It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. -Buddha

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I always love getting the chance to review a game that I really enjoy. I would like to start by thanking Kadokawa Games, NIS America, and of course The Well-Red Mage for providing me with a review copy of the game. It is a bit surreal for me personally when I am able to play a game and review it before it is available to the general public, so thank you guys for making that a reality for me.

The Lost Child is a JRPG with animation in the art style of Japanese anime and it wears its Lovecraftian influence on its sleeve. You are able to capture demons and fallen angels and then battle with them much like Pokémon but in more of a party vs. party system, à la Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, rather than one captured creature vs. another. You are actually able to evolve the monsters as well which I thought was a special touch, there are 3 levels and the monster drops back down in strength and level once evolved each time but can be built up much stronger than was possible previously to each evolution.

The Lovecraftian elements are virtually everywhere. Ranging from the Shoggoths and Deep Ones which can be captured and trained up to battle with, to the location known as R’lyeh Road, which fans of the mythos will notice as a reference to the underwater city that holds the great old one, Cthulhu. They also include Cthulhu and Dagon as evil deities in the game with Cthulhu wielding the power of wood and Dagon being the master of the water. There are also many mentions of ancient texts, insanity, and all the other things that we Lovecraftians love to see in a work that draws inspiration from his writing.

You play as Hayato, an occult journalist, who runs into an angel named Lua, who looks more like the anime version of a lady in a sexy witch Halloween costume. The two of you proceed to learn about areas called layers that are infested with demons, fallen angels, and the like. Once you enter into these realms they are played out in an anachronistic dungeon crawler sort of fashion, which I personally really enjoyed, but I can see how it would not be for everyone.

There are different elements to the gameplay such as the investigation aspect where you talk to the different townspeople to gain information, the battles in which you test the skills of your monsters as well as Hayato and Lua, and the exploration of the layers amongst other things. I felt that the battles were the strongest of all the areas of gameplay, the leveling up of the monsters and characters works very well and I enjoyed the different skills that you are able to use and learn.

Speaking of the battles I must touch on the Gangour which is sort of the central weapon wielded by Hayato. It is both the most powerful attack (at times), which causes Hayato and all monsters to attack at once, and the only way to capture more monsters all at the same time. If you are able to defeat the monster you attack with the Gangour then you will have captured it and be able to use it in future battles if you swap it into your party. That is of course after you purify it which is a process that takes some of your points which you use to level up your characters. The Gangour has to charge up to be especially effective although you can use it regardless of how charged up the meter at the top of the screen is.

There are a few different stores and locations that you are able to make use of during your journey. There is the spa that grants you certain temporary boosts for a price, the bookstore is the main spot for all of your potion type items and other important things, the spot where you are able to evolve your monsters or swap moves between them, and of course the office where you can go to save and check out your current quests. The office is not the only place that you are able to save, but you can not save just by pausing.

There are certain areas in layers where you can save but there and the office are about it, so anytime you see an opportunity to save it is always worth it to go ahead and do it just in case. Luckily with the Switch, you can just hibernate the screen and go back to where you were, provided that your wife has not snatched it up to play Stardew Valley without realizing she was ruining your progress, of course.

The battles throughout the game are of greatly varying degrees of difficulty. There may be a few battles that you roll right through with no problem while basically just mashing the A button to attack until the battle is over. While other times you may have to carefully and strategically plan each move with each character before taking your turn in order to rise to the challenge. You will have to consider which characters are strongest with combat, magic, healing, while also taking into consideration their elemental strengths and weaknesses.

There are various elements that each monster may have such as fire, wind, wood, or lightning etc. You can use the Gangour with Hayato at the beginning of your turn to bring out your strongest monsters and swap them out with your current crew. This surprisingly does not take away a turn for Hayato which was helpful in the more intense battles. It is also worth noting that Hayato and Lua are not able to be swapped out of the starting lineup.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.com/2018/06/25/the-lost-child-2018-switch/