It's looking like a golden year for platformers on the Wii. Sonic Colors, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Epic Mickey are all to come, and with such an excellent roster of games, it would be easy to forget this humble little offering from HudsonSoft -- Lost in Shadow.
You'd be wise to make a note of this title though, as my time spent with it at its tiny little PAX Prime booth was more than enough to convince me that it could be something very special.
Lost in Shadow is all about a platforming hero with a major problem -- he's only a silhouette. Robbed of his physical form, our hapless protagonist exists only as a shadow of a body that isn't there. This conceit is the driving force for Lost in Shadow's visual style, and it's a style that is at once incredibly jarring and remarkably beautiful.
The game takes place in the background, and by that I mean that entire levels have been designed for the game that you, as the player, will never navigate. Instead, you play on the shadow that these levels have cast. At first, it's slightly confusing as one's eyes are drawn to the empty platforms in the foreground. Once you get used to it though, Lost in Shadow becomes a strangely alienating yet not unpleasant experience.
The major focus is on environmental puzzles, which consists primarily of moving objects in the foreground to spill shadows on the background, allowing you to move onward. As the game progresses, there will be combat and increased interactions, so the game should constantly evolve.
The PAX demo showed me a very competent and solid platformer that was simple but very evocative thanks to its unique aesthetic style. The clever idea creates something that always keeps the player at a distance, yet keeps them playing because they want to be drawn in further. There is serious potential for Lost in Shadow to be a haunting little title in the same vein as ICO or Limbo, but it remains to be seen just how far Hudson pushes the concept.
Right now, all I can say is that Lost in Shadow is a game to keep an eye on. I fear this game may be tragically forgotten in the Wii game stampede, and that would be shame. Don't let yourself forget this one!
Contest:
1:20 PM on 09.07.2010
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There are gameplay videos to be found on Gametrailers. Not trailer stuff, but pure gameplay of the first level or so.
Still seems pretty fun from the couple hours I played so far though, just wasn't terribly happy to be constantly pitted against large shadowy buggers with the organic character physics that are great for platforming, but horrible for stopping and slashing things.
Graphics whore. Please die.
Totally! I think they should make the graphics worse in the next iteration, just to weed out all the graphics whores. That'll show all those people with eyes!
Is it a full retail release now and not a Wiiware title?
You're actually quite wrong, my dear friend. I care not for shiny textures, HDR effects, etc. I'm not one for graphics, as you can see by my name. Ever play Raiden? If you have, you'd be smart enough to think before you comment. Wanting a resolution that isn't washed out, dated as fuck, and isn't well below HD, doesn't mean you're a "graphics whore". Sorry, I no longer keep CRT/tube tv's lying around.
I don't live in the '90s.
You can have borderline plain graphics, and I'm fine with it. However, resolution does matter and sharply improves the image quality, but not the graphics. So therefore I'm an image quality whore and I gladly accept that title.
It's probably the extra $25.
This game's been on my radar for a while. Hopefully they time it's release so that I'm not distracted with some AAA game.
Epic Mickey looks rushed. It's all about how the devs push the hardware. Nintendo has shown through Galaxy 2 that the system is capable of great things.
Thanks for reminding me!
It reminds me a bit of Crush as well, where you play around with 2D/3D perspective. Funny how these two brilliant titles are on the PSP, oft-maligned as lacking innovation.
That wasn't the point of my post. If you've ever seen my Epic Mickey posts, then you'd know that it's my most anticipated game of this year, even more than the games on HD consoles. I'm also excited for Lost in Shadow. And I've been a defender of Metroid: Other M on here.
You can still get excited about Wii games and wish we had the option to play in an HD resolution at the same time.
No one with eyeballs would prefer a washed out 480i/p setting over HD resolutions like 720p/1080p and higher on the PC.