Set in the world of dreams and shadows ,you and up to 4 players (14+), embark on a journey of terror, adventure and excitement, as your character(s) have been kidnapped and you must explore these lands of this fae realm, (well for 90 minutes at least) and find a way back to your reality. The Lost Ones allows players to choose their own adventure which gives you full control of what your character does. It’s a fantasy novel combined with a board game which allows an exciting experience for all players.
“Where do I start … ?” (Set-up):
Players prepare the playing area by placing Map Tile 1 in the centre of the play area, allowing lots of space for you to explore this vast, but dangerous land. Shuffle and place Ability, Foe and Bane cards and place at the edge of the play area allowing for all players to be within reaching distance of them, along with the Boon deck (unshuffled) and the Moon Clock with the Fate Token on the start. Once completed you are free to pick your favourite character, all of which come with specific special abilities, as well as an interesting background story which really allows you to get into the mind of your chosen character or take them on a whole new journey, the choice is yours after all! Each player is given a hand of ability cards, this will be your life, so use them wisely, as you don’t want to run out! Depending on the player numbers ability cards will change game to game. And with that the game begins, so in your best narrator’s voice, read the prologue for all players to hear!
Set in the world of dreams and shadows ,you and up to 4 players (14+), embark on a journey of terror, adventure and excitement, as your character(s) have been kidnapped and you must explore these lands of this fae realm, (well for 90 minutes at least) and find a way back to your reality. The Lost Ones allows players to choose their own adventure which gives you full control of what your character does. It’s a fantasy novel combined with a board game which allows an exciting experience for all players.
“Where do I start … ?” (Set-up):
Players prepare the playing area by placing Map Tile 1 in the centre of the play area, allowing lots of space for you to explore this vast, but dangerous land. Shuffle and place Ability, Foe and Bane cards and place at the edge of the play area allowing for all players to be within reaching distance of them, along with the Boon deck (unshuffled) and the Moon Clock with the Fate Token on the start. Once completed you are free to pick your favourite character, all of which come with specific special abilities, as well as an interesting background story which really allows you to get into the mind of your chosen character or take them on a whole new journey, the choice is yours after all! Each player is given a hand of ability cards, this will be your life, so use them wisely, as you don’t want to run out! Depending on the player numbers ability cards will change game to game. And with that the game begins, so in your best narrator’s voice, read the prologue for all players to hear!
“I have a bad feeling” (Play-through)
Play starts with the last player who has had a nightmare! You will be expected to take between one to three of the four actions available, such as Explore a new tile, move, complete a story encounter and/or activate a boon card. As this is a cooperative game players are allowed to discuss, criticise and dread everyone’s decisions. Players must follow orthogonal directional rules of play when moving and that makes every move feel important as every decision that you take will impact the rest of the game, so choose your path wisely.
The Lost Ones moves along with story encounters and players will be expected to read aloud the section of story and option(s) available. Once a decision has been made players will need to use different card values which match the story encounter they wish to take, but sometimes players are forced to take a route less fond, if their cards do not have the value they require, so using cards at the right time is imperative! The cards in this section players will be using are ability cards which not only progress the player’s journey by learning new and potentially useful information for their escape, but also track players life, and wasting a card could mean wasting a life! There are a few other cards that come into play which players will be met with such as boom cards, these can introduce new abilities such as powers and relics which is a huge help so don’t miss an opportunity to get one or two. The final cards which come up in play are Bane cards, these will appear and hinder players progress and in some cases even take players off to their demise!
“Time is fleeting” (The Moon Clock)
The moon clock is the game’s timer as such and is triggered by in world events, once this triggers you will be moving the moon clock token into the next phase of the game which keeps play to the allotted playtime of 90 minutes. Once the token reaches the end of the moon clock, play ends and players will lose the game with their characters stuck in the realm forever or until you next pick up and play.
“This is a nightmare!” (The Nightmare)
Certain scenarios in the game will eventually trigger the entrance of the character called the nightmare, which is a character introduced to track down player(s) character(s) and keep them trapped in this realm! Players will have to be strategic with their movement, whilst also still maintaining the end goal of completing the journey of their escape!
“Freedom!” (Winning Game):
Players will win the game if they find the hollow tree which connects them back to their world, leaving this nightmare place behind them!
Lost forever…. (Losing the game):
A player can lose the game through a few different ways, first if a player runs out of cards, if a player is caught by the nightmare raven, if a player is unable to play a card against a foe and finally if the Moon clock counter reaches its end. Remember if one player meets any of the above conditions then the whole game is lost for all players!
And that’s The Lost Ones!
Final Thoughts:
This game is a heavy story driven and for me it really hit the nail on the head. It’s fantastic story left me excited to find out more about this world and its dangers! There is a lot of stop start, where you are reading out so that everyone understands the phase or scenario you are entering, however you are drawn straight back into the short, but detailed dialogue and exciting decisions!
Having played it solo first I found every decision was my own and I explored how I thought was best, even if it did get me killed! And when playing with more players (3) the dynamics changed, as it should, as more questions were asked like should we stay together or split up! We need more of the board to be exposed to find an exit, but at what cost? It really gave lots to discuss and for a cooperative game which sometimes can get lost, is the game’s success!
The Lost Ones, has a difficult playthrough when looking to complete, especially when combat comes into play, as if you don’t have to correct cards when facing foes you will ultimately perish and have to start again! For me it was a chance to learn from mistakes and eager to get that win, but I can understand players may not be overly impressed in having to start again and make notes.
The game isn’t over complicated, it has basic mechanics, but does require some good memory especially when putting it away and coming back to it much later. It has good player interactions when playing in a group, but got just as much out of it as a solo play through.
If you’re looking for a challenging, but exciting choose your own adventure game, then I think it’s time you picked up The Lost Ones!
Zatu Review Summary
Zatu Score
80%
