Lost Words: Beyond the Page

## System requirements

See #System requirements

**Lost Words** is a 2D narrative adventure game where players move words to solve puzzles. The game features a story written by Rhianna Pratchett and ties the narrative into the gameplay in an unusual way, by having the player running on and interacting with words to solve puzzles.

Players take on the role of Isabelle Barbara Cooke or in short Izzy, who is a little girl that receives a diary to her birthday from her grandma. The first pages are filled with information about Izzy's family members and the players can learn their first steps into this game. Izzy then writes down her thoughts about always wanting to become a writer and her idea about writing a story grows.

**Lost Words** tells two stories - one is told in the diary part, which reflects the personal events in young Izzy's life - and then there is the young author's own fantasy story which turns out to be a way to cope with the soon disturbing personal events.

The game tells in eight chapters a deeply moving story about love, loss, grief and how to find a way to go on.

Supported by: Wellcome, creative england, Microsoft, Regional Growth Fund, UK GAMES FUND.

## Awards

**Nominations:**

* Nominated for the **IGF** award for **Excellence in Narrative**

**Won awards:**

* Winner Best of E3, Cinelinx 2019
* Winner Best Family Game, Casual Connect UK, 2018
* Winner Most Original, Casual Connect Paris, 2017
* Winner Ukie UK, Game of the Show, Gamescom, 2017
* Winner Special Selection, Reboot Develop Croatia, 2017

## Game controls

### Controls PC

* **ESC**  - Pause
* **W** - to move up
* **A** or **D** to move left and right
* **E** and **LMB** - Interact
* **S** - Crouch
* **Shift** - drag
* **RMB** - Open the Spell Book
* **Space** - Jump

### Controls Playstation

* **L** right or left to move
* **A** jump
* **B**+**L→** push or pull an object
* **L↓**+**L←** crawl
* **L↓** slide down vines
* **LT** - open the magic book

## Gameplay

Players navigate 2D worlds set inside the diary of a young girl named Izzy by walking on the words and using them to solve a variety of puzzles.

The **diary part**  consists of watercoloured drawings and of course mostly interactive text elements.

     Each chapter starts with an entry into the journal. Main character Izzy introduces herself right at the beginning and players actively move her small black-and-white avatar through the diary pages.
The text itself is then used as stairs or ladders to climb through the pages.

    Some text parts are **trigger** or **key** words which reveal more of the narration or start an animation inside the diary. They usually light up in the colours purple and light blue.

Players also can use some text pieces to complete a text (**LMB** and drag the piece to it's place) or literally start the action that is written on those text elements - like **blew** on some candles. These text-pieces often are also used as stepping stones to reach the egress to the next page.

Some text elements also reveal drawn items, which then can be used for interaction e.g. like a jar to collect water, a watering can to grow a tree from an acorn etc.

**Examples:**

Blowing out candles on a cake with the text piece "blew"Catching plankton with a jarUsing the watering can......to grow a tree from an acorn.
Other elements are asterisk 🞾 🞾 🞾 which also reveal more about Izzy's thoughts when the avatar jumps on them. Then there are also text-block puzzles that slightly change the dialogues.

**Example from Chapter 6:**

**The heroine felt \_\_\_\_\_**

ambivalent

justified

guilty

* After each journal introduction, the players jump back into the **fantasy world** of Estoria which is thought up by Izzy in the first Chapter. Here, the young protagonist also can use a spell book to alter the environment around her to create a safe passage in an entirely unique an refreshing style of platforming.

* Gather collectible fireflies scattered across the lands of Estoria for an additional challenge.

## Chapters

**Lost Words: Beyond the Page** has 8 Chapters from which each explores one of the seven stages of grief.

* Chapter 1 - Tutorial and exposition of the story. Represents "Happiness"
* Chapter 2 - Represents "Shock"
* Chapter 3 - Represents "Denial"
* Chapter 4 - Represents "Anger"
* Chapter 5 - Represents "Bargaining"
* Chapter 6 - Represents "Guilt"
* Chapter 7 - Represents "Depression"
* Chapter 8 - Represents "Acceptance"
* Epilogue

## Languages

* English
* French
* German
* Italian
* Spanish

## System requirements

Minimum

* OS: Windows 7
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent
* Memory: 2 GB RAM
* Graphics: Graphics Card with support for DirectX 11
* DirectX: Version 11
* Storage: 3 GB available space

Recommended

* OS: Windows 10
* Processor: Intel i7 - 3.4Ghz
* Memory: 6 GB RAM
* Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3GB) or AMD equivalent
* DirectX: Version 12
* Storage: 3 GB available space

## External Links

* *Lost Words: Beyond the Page* official Website
* *Lost Words: Beyond the Page* on Steam
* *Lost Words: Beyond the Page* on Discord
* *Lost Words: Beyond the Page* on Twitter

## Sources/Notes

1. ↑ The Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross originally introduced five stages, but there are other models about the emotions people experience after a loss.