A lot of the time at an event like Summer Game Fest Play Days, you are faced with booking appointments without ever knowing what you’re going to see. That was the case with Annapurna Interactive and The Lost Wild. I was offered a mystery appointment, and as soon as I saw the game announced at SGF, I knew what I was in for.
This is good and bad, because sometimes you are then faced with sending the wrong writer for the job. Maybe someone else would have been better suited for an evasion-based survival horror title. But it is also good, because I often find myself getting invested in things I often wouldn’t have looked at twice. The latter is the case for The Lost Wild—though I might not be the one to play when it releases, it is absolutely one I want to watch creators or friends take on.
At my appointment, I was treated to around 20 minutes of a hands-off demo that showed a little bit of the world, story, and tension in The Lost Wild. “Observe. Adapt. Evade,” were the core mechanics demonstrated in this preview, and I am more of a run-and-gun kind of girl. The Lost Wild will require patience and nerves of steel.
“The Lost Wild will require patience and nerves of steel.”
The story in The Lost Wild is a mystery, and that is kind of the point. You are a woman named Saskia who awakens on an island with no real understanding of where you are or what is going on. Dinosaurs are absolutely a part of the story and fear, but not the only part. There is clearly something strange happening with the few humans on the island, and you have to uncover what is going on while surviving the more obvious threats.
This is not a title where you will be fighting, realistically, they are dinosaurs, and you are just a woman. You will have access to non-lethal tools, but you are mostly evading throughout the game, my personal nightmare. Dinosaurs here do not act like mobs in a normal game. They do not start filling the area once you enter it. The dinosaurs in The Lost Wild act like true predators. Some will even stalk their prey, you, and surprise attack like an animal would in the wild.
For some reason, I did not think The Lost Wild would be as gory as it actually is. In our preview, we witnessed an NPC being attacked by a dino, and it was gruesome, just further adding to the tension. And this is all while you are trying not to alert the enemy to your location or panic, in-game or in real life. The atmosphere is extremely tense, and the graphics are beautiful, making the world feel real and intensifying that terrifying feeling.
“Great Ape Games is making something that is sure to be an intense experience with The Lost Wild.”
Everything about The Lost Wild felt intense and slow-paced, which was an incredibly intentional choice by Great Ape Games. Because Saskia is forced to be slow, methodical and stealthy, it adds to the overall sense of unease as she walks through the world. It would be easy to chalk it up to a spooky monster game, but even the areas where she finds signs of humans are filled with suspense and fear.
The most important thing that was shared with us was that The Lost Wild is about survival, not battle. Survival in The Lost Wild is not about fighting back, it is about being stealthy and making intentional choices, like where to move or even when. I am eager to learn more about what lies ahead for Saskia on this island, and what other mechanics come into play the further you get into the game.
As I said, The Lost Wild is certainly not a game I would be playing in the dark on a Friday night, but it is definitely one I want to watch other people play. And that is the greatest form of flattery from me, it is too spooky. I might be a wuss, but Great Ape Games is making something that is sure to be an intense experience with The Lost Wild.
The Lost Wild releases sometime in 2027 for PlayStation 5, Steam and the Epic Games Store.
