Game Name: Lost Dimension
Platform(s): PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Vita (No Cross-Buy or Cross-Save)
Publisher(s): ATLUS
Developer(s): Furyu/Lancarse
Release Date: July 28, 2015
Price: $39.99 USD/$49.99 CAD
Imagine you were one of 11 psychic-abled humans selected to save the world. From what, you ask?
Just your run of the mill agent of the apocalypse, is all.
Now imagine that there’s a traitor in your midst, or a few…
That’s Lost Dimension in a nutshell. Saving the world without getting stabbed in the back. However, it’s so much more that just that.
Gotta Save The World…With A Twist.
Previously released in Japan in 2014, Lost Dimension is what could be considered a RPG with Visual Novel elements included, similar to games like SEGA’s Valkyria Chronicles series. You take the role of Sho Kasugai, an 18-year-old member of S.E.A.L.E.D., a secret service type group, with the task of investigating a giant pillar that appeared out of nowhere.
Speaking of S.E.A.L.E.D., you are not alone, as you’re joined by 10 other members as you investigate the pillar, all with different abilities, known as Fate Gifts:
- Sho’s Fate Gift is Premonition, the ability to foresee future events,
- Himeno Akatsuki’s Fate Gift is Pyrokinesis, the ability to manipulate fire,
- Toya Orbert’s Fate Gift is Magnet Field, the ability to affect magnetic forces around him,
- Mana Kawai’s Fate Gift is Overdrive, significantly strengthening her attacks multiple-fold,
- Nagi Shishiouka’s Fate Gift is Zero Gravity, where she is able to levitate, and affect gravitational fields around her,
- Sojiro Sagara’s Fate Gift is Rejuvenation, where he can heal and rejuvenate party members psychically,
- Zenji Maeda’s Fate Gift is Resonance, where he can share friendly buffs and reflect/mirror enemy attacks,
- Marco Barbato’s Fate Gift is Telekinesis, which is fairly obvious,
- Yoko Tachibana’s Fate Gift is Brain Hacker, where she can hack in to the thoughts of others, influencing them one way or another,
- Agito Yuuki’s Fate Gift is Dimension, where he can teleport, as well as travel between dimensions, and
- George Jackman’s Fate Gift is Sense, where he can sense and analyze objects to reveal more information, such as strengths and weaknesses.
The story starts off simple enough, with Sho waking up on the battlefield after being knocked out. He immediately jumps into battle with 5 other members of S.E.A.L.E.D., George, Zenji, Toya, Mana and Himeno. This serves as your tutorial battle, where helpful hints about the battle system are revealed to you as you go throughout the battle sequence. At the end of the sequence, Sho and the other 5 members of S.E.A.L.E.D. meet up with 5 additional members in Nagi, Yoko, Sojiro, Marco and Agito.
This is where you get introduced to our antagonist, a suave, debonair son of a gun known simply as “The END,” a self proclaimed agent of the apocalypse who essentially gives S.E.A.L.E.D. thirteen days to climb the pillar and defeat him…but there’s a catch. There’s a traitor in the ranks, and you must weed them out before advancing any further. Needless to say, this adds a little bit of a tension to the group, as you must not only figure out who the traitor is, but build camaraderie with your fellow teammates as well, which you can only build two relationships after every battle.
Who is the traitor? Can you figure it out before it’s too late?
One thing that’s extremely unique about Lost Dimension is Sho’s ability to hear the inner voices of the people who he fights with after every battle. This is definitely the part where detailed attention needs to be paid, because certain voices and thoughts will sound and look extremely different from the others. These voices will help you determine who the traitor is, and it certainly helps to take note of the red text of the distorted voices, and who they are attached to.
Since I just passed the 2nd floor, which introduced Vision Points, allowing you to go deeper into a team mate’s heart to figure out whether or not they are the traitor, chasing them until you can catch up. The heart is simply a white area with scattered thoughts, and you’ll have to follow their heart in order to get to their true feelings. It’s a fun mini-game that channels your inner detective.
Time To Pass Judgement!
After beating all of the main story missions of the floor, you are summoned to the judgement room to eliminate whoever may be the traitor on that floor. It’s not easy, as every surviving member of the team on the floor has to vote for who they believe is the traitor, and while the first traitor is locked in (only on the first playthrough of a save file,) all of the others are selected at random, so you’ll never know who the traitor may or may not be. However, the person you vote off may not be killed per se, but we’ll just leave that for the upcoming video play through.
Aside from the big points, the Battle System is simple enough, but has enough tweaks to keep it interesting, as does the ability grid, where every gift ability ties into each other.
That’s it for this quick preview of Lost Dimension on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Stay tuned for a guided walk-through coming later this month, as well as the full review of the game coming at the end of July.
*Preview copy provided by the publisher.*
