Lost Words: Beyond the Page Switch Review

Lost Words: Beyond the Page is an atmospheric narrative adventure from Modus Games and Stetchbook Games that takes place in the personal diary entries belonging to a young girl named Izzy that will unfold as you explore a fantasy land where words hold immense power. It is a wonderful, little tale with such unique gameplay that it is hard to put down, and the story told is a powerful one where you are free to choose some of the direction and themes that come about.

But is Lost Words: Beyond the Page an adventure worthy of a read? Or does this book need to be put on the shelf for good? Let’s see where Izzy goes with this and find out.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page follows Izzy, a sparky and creative girl who just received a brand new journal from her favorite person in the whole world, her grandmother. Immediately, you can sense the connection between the two and how well they understand each other, but tragedy happens and Izzy’s grandmother suffers from a stroke and her health begins to decline rapidly. Izzy and her mother, particularly, are struggling with this reality, and the way Lost Words tells the story is both unique and powerful.

Within the pages of Izzy’s own journal, we are being told two stories simultaneously that parallel each other in such an eye-opening way. Not only is Izzy writing her own thoughts and feelings into the journal, but she is also working on a new fantasy tale to spark her interest in writing but she obviously cannot help but use her personal story. The characters and events within Izzy’s creation mirror her real life sorrow, disappointment, loneliness, and anger in such a raw and meaningful way.

As someone who is currently facing the deterioration of their grandmother’s health, I immediately connected and understood all of the feelings being communicated throughout the compelling story. It is one thing to connect with an abstract story, but it is a whole different beast to face the harsh realities and pains of life. Lost Words: Beyond the Page wonderfully paints both a reality and fantastical world where these themes are present and brought to the forefront, and although it is heavy at times, it is a necessary learning experience for us.

It is helped even more that the game is so wonderfully voice acted with some passionate performances, particularly Izzy, throughout the entire game. Her emotional confessions feel real, and her narration of her story is colorful and engaging. Listening to Izzy journal and talk about the people and things around her is so raw, authentic-feeling, and good-hearted. It is like genuinely listening to a young girl share her thoughts, and it is such a joy to listen to.

The way the game plays is split into two styles: one part of the game consists of you jumping on Izzy’s words in her journal solving little, simple puzzles as she shares her thoughts and feelings, and the other part is more of a traditional puzzle platformer where you play as the new Firefly Guardian of your village. Although it does seem like you are going back-and-forth between the styles too much, it actually serves as a lovely break between things to help connect the pieces.

Jumping along the words in the journal is one of my favorite moments in the whole game. It is so wonderfully unique and feels like an idea from an old Nickelodeon cartoon, and this is usually where the story shines the brightest. The way the colors splash on the pages as Izzy narrates is gorgeous, and the words displaying on screen mean so much more as you hear, see, and even feel them with the avatar. Jumping on certain words or even moving words with your special firefly show the power of a single word and what it can do for you both in real life and in the game.

But Izzy’s fantasy story is where Lord Words: Beyond the Page feels more like a video game. The land of Estoria is stunning and vibrant with great layers in the foreground and background. The game even uses a wide assortment of colors to really help things stand out, especially narrative devices used throughout the game.

As the story continues, Izzy gives you options to customize the story a little bit, and that starts off with the main character. You get to choose the name, hair color, attitude, etc that help make her feel more like your creation, although the options do not allow you to deviate too much from where the game wants to take you. However, there are plenty of moments in the game that offer you choices that do feel very black and white and have differing results, which is really cool and adds lots of replay value as you can have multiple different experiences depending on how you play.

The main gameplay mechanic in Lost Words is the use of your firefly with the right stick. As you control your created Firefly Guardian, you will simply be able to move with the left stick and jump as your main means of action. However, the firefly can be moved freely all over the screen with the right stick, and if you push the left trigger, it opens a book with choice words in it. This mechanic is very interesting and allows the firefly to pull a word from the book and use it in the world. For example: if there is a bushel of thorns in front of you, the firefly can pull out the “Burn” word and actually burn down the thorns, clearing the path.

The Estoria side of the game relies heavily on this mechanic, and as you play and progress, more words will be made available to you. Some words are more permanent, while others are temporary or locked to a certain area. It is a really cool gimmick, although it can be a bit tedious at times, since the firefly’s movement on the Switch is not particularly fast and getting the word out of the book and dragging it to the appropriate place may take longer than desired.

Each of the Estoria stages are also littered with 20 firefly collectables each, and they are a fun little side mission for those looking to 100% the game. Some fireflies are in plain sight and are impossible to miss while others are hidden quite well and are often seen once it is too late. I found that the inability to go back at times to get these missed fireflies a bit frustrating, but it also encouraged me to keep a better eye out as I played the game.

The overall gameplay of Lost Words is rather simple and has little-to-no consequence, but it is clearly the device used to communicate something much more important and that is the emotions attached to loss.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a wonderful game that teaches a very valuable lesson on pain, grief, coping, and empathy among other things. Its paralleling stories do wonders in the form of helping us to understand what it is like for someone in Izzy’s position, and it is a game that may make you cry with its strong narrative.

This is a masterpiece. Just about everything in the game clicks, and it is something everyone can relate to or at least understand to a degree. The art style, the witty and emotional writing, the score, and the stellar voice acting all come together to create a truly special experience, and I cannot recommend this game enough.

Words are very powerful, and choosing the right ones in life can be a daunting task, especially when the right one does not come to mind. There are a lot of words to describe Lost Words: Beyond the Page, but there is one that comes to mind immediately for me:

Brilliant.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: Modus Games
Developer: Sketchbook Games
Release Date: April 6, 2021
Price: $14.99, £11.99, €14,99
Game Size: 4.8 GB