Welcome back to Save State, where my shelf of Nintendo DS games fell over onto my wife’s cat. While picking up all of my DS game cases, I rediscovered a game that I hadn’t thought about in nearly twenty years. I remember playing through this, enjoying everything about it, and then passing it off to my wife (well, girlfriend back then) who also played through and enjoyed it. Lost in Blue is a survival title on the Nintendo DS that incorporates time management and exploration into the mix to keep things interesting.
The story of Lost in Blue starts off pretty simple: the protagonists are on a ship that sinks during a massive storm. The two protagonists, Keith and Skye, wash up on a nearby island that seems to be deserted, at first glance, and the two have to work together in order to survive. Keith immediately steps on the girl’s glasses by accident, which leaves her dependent on Keith for many aspects of her survival since she’s severely vision impaired.
In Lost in Blue, you have to manage your health, energy levels, thirst, and hunger while you explore the island and hope for a rescue. Not just for yourself, either, as Skye needs to eat and drink too. You and Skye basically split up tasks because without her glasses she’s not able to see which is severely detrimental on a deserted island. Skye will prepare meals for you out of what edibles you scavenge, and she’s also responsible for keeping the bonfire burning with the kindling you bring back from your expeditions.
As you explore further and further across the island, you may have to leave Skye alone for longer periods of time. To prepare for adventure and exploration, it’s a necessity to leave plenty of food and potable water for the defenseless girl or be faced with the need to rush back and give her some sustenance so she doesn’t die. Exploring is important, though, as you’ll find materials that will allow you to make better beds, which let you recover more energy when resting, make better arrows and spears, as well as simply allowing you to advance the plot.
Lost in Blue is a Nintendo DS title, which means there are a lot of minigames that utilize the touchscreen. While exploring, you walk around with the d-pad like you would in any third person game, but when it comes time to shake a tree to get some coconuts, you need to whip out the stylus to simulate physically shaking the tree. There are similar minigames for catching crabs, digging for items, or interacting with other objects you may find throughout the adventure. Building a fire involves blowing into the DS’s microphone, for example, which may seem quaint now but back in 2005 this was a pretty interesting way to use the Nintendo DS’s features.
What really separates Lost in Blue from other survival fantasy titles is that, due to Keith breaking Skye’s glasses, she basically can’t venture out on her own as terrible eyesight and deserted islands don’t mix. Skye is responsible for cooking food for both of you, so she turns those crabs and turtles you find into cooked dishes with actual nutritional value. She also crafts items out of things you bring back, such as how she will craft ropes out of the vines you bring her, which you can use to build a raft.
Skye has to eat and drink too, however, which effectively turns her into a virtual pet you need to manage while you’re exploring the island. You need to leave her with enough food and water for her to survive, too, because her dying is not only tragic, but a game over condition for you. You will also have moments where you’ll need her help to move a boulder or help trigger switches, and for those you’ll need to ensure the route is clear and then bring Skye along with you for the day.
Skye isn’t completely deadweight outside of maintaining the bonfire or preparing food for you, however. If you lead her along to places where you need the strength of an additional person, she can help you move things. Every single thing in Lost in Blue builds upon itself, and you’re consistently and incrementally increasing your chances for survival with every excursion you take in the jungle of the deserted island.
After successfully escaping the island once, you can then play Skye mode. In this mode, you have to take care of Keith, gathering kindling, food, and whatever spices you can and make food for Keith to keep him energized while he’s out exploring. You can direct Keith to bring back specific things from his time exploring, too, like food items Skye can’t go retrieve herself. This effectively turns Keith into the virtual pet, as he leaves for the day, and you have to work on stocking up on food and maintaining the bonfire so he doesn’t get depressed and Digivolve into Numemon due to you neglecting him.
This mode is a lot less explorative and turns into a management game where you have to keep an idiot’s energy up or else he becomes effectively useless at progressing the story. You make meals based on recipes once Keith comes back with a slate you can use as a cooking surface, or a clay pot you can use to boil and steam dishes. There are over 40 different recipes, each with their own nutritional values, so while it may sound like Skye’s mode is more boring than the first one you played, it changes up the formula enough to keep things interesting for a second play through.
After a replay of Lost in Blue, I can safely say that it’s dated in some respects but is still an extremely fun time. I actually found out there were sequels to it that I never knew about previously and am interested in playing them now that I know of their existence. Lost in Blue isn’t exactly super long, so if you’re looking for something to kill a little time, this can be a strong contender for a fun time waster that is different from a lot of modern titles.
With that, I’ll bring this entry of Save State to a close. Remember, kids, if you can’t beat ‘em, let me beat ‘em. Or at least that’s what Let Me Solo Her taught me. See you in two weeks!