The Lost Child is a dungeon crawler RPG by Kadokawa games. It took about a year to get an international release, but it is finally here. The Lost Child offers great tactical turn-based RPG gameplay mixed with a great story in graphic novel style. Expect a lot of grinding and maxing out your stats, alongside all the weirdness we come to love about these Japan-releases.

The Lost Child of H.P. Lovecraft

In 1928, the American writer H.P. Lovecraft rose to fame with his Cthulhu-stories. Spawning from those stories came a whole Lovecraftian subgenre of movies, boardgames, comics, novels and off course games. The Lost Child mixes Japanese folklore, religious themes and famous Cthulhu henchman to form a very mysterious story that keeps throwing curveballs while progressing through the game.

You play as Occult Journalist Hayato Ibuki. While investigating some strange suicides/accidents in Tokyo you get hold of a strange artifact, the Gangour. The Gangour turns out to be a strange gun which can hurt and capture demons. Not far into the game you get help from an angel called Lua who guides you through the many features the game has to offer. While investigating the many occult sightings you’ll soon discover hidden “layers” which act as dungeons filled to the brim with demons, fallen angels and at least 1 epic boss to battle.

Great artwork but lack of animation

Since persona 5 came out, the bar has been raised for every dungeon crawler. Sadly, The Lost Child fails to make a huge impression with its static way of moving around and the many still frames. Although the artwork is beautiful, the total lack of animation might bother a lot of gamers. You do get some (beautifully) animated cut scenes but beyond those it’s static image after static image which gets boring after a while.

Great battle system

Luckily the battle system saves the day. The Gangour can capture the demons and fallen angels and turn them from hostile beings into allies called Astrals. You can select up to 3 active Astrals and place 5 on the “bench” to help you while your battling a way through the layers. Each enemy has a type with its weaknesses and strengths. At each battle you can swap out Astrals in response to the weak points of the enemies. This makes it quite a tactical endeavor which I really loved throughout my time with the game.

As you defeat enemies you and Lua gain experience points which ultimately leads to the traditional leveling up you’ve seen in many games. Your Astrals on the other hand, won’t level up by themselves. You need to distribute karma earned after each successful battle, to the Astrals you want to level up in order to gain more strength and skills. Every astral has a level cap that can be overwritten by evolving them to a newer and better form. Skills earned while leveling up or battling can even be transferred to other Astrals. All these features make The Lost Child a very customizable experience.

Conclusion

The Lost Child is a pure dungeon crawler mixed with great mythology. Don’t play this game for the visual aspect but play this game because of the battle system. I really liked spending a lot of time going through the many menus to make sure I had a great team ready to tackle the many demons each dungeon had to offer. I know this won’t be a game for everybody but if you like dungeon crawlers with extensive customization, pick this one up!

7,5/10

Tested on Nintendo Switch