Lost in Random: The Eternal Die Review – Bold Roguelite or a Misstep?

The original Lost in Random, released in 2021 as part of the EA Originals program, was what I’d consider a flawed gem. It was a title bursting with narrative and visual creativity, co-opting a Burton-esque spooky-but-charming visual style with oodles of bespoke flair. But alas, it was a game I personally struggled to finish, put off by overlong, repetitive combat encounters centered around an ambitious but clunky combo of real-time action and deckbuilding. I still think of it fondly as a smaller title that stylistically punched above its weight, though, and one that could’ve blossomed into a true classic if given the opportunity for a sequel.

Sadly, some of Lost in Random’s creators left Zoink Games to form MoonHood, which some might recognize as having recently released The Midnight Walk (a game you should absolutely play if you haven’t already, not to get sidetracked or anything). It’s hard to say how much of the original team has stayed on to develop Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, but there’s one thing worth clarifying from the get-go – while some outlets have described The Eternal Die as a sequel to the original Lost in Random, I consider this to be a huge mistake, and one that its Steam page smartly navigates away from. Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is more like a spinoff, and not only tells a new, standalone story in the same world, but is also now an action roguelite, one about as similar to the original game as tofu is to beef. Will such a drastic shift in genre allow it to meet the lofty expectations of fans? Does the narrative do enough to establish itself as a worthy extension of the original game’s lore? Will I ever stop posing questions I eventually intend to answer and move on to the goddamn review? Yes, ok fine, let’s get on with it.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die shifts our perspective to an unlikely character – Aleksandra, the Queen of Random, who’s been shrunken and weakened as she was forced inside of the evil Black Die, which she must fight her way out of with the help of her companion die, Fortune, as well as a host of side characters she meets along the way. Now, may as well put this bluntly – anybody going into The Eternal Die looking for story and lore on par with the first game is going to be very disappointed. Where Lost in Random placed commendable emphasis on its storytelling and characters, The Eternal Die’s infrequent narrative morsels offer occasional charm, but not much else, with an overarching plot that’s unambitious, disjointed, and simply not that interesting.

What a shame too, because the game’s voice acting is universally great, and the creepy-cute character design is maintained with its creative, bizarre-looking supporting cast - it’s just a bummer they rarely have anything interesting to say. The story of the original protagonist, Even, traversing her way through the various towns of Random was really compelling and laid out a premise bursting with possible angles to explore in future titles. Sadly, while The Eternal Die’s threadbare plot is inoffensive enough to follow along with, I don’t feel any of that potential being capitalized on.

Enough harping on the story though – let’s talk about how it plays. I could call The Eternal Die an action roguelite where you make your way through four procedurally-generated biomes while collecting upgrades and meta-progression resources, only to return to your Sanctuary upon death to purchase upgrades, pick up a new weapon, and do it all over again. That would all perfectly capture the kind of game The Eternal Die is, but at the risk of sounding reductive, let’s call a spade a spade – this is basically Hades. From the isometric perspective, to the choice of upgradeable weapon to take on each run and whack enemies with, to the variety of magical attacks you can find and use along the way, this is about as traditional as action roguelites get, and the magnitude of inspiration pulled from Supergiant’s modern classic is unlikely to be missed by anyone.

In fairness, though, there are a couple of key features in Lost in Random: The Eternal Die that differentiate it with pockets of unique flair. But for those unfamiliar with action roguelites, let me break down the general gist of a run. You’ll begin at your home base of sorts, the Sanctuary, where you can choose between four different weapons to take on your run. All of these have a unique upgrade tree utilizing Cinder, a resource collected throughout your runs or handed over by some characters you help within the Sanctuary. You can use Cinder for basic buffs that make your core and critical attacks more powerful, or more interesting skills like allowing your bow to fire a multiple-arrow scattershot, or have a weapon create a pool of poison upon landing perfect hits, which trigger if you hold your attack for just the right amount of time before letting go.

After choosing a weapon, each of which holds its own depending on your playstyle, you’ll use another collected resource, Pip Dust, to upgrade Aleksandra with higher maximum health, greater attack power, and the ability to revive once after meeting your dicey demise, among other possibilities. Each cumulative upgrade made Aleksandra’s capabilities noticeably grow, and skillful progression through each biome means more resources to use in the Sanctuary, lending a good pace to the overall meta-progression.

