Lost Smile and Strange Circus

Lost Smile and Strange Circus is a mobile phone game released in 2017 by SEEC Inc. The game follows a young girl called Noah, an orphan, who has been surrounded by misery all her life due to her not being able to smile. She eventually runs away from her orphanage, but just when she thinks she’s free some strange men try to attack her. Thankfully a mysterious man called Oddman comes to her rescue and takes her into the ‘darkness’ where he is the master of a circus of other wayward souls.

Here's the official game description: 'There was a girl called "Noah". Her heart had been hurt so deeply that she lost her feelings.

One who extended a helping hand to Noah was a man who had a strange shaped head.

"Are you guys humans?"

'We're ones who missed to be a human.'

Noah met unique 'members' who were not humans at the mysterious circus.

The scar of her heart was getting healed little by little. However...'

The official can be download on Google Play here. It also has a novelization, which was released on May 1st, 2017. The official page with links to where you can buy it (in Japanese) is here. It also has a spinoff game called 'CHERA -A Flower in the Dark- ', which unfortunately lacks an official English translation. You can play it here

## Plot

Lost Smile and a Strange Circus features Noah, a young girl who has grown up on The Backstreets, and never smiles. One day she is saved from being kidnapped by a Creepy Man by a strange man named Oddman, who takes her to his circus of things that are not human. There, she befriends the Strange Circus performers while also learning that she is more tied to the Circus than she thought, and that her new friends may not be all that they seem.

## Gameplay

The main part of gameplay consists in rocking (tapping) the magical lamp on the HOME screen. This will attract Audiences, small black smiling creatures, who are said to bring happiness when they are pleased. You can use these Audiences to unlock more circus members.

Circus members are a very important part of the game. They allow you to gain more Audiences without having to tap the lamp and continue gaining more even while the game is closed. Each has a specific amount of Audiences they produce per second, which can be increased by inviting more Audiences to their acts. The amount each member costs, and the amount you need to have to invite more Audiences increases, but each new member produces more Audiences than the last.

In order to finish the game, you will need to first unlock every single circus member. After each member has unlocked a cutscene will play and advance the story (you can later rewatch all of them in the Story tab). Once the cutscene associated with that member has played, you will have a random chance for that member to appear in the right side of the main screen where Noah and Oddman are located. The first time the member appears, it will unlock an image (the following time they appear they can show an ad for a temporary boost). To reach the end of the game, you need to get every single image.

There is also a tab called 'Flower of Chera', where you can feed the flower Audiences, specifically Audiences that fulfilled their life and are reincarnated as nourishment for plants. These Audiences are different from the ones you are getting already. They appear after a few seconds only on this screen, and can only be given to the plant, they serve no other purpose. On the top left, there is a meter labeled 'Next level', which indicates how many Audiences you need to feed to the plant before you progress to the next level. Completing this will make the flower bloom, and will unlock an ending.

On the HOME screen besides Oddman there is a throwing knife board. This is Billy's Knife throwing show. Here, you can make Billy throw a knife in order to get a specific modifier on the number of Audiences you can get by tapping on the lamp. If you watch an ad after throwing it once, you can increase the chances of getting something better.

Besides HOME and Flower of Chera, there are three other tabs, Inventory, Story and Stats.

Inventory contains several 'Special items', which boost attractiveness (the number of Audiences you can attract) for a specific amount of time, which you can get by spending scarlet stones. You get Scarlet Stones by paying with real money or watching ads. Below that, you also have 'Boost items', which boosts the attractiveness of the member the items are associated with by 2. You can buy them with Audiences or with Scarlet Stones. Below that, you have 'Photo of memories', where you can look again at all the pictures you have unlocked so far, and know how many are left.

Story contains the list of magical lamps, story, and member note. The list of magical lamps lets you upgrade your lamp. Each lamp is unlocked first by tapping on the lamp on the HOME screen for a specific amount of times, and then being bought for a specific number of Audiences or Scarlet Stones. Each lamp you buy will give you more Audiences per tap of the lamp. Story lets you watch the cutscenes you have already watched again. Member note lets you look at a small note about the members, and it lets you buy artwork for each one with Audiences.

Stats lets you reincarnate, shows you the ranking, other products from SEEC inc., the visitor history, and progression of collection (Member, Boost item, member note and photo of memories). It also has a number of assorted stats, which are, in order: total number of Audiences, the highest number of Audiences, Audiences attracted by magical lamp, the number of times you have tapped on the lamp, the frequency of members' visit, the reincarnation times and the reincarnation bonus.

## Gallery

Example of the HOME screen with a large number of Audiences.