As an enthusiast of survival games, I am excited to dive into “Lost in Tropics” from Lucas GameLabs. The Steam store page promises an ‘unforgettable survival adventure set in lush, unpredictable tropical landscapes’, so I was instantly drawn into the game’s captivating description and excited to see if it rings true.

Upon loading in, you are presented with a clean UI and three game options. First, you must complete the tutorial to unlock the other two challenges, progressively increasing the difficulty of survival. Each successful survival grants the player access to essential tools such as an axe, torch, rope, fire starter, and bug repellent helping your character to survive longer on your island.

For every new session, you must choose a new character, each with distinct ailments like asthma, a weak stomach, or venom allergies. This serves as a handicap, such as giving you higher rewards if you manage to survive longer. Accompanying you is a female companion who assists in building, collecting, and hunting.

To have her perform the actions you simply fill her inventory with the required items; logs, rocks, etc and she’ll construct predetermined structures, fire, bandages, and coconut cuts; there are a few different options. You never actually see her move though, she just sits still on the log like nothing is happening and asks for food as the days and nights go on, which feels more like a hindrance at times.

The game plays much like any survival game, gathering resources and managing your characters’ food needs and managing energy levels. Hitting coconut trees, coconuts will fall from the tree, normal trees will give you wood, it’s all very basic and clean. The only real food you can hunt at this stage is different types of crabs and fish. Once resources get low on your island, it’s time to walk to another island to scavenge.

You can walk in the shallow water or there is a basic swim function with some seaweed and fish for decorations. Thenn it is time to hunt some crabs to eat and cook them again, pretty much crabs, fish and coconuts are the main staple diets, not very interesting.

You must balance your hunger and energy levels to survive but also while looking after your companion, a balancing act of time and resources. Unfortunately, there is no real narrative to follow so you are left to your own devices. A tacked-on story would be a driving push needed to further your adventures and fuel the drive to collect resources.

The graphics are typical of an early access game—solid but nothing really remarkable. The jungle island setting is convincing and there are a few different variations of scrub and flowers. A large drawback is the distinct lack of ambient sounds, such as footsteps and the splashing of water, what sounds that are present seem generic and uninspiring, detracting from the overall experience you need to try and get immersed into survival games. The development of a survival atmosphere is really lost in the graphics and overall sound work.

In all, the game shows great potential to grow into a quality title in the survival genre. It lays a solid foundation with its core game play features, though currently, it feels premature to give a solid definitive judgment at this stage. With further enhancement from the developers at GameLabs and some polish, it could meet the high standards that fans of the genre have come to expect.

Written by: Mikey B