objective perspective, witnessing the experience of this orange cat and getting to know the people it encounters on its adventure. After all, it has neither anthropomorphic lines nor obvious thoughts and emotions, and even player controlled actions are actions that any cat can instinctively make.

Some players may feel uncomfortable with this because the natural documentary style sense of alienation makes the game lack a deep portrayal of the protagonist. For example, when the game reaches some seemingly moving paragraphs, players may not be able to see the protagonist's joys and sorrows, and may even be unsure if they understand what others around them have done for them.

But I actually quite like this because it's very realistic. I can't understand what my cat is thinking all day long. Does it know what moving is when I shovel cat litter and open cans? The Lord doesn't care, so does the cat.

Considering the development experience of BlueTwelve Studio and its size as an independent studio, I believe that although Lost is not an absolute "fun" work, its performance can already meet my expectations.

If you have little interest in cats in reality, or just want to experience a thrilling adventure, then Lost may disappoint you; But if you are willing to add scenes to recreate the cat's performance, or have already subscribed to PS+'s second or third tier members, then you may want to try being an elegant but occasionally confused orange cat in Cyber City.