Once your upgrades in the Sanctuary are decided, you’ll head back in for another run, at the start of which you’ll get a random card attack. If you’re a fan of the original Lost in Random, eh… don’t get too excited. There are no deck-building elements to speak of here. The card attacks are simply magical abilities that take on different forms like enemy-seeking spells, an area of effect attack, bouncing projectiles, and so on. They’re fun to use, and timing perfect hits to maximize their impact adds some depth to combat, but their relationship to anything card-related starts and ends with their name. On top of your basic weapon attack, chargeable weapon attack, and card attack, you can throw Fortune at enemies to deal both area-of-effect damage and some additional effects based on relics picked up throughout your run.

Relics are run-specific upgrades that, like in any roguelite, will passively buff you in some way, like earning health at the end of each fight, increasing your weapon damage if your health is below 50%, and so on. But the structure in which these relics work is arguably the single standout feature in The Eternal Die’s gameplay loop, and one I honestly found to be very clever. Each relic you pick up is coded with one or more colors to slot into a grid. Match 3 of these colors in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, and the color from these relics will be absorbed to give Aleksandra an often game-changing boost to the corresponding stat. For example, lining up three red weapon-related relics will boost weapon damage by 50%, lining up three yellow card-related relics will boost card damage by 50%, you get the deal. What’s surprisingly tricky about this is that not only do some relics come with multiple colors absorbable one at a time and thus useful for multiple buffs, but you can’t move any relic from its slot once chosen, even when its color has already been absorbed. This can lead to tricky situations where you’ll want to slot a new relic in an already occupied slot to line up your colors, but can’t do so without replacing one you already have and losing its corresponding effects.

Aside from the relic-slotting system, most of The Eternal Die’s gameplay loop will feel very familiar to anyone who’s played Hades or another isometric action roguelike before.  However, I’m happy to say that while originality is not this game’s strong suit, its core gameplay feels much more polished than I initially expected.  I already mentioned that each weapon feels great to use, but it also helps that the game’s animation is universally well done, and a commendable enemy variety makes each battle a careful game of dashing out of harm’s way, focusing your attack timing, and controlling your surroundings to not get overwhelmed.  And while each biome has a randomly generated sequence of rooms that may sprawl out in a variety of directions, the game’s fast travel system ensures you can quickly jump between points of interest without wasting much time backtracking.  Runs did blend into each other after several hours, though, which is always a risk with any roguelite.  Some more variety in boss encounters especially could help to cut that tedium down.  But overall, The Eternal Die’s core gameplay is tweaked to prioritize fun above all, and I’m not exactly mad about it.

This level of polish extends through much of the game’s presentation too, especially when it comes to performance.  I spent most of my time with Lost in Random: The Eternal Die on the Steam Deck, where it ran almost flawlessly with a few rare areas of slowdown that never impacted gameplay.  The Deck feels like a great fit for the game’s short, action-packed runs, and the visual variety between each biome keeps it looking great.  While the entire voice cast does an amazing job, the music is also pretty good, if not exceptionally memorable.

I’m going to extend that critique to the entire game though – Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is… pretty good, if not exceptionally memorable.  It delivers a fun core gameplay experience with a polished roguelite loop that feels easy to get immersed in.  On the flip side, though, I suspect this isn’t what Lost in Random fans really want.  Aside from the overarching theme and visual design, very little of the original’s core elements feel intact here, and the emphasis on following another game’s footsteps rather than its own makes The Eternal Die feel like a confusing direction for Lost in Random to take – one likely to neither satisfy fans of the original with its anemic story and complete genre shift, nor bring in new action roguelite fans unless they’re alright with a nagging sense of déjà vu.  If you love the original Lost in Random and want a totally different experience set in the same world, Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is likely to fit the bill.  Similarly, if you’re tired of waiting for Hades II to leave early access and want this as a warm-up, you could do a whole lot worse.  But overall, I think more could have been done to set The Eternal Die apart and build on its predecessor’s legacy.

GOOD