Lostbound Review – A Rogue-Lite That Lost Its Grip

Top-down RPGs have never really clicked for me – except Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES. Over the past few years, though, I’ve warmed to the perspective, so giving Lostbound a shot made sense.

Lostbound is a rogue-lite RPG channeling the spirit of SNES-era Zelda. You play a knight trekking through a familiar fantasy land filled with disposable enemies, trap-riddled dungeons, and boss battles. The goal? Loot the land of its artefacts via dungeon raids.

Enter a room brimming with traps and foes, hope a chest awaits, and repeat. Conceptually, Lostbound stands out in an overcrowded genre. It’s not text-heavy, avoids chunky pixels, and the combat isn’t hack-and-slash, turn-based, or some muddy hybrid.

Combat That Feels Like Watching Paint Dry

Your knight wields sword and shield, but you can’t swing them freely. Instead, you trigger encounters where you literally run into enemies and auto-attack. You can raise your shield to block (and bash), dash through foes, and a few other tricks, but it all feels oddly detached. Not complicated, just not me.

The game leans on traditional puzzle-solving and block-blasting to unlock keys and new areas. And yes, you still have to walk into enemies to start the fight.

The Hand of Doom (And the TARDIS Rest Stops)

Visually, Lostbound shines. I didn’t get the TARDIS references, though, they felt jarringly out of place. Scattered across the world, these blue boxes let you rest, heal, and wait out time.

But there’s a catch: a shadowy Hand hunts you. If it catches you, it drags you into the Abyss. Worse, the Hand tears chunks of the map into the Abyss permanently. Miss a dungeon today? It might vanish tomorrow. You’ll need foresight and tight time management, plus a TARDIS nearby when you need it. Ok…

Despite its strengths, I just didn’t want to play. For a rogue-lite, there’s no “one more run” pull. The presentation, UI, and navigation are inconsistent and unintuitive. Nothing about it made me eager to return.

The Hand mechanic? Brilliant. Tenkarider took risks by breaking genre conventions, but in doing so, it alienates fans who crave familiarity. Granted, I’m not that fan, but maybe this is a good entry point for newcomers.

There’s potential here, but too many half-baked ideas taped together and it’s teetering on stilts. For me, Lostbound won’t be getting a second run after this review. Until then, I’m off to find a dungeon that doesn’t feel like homework.