Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a typical yet a uniquely conceptualized and simple 2D platformer from Sketchbook games and Modus Games. Players assume the role of a young girl named Izzy who dreams of nothing more than becoming a writer. Izzy is also quite close with her grandmother who supports Izzy’s aspirations. Izzy decides to buckle down and just do what writers do and write. The story bounces between the pages of Izzy’s personal daily journal and the pages of the fantasy world she’s created called Estoria where players take control of Georgia, another young girl whose “Village Elder” passes on the responsibility of caring for her village.

What’s neat about Lost Words: Beyond the Page is during the story sequences where we learn about Izzy and her personal struggle to understand what is happening when her, Izzy narrates her life while players jump around the pages and interact with the words as they come up. Here you’ll encounter simple puzzles such as rearranging words to form phrases or picking up words and revealing images. Once complete, Izzy goes back to telling us the story she’s building, and this is where the game really shines.

The levels that take place in Estoria are quite simply beautiful to behold. The animation and the graphics are gorgeous and lend a sort of innocence to a game that tackles a difficult subject matter. Along the way, you’ll collect wayward fireflies and encounter new obstacles that can be overcome by power words like break, ignore and rebuild that you keep in your special spell book.

Each new chapter takes on a unique personality that mirrors Izzy’s own feelings in the real world. For example, one level takes place underground surrounded by lava and a huge looming angry character made of fire and lava that just keeps screaming and punching things. No doubt this was a moment where Izzy was sitting angry and alone in her room, perhaps even having something of a temper tantrum but struggling to understand the why. As Izzy fleshes out Georgia’s story, she slowly begins to come to terms with the grief she’s experiencing.

The story at its heart, is a beautiful tale about dealing with grief and loss and self-doubt and overcoming adversity. It also felt to me as though the writer was creating a very personal story about some of their own experiences. There is no real battle to speak of while playing. There are no boss battles and no predetermined set of lives. Fail and fail as often as it takes because there is no way to lose. I think that was done quite deliberately in the sense that it’s telling gamers you’re only human and it it’s OK to feel angry, sad or lost – keep pressing on – better days are coming. I walked away from this game feeling pretty good. I really enjoyed my time with the game. I hope to see a sequel that expands on what they did so well with this game. Nice job.

Pros:
– Beautiful world
– Great narration
– It has a message that we can all relate to

Cons:
– At times the narration either moved too fast for what was on screen or too slow resulting in awkward story telling
– Would have liked to see more use of the power words.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page is available now Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One

***A copy of this game was provided for the purpose of this review***

Kaneda