GZ Interview
6/12/02

The Lost offers a macabre journey in console RPG gaming
By Michael Lafferty

The  video gaming industry is treading new water, and that water is not only murky but it may make your skin crawl.

The Lost, from Crave Entertainment and Irrational Games, is more than a mere descent into hell – it is the battle for control of the domain as well as a mother’s efforts to save the soul of her dead daughter.

The storyline involves a woman named Amanda, who decides to kill herself after her daughter’s mysterious death. Lucifer stops her from the deed, and makes a deal with her. It seems Lucifer has been ousted from hell by a false god who has closed the entryway to heaven. If Amanda helps Lucifer regain his throne, he will see that her daughter gets into heaven. (If the whole deal with the devil doesn’t make your skin crawl, just wait).

The twist comes when Amanda meets up with three souls who decide to help her in exchange for being freed from the netherworld. Amanda can morph into any of the characters.

(For more on the game, see http://ps2.gamezone.com/gzreviews/p17272.htm) 

The game blends the role-playing into an incredibly huge world, full of monsters, and puzzles. Not only is the game visually stunning, but sound elements have added to the eeriness.

The game will be released on both the PlayStation2 (in October) and Xbox (November).

Ken Levine, co-founder of Irrational Games, took time to talk with GameZone about The Lost.

Question: What twisted, sick (in this case that is a good thing) mind came up with the storyline? Since it seemingly is one of the more original game storylines of late, did it draw inspiration from another source - like a book or really bad dream or something like that?

Ken: “It was primarily myself with a lot of help from team members like Ian Vogel, Dorian Hart, Paul Hellquist and Alexx Kay. It came both from the book Dante’s Inferno and a bunch of our personal experiences. Luckily, my life is a lot happier than that of the characters in the Lost; they’re all in Hell and I’m only in game development.”

Q: How do the four characters (Amanda and the three Netherworld spirits) integrate, and is it correct to presume that the range of characters are necessary to solving some of the situations presented in the game?

Ken: “It’s never really necessary to be one form or the other. In fact, the heart of the game design is that it allows people to approach the challenges of the game as they see fit, not as we, the game designers, want them to. Some people will like playing as Instinct, a character that specializes in close quarters, melee combat. Others may prefer ranged combat, so they favor Corruption. Still others (particularly those who have played Thief on the PC) will prefer the stealthy approach of the Shadow character. Or players will settle on a combination of all of them, depending on the situation. You really can win the game with any approach. In this way, The Lost is a combination of a traditional survival horror game and an RPG.”

Q: Eternal Darkness is a descent into madness, but it sounds like The Lost has bypassed the descent and gone straight for the twisted and macabre - is that correct?

Ken: “For a long time, video game horror has been mired in pretty standard horror elements: monsters, dinosaurs, zombies, et cetera.  With The Lost, we’re taking a more psychological view of the horror. In many ways, I think we’re reminiscent of horror films from the 70s - The Omen, The Shining, The Exorcist. The game deals with the death of a child and her mother’s descent into Hell. I think people who’ve been through that can relate to that experience at least in a metaphorical sense…”

Q: What aspect of the game do you think will impress players the most? And when people turn off the PS2 or Xbox, what will linger with them?

Ken: “The two most important aspects of The Lost are the kind of horror the player will face and the way they can choose to face that horror. Contrary to ‘traditional’ versions of hell, the hell we present is very personal one for Amanda Wright, the main character. It reflects her fears, her guilt and her regrets. The mistakes she made in life are often thrown in her face by the demons that confront her. There haven’t been many games that have dealt with themes on this level before.

“Similarly, where most games have viewed hell as a charnel pit full of fire and brimstone, we’re taking a much more specific view. Each circle of Hell reflects the sins it’s designed to punish.  The level of Corruption, for example, is choked with filth and decay to reflect the character of those consigned there, while the level of Deception is like a twisted carnival funhouse where the players’ very senses deceive them.”

Q:  What kind of engine powers this game, and what were you able to accomplish through its use in terms of graphical elements?

Ken: “We’re developing The Lost using the Unreal Warfare technology. The engine has allowed us to leverage the PS2 platform, creating environments that people have never seen before in a game. We’re pushing a lot of polygons.”

Q: Demographically speaking, whom do you think this game will appeal to?

Ken: “Some people don’t like to be scared. Others do.

“Some people are put off by content that goes a little further than they’re used to. Others aren’t.

“Given the themes in the game and the subject matter, we’re definitely looking at an ‘M’ rating.  Accepting an M rating means that we’re free to really explore what horror is.”

Q: The game crosses game genres, with its survival horror and RPG elements – what vision inspired that crossover?

Ken: “We developed a game for the PC called System Shock 2, which is generally regarded as one of the scariest games ever made. It was also an RPG. We wanted to bring some of the horror and gameplay people experience in that game to a console audience and also focus on the things that are important to a console audience: graphics, control, immediate feedback, et cetera.”

Q: What aspect of this game presented the biggest challenge, and the greatest when accomplished?

Ken: “There aren’t many console games out there that impart fear on a psychological level; as such, we had to figure out how to do it with very few reference points. Using Dante’s book as a touchstone was a big help, and we’re working hard to make that subject matter both interesting and unique. When we’re done, I hope that we’ll have delivered an experience that’s fun, bizarre and scares the pants off of gamers all at the same time.”

– Instinct squares off against a foe in the catacombs of the Ignorance level 

Instinct encounters one of “The Lost,” a soul wrongly imprisoned in Hell.  Freeing these souls will allow the player to progress through the different circles of Hell in the game.  When a soul is freed, the player can receive “Lost Points,” experience points that can be distributed to his character or unique items that build up specific attributes.  Some souls will send the player on a side quest that can result in acquiring other unique items. 

Cutscene: The main character, Amanda Wright, encounters Instinct, the first of the three playable characters in the game. 

Shadow, another playable character, encounters an enemy in a concentration camp-like level. 

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