Lost in Random: The Eternal Die review — Destiny or chance

With the release of Lost in Random in 2021, we were given a fascinating new world full of opportunity, where everything was decided by the roll of a die. Now, we get the chance to explore the story of Queen Aleksandra, one of Random’s most notable characters. Is The Eternal Die a high roller, or has its luck run out?

The Eternal Die is the second game in the Lost in Random franchise and takes place a couple of years after the events of the first game. Where Lost in Random was an action-adventure title, developer Stormteller Games (formerly Zoink) has opted to lean into the game’s proclivity for chance with a roguelike title. What they’ve delivered is an excellent crawl to defeat Mare the Knight (clever, no?) and escape the Black Die.

As with most roguelites, the premise of The Eternal Die is simple: starting at square one, make your way from room to room, defeating foes and getting upgrades. Defeating each zone’s boss will grant you access to the next area. You’ll have to rinse and repeat until you encounter and topple Mare. You’ll dash, attack, throw your companion die, Fortune, and use cards to battle your way through the Black Die.

While the premise is straightforward, The Eternal Die features several mechanics to make the adventure a robust experience. You’ll start with a sword but quickly gain access to a bow, hammer, and spear. Using upgrade materials gained during your runs, you’ll be able to permanently build out four different upgrade paths for each weapon. This will grant you everything from enhanced fire or lightning to better critical hit chance and more. You can also upgrade and equip a variety of passive “blessings” that dictate a wide variety of in-game interactions. These systems all give you ways to improve and customize Aleksandra in hopes of getting a setup to best suit your needs.

Each run, you’ll start with your weapon and a blank relic slate. You’ll have the option of picking up a randomly generated card (which is effectively a magic spell) to augment your loadout, then it’s off to the first room. From there, you’ll defeat enemies and avoid obstacles to clear each room. Doing so will reward you with money, health, or colored relics used to populate your slate. These grant a wide range of abilities to improve your run. They can be anything from improving critical hit chance to adding a status effect for special attacks and more. 

On top of the effects the relics add for your current run, they each represent one to three colors. Matching three or more of a color on the relic board will give you a stat boost. Red adds to your overall weapon damage, blue to thrown dice damage, yellow to card damage, and so on. When you complete these matches, the corresponding color is consumed from the relics and they’re locked in place on your board. As you progress through a run, you’ll be able to paint relics to continue the match-three or replace them entirely with new relics. It’s a fun system that makes each jaunt through the Black Die its own experience.

The game features a handful of zones for Aleksandra to journey through. Each is punctuated by its own visual aesthetic as well as enemy variety. The pacing is great, too, so nothing ever overstays its welcome. While yes, foes (including the bosses) will become familiar over time, nothing ever feels oppressive or too frustrating since you’re on to a new zone in short order. My one complaint here is that I have to skip the same few dialog options every time I enter a boss battle. Beyond that, Eternal Die does a great job with pacing and variety.

Despite how it may have sounded up to this point, the Black Die isn’t just full of Mare and his cronies. A few citizens of Random have been pulled into the pocket dimension, too. Aleksandra will have to work with them to enhance her weapons, change her wardrobe, and complete a handful of other tasks to win their trust and help them escape the dungeon, too. Fans of Lost in Random will probably recognize a few faces, but even franchise newcomers will enjoy the variety and character they bring to the game.

The Eternal Die is a fun-looking game with neat character design. Each zone has its own look and feel, and after you learn them all, their fight patterns can be judged at a glance - something I consider a hallmark of good enemy design. I appreciate the game carrying the original title’s Burton-esque visual affectations forward, too. I appreciate the soundtrack’s mixed vibes of dark whimsy and a bit of adrenaline pump.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is an excellent roguelike with plenty of variety and replay value. The controls are tight, the combat is responsive, and the gameplay systems are clever and well-implemented. Factoring in the unique cast and lore, it’s no surprise this experience has me itching to return to the original game again.