As players engage in Dice Battles, protagonist Even can attack enemies to gather Energy Cubes. Once enough have been gathered, they can charge Dicey and roll him to unleash powerful skills. These include freezing time, a ticking time bomb (that can also hurt Even if you’re not careful), summoning a giant hammer, Uma’s Blessing for a bubble shield to block damage, curses and much more.

There are six realms to explore in the Kingdom of Random en route to saving Even’s sister Odd with dialogue choices popping up when interacting with different characters. Lost in Random is out on September 10th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch with pre-orders currently in live. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Developed by Zoink Games of Fe and Ghost Giant fame, Lost in Random features six different realms to explore. Even is on a quest to rescue her sister Odd (seriously). Dicey, meanwhile, is an ancient dice that’s alive and the two must work together to stop a cursed black dice from overtaking the kingdom. Along with solving puzzles, the duo will also partake in combat with arenas changing with each throw of the dice.

Lost in Random is out this Summer for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch (though EA says it’s coming to “all platforms” so that could include Xbox Series X/S and PS5 as well). EA Play Live takes place on July 22nd so stay tuned for more details and a release date.

Zoink Games of Stick It to The Man!, Fe and Ghost Giant fame has a new game coming up. It’s a dark fairy-tale called Lost in Random and is about Even as she explores a kingdom where everyone’s fate is determined by a dice roll. Check out the teaser trailer.

Even works with her sidekick Dicey, using chaos and randomness to challenge fate and ultimately free the kingdom from a curse. The aesthetic is very Tim Burton-esque as the duo travels through a variety of dark locales. While we need more details on how the dice roll mechanic works, this looks to be a solid platformer all around.

Lost in Random is a long way off from release, however. It’s currently set for launch in 2021. Zoink Games didn’t mention launch platforms but it’s safe to assume that the platformer will be available for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. And who knows – it could be rolling onto PS5 and Xbox Series X as well. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

The PlayStation VR-exclusive game, Ghost Giant, will see a physical on May 7^th in North America, publisher Perp Games announced today via a press release. The game had been announced previously, but was only known to have a digital release in North America, with the physical edition being exclusive to Europe. Now, those willing to wait can have a boxed version of the indie game in either region. The retail release is available now to buy at Best Buy and should be available across all retailers soon.

Developed by Zoink Games, creators of the recent indie title Fe, the VR title puts you in the role of a mysterious giant who can only be seen by a lonely kid named Louis. You must build the young boy’s trust by helping to solve various puzzles and help out the neighbors in the interactive world of Sancourt.

Ghost Giant will release exclusively on the PlayStation 4/PlayStation VR on April 19^th, a little over two weeks before the physical release in North America. The physical release will coincide day-and-date with the digital one in Europe.

Fe developer Zoink Games has confirmed that its puzzle adventure title Ghost Giant will be releasing on PlayStation VR in Spring. Announced just before E3 2018 really got rolling, Ghost Giant will receive a physical release in Europe courtesy of Perp Games.

What can you really expect from the game though? For starters, it sees a young boy Louis befriend a ghost. This ghost is gigantic though, and players will assume its role while getting closer to Louis. Set in Sancourt, the Ghost Giant can also help other people with their daily problems. The idea is to capture that feeling of exploring a doll house, lifting objects in Sancourt, and shifting them around like its nothing.

Of course, Ghost Giant also promises a compelling story that will tug at the heartstrings. While a more solid release date will be revealed later, we’re very interested to see where Zoink Games goes with this. To see how the gameplay works, check out the reveal trailer from E3 2018 below.

Fe released on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC last month, and it also got enhancements for the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X; surprisingly enough, however, the Xbox One X version doesn’t run at 60 frames per second, where the power of the console seems like it would otherwise enable higher performance.

So why is that? Speaking to GamingBolt, Zoink Games programmer Johan Fröhlander revealed that the answer is fairly banal- the team got access to Xbox One X development fairly late in the development cycle, which meant they couldn’t do anything too intensive.

“We were actually surprised when we saw the One X performing as it did on that resolution, but when we really started looking closer at the enhanced versions of the consoles (Xbox One X and PS4 Pro), it was at a stage in the development that we were very restrictive with the changes we made,” he said. “It was tempting of course, but whereas increasing the resolution is fairly safe, doubling the framerate runs a higher risk of introducing an obscure bug somewhere. It was a risk we didn’t want to take at that point, as we were unsure we’d be able to properly test it properly. But who knows what the future brings.”

That’s fair, and a more than sensible answer- hopefully for their next game, Zoink Games can fully leverage the additional power that the Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, and Nintendo Switch can uniquely offer to them.

To learn more about these differences in power and how Fe runs on these consoles, GamingBolt reached out to lead programmer Johan to provide some answers to these questions.

"The Xbox One X gave us more for free in terms of raw power, whereas we didn’t prioritize making the necessary adjustments for PS4 Pro."

How much time did it take to get the Xbox One X version up and running?

Up and running? Not so much. Up and running well took a bit longer since we had focused primarily on PC once we brought the platform on board, and taken some liberties with the resources as you can imagine. We didn’t really focus on One X specifically, so once Xbox One was in order One X naturally solved itself.

You recently confirmed that the Xbox One X version of Fe will run at native 4K whereas the PS4 Pro version will run at 1260p. We understand what are power differences between the two but wasn’t some alternate solution considered for the PS4 pro version? (something like checkerboard rendering).

Considered, yes, but unfortunately didn’t make the cut. The Xbox One X gave us more for free in terms of raw power, whereas we didn’t prioritize making the necessary adjustments for PS4 Pro.

I also find it interesting that Fe runs at 30fps on the Xbox One X. Fe doesn’t seem to be resource thirsty (it looks amazing from an art style perspective). Is there a specific reason why Fe doesn’t run at 60fps on the Xbox One X given its power?

We were actually surprised when we saw the One X performing as it did on that resolution, but when we really started looking closer at the enhanced versions of the consoles (Xbox One X and PS4 Pro), it was at a stage in the development that we were very restrictive with the changes we made. It was tempting of course, but whereas increasing the resolution is fairly safe, doubling the framerate runs a higher risk of introducing an obscure bug somewhere. It was a risk we didn’t want to take at that point, as we were unsure we’d be able to properly test it properly. But who knows what the future brings.

"The extra resources are cool to have and allows us to maybe do some platform specific enhancements, but in general we’d rather reach a wider audience than missing out on potential players due to system requirements."

As someone who has worked on both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, what is your take on the differences between them or are they quite similar?

From where we’re standing, they’re quite similar. Compared to their standard counterparts they give us more power for free as well as additional features exposed in Unity that we can fiddle around with. But as for pitching them against each other, we treat them quite the same.

Xbox One X has a ton of memory on board (12GB in total and 8GB of that is available for games). Do you think PC game developers such as yourself, will now be setting your PC memory requirements even higher in the future due to Xbox One X offering even higher memory allocations?

Not unless we have good reason to. The extra resources are cool to have and allows us to maybe do some platform specific enhancements, but in general we’d rather reach a wider audience than missing out on potential players due to system requirements.

Fe is a game that immediately arrests your attention with its gorgeous visuals. It is an action-adventure game in which players control a fox like creature called Fe as you explore a beautiful forest. You can interact with the creatures of the forest by singing to them and they sing to you as well.

The forest is under attack by some enemies known as the Silent Ones. The game is as minimalist in its story’s presentation as it is with gameplay. If you’ve played titles like Journey, then this game may seem quite familiar to you. The game doesn’t really provide instructions to you and instead expects you to slowly experiment and then discover how the game’s world functions. This is one of the best aspects of the game as it trusts you to learn for yourself what the game is about.

If you’re ever feeling stuck however, this walkthrough will surely be of use to you.

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While a lot has been said about the differences between the PS4 Pro, which represents a relatively conservative upgrade over the base PS4 system, versus the Xbox One X, which is a more radical overhaul of the Xbox One hardware, functionally, in the end, both systems do amount to the same result for the player- you get to play the same game, except now it’s  prettier.

And as developers who have worked on both, the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, Zoink Games (the team behind Fe) seem to agree that the two consoles are more similar than you might give them credit for. Speaking to GamingBolt in an exclusive interview, Zoink Games programmer Johan Fröhlander stated that from their perspective, both upgrades ended up amounting to the same thing.

“From where we’re standing, they’re quite similar. Compared to their standard counterparts they give us more power for free as well as additional features exposed in Unity that we can fiddle around with. But as for pitching them against each other, we treat them quite the same,” Fröhlander said.

He also said that while the additional resources (such as the 12GB of GDDR5 memory) on the Xbox One X are useful and helpful to have, they won’t, for example, bleed over into PC game development, and raise the average spec needed to play Zoink’s games, since they would rather reach a broader audience instead.

“Not unless we have good reason to,” Fröhlander said. “The extra resources are cool to have and allows us to maybe do some platform specific enhancements, but in general we’d rather reach a wider audience than missing out on potential players due to system requirements.”

So, you know- we can keep fighting about the added pixels and lines that one of the two consoles may add over the other, but functionally, are the two really that different from one another?

"Fe isn’t wholly concerned with explaining everything, taking a minimalist approach to its story-telling and a silent approach to the dialogue."

Zoink’s Fe is an interesting game, one that flirts with ambiguity without fully committing to it. The game’s atmosphere is a mix of “preserving nature and appreciating artistic beauty” and sort of just goes with that in its running time. The story is clear insofar as your role as Fe, a little fox-like being that can sing and communicate with animals for their assistance. The forest is threatened fairly quickly by the Silent Ones who capture animals and haul them off for some unknown mission. Gathering crystals, assisting the animals and combating the Silent Ones when you’re not gathering info on their purpose via astral projection makes up the main plot. Fe isn’t really concerned with explaining everything, taking a minimalist approach to its story-telling and a silent approach to the dialogue.

Instead, feelings, thoughts and emotions are conveyed through sound. Fe has the ability to sing to animals, matching the wave-length of their songs for different purposes. The Silent Ones’ voices are more distorted, even cacophonous, whenever they’re on the hunt. Whether you run into small critters, a playful stag (that’s subsequently captured, which angered me because we barely got time to solve puzzles…I mean, bond) or a protective mama bird, Fe conveys plenty of personality with its sound. The background music, combining heavy violin tunes and slow orchestral pieces adds to the tone admirably. There’s a sense that it could overpower the animals’ sounds but there’s a nice balance throughout.

Tying further into the “nature” theme are the different plants that can be interacted with. A critter may provide access to a plant that bounces you upwards. There may be a plant that lets you float with a gentle breeze. Larger birds may be capable of ferrying you to different places and there’s a helpful little hummingbird-type creature that will guide you to the next objective. It even doubles up as a source of unlocking little seeds that can disrupt the cages of the Silent Ones. Fe also likes to throw in some stealth. You can’t fight the Silent Ones head-on and if they spot you, they creep up on all fours with some decent speed, leaving you a few seconds at best to escape. This is all in addition to the platforming as Fe acquires different moves like climbing up trees and jumping off them to reach further places along with gliding.

"The ambiguous atmosphere bleeds into the aesthetic. In terms of art direction, Fe looks very unique."

Not every plant and animal is willing to listen to Fe. Sometimes you need to “learn” their song so to speak. Other times, areas will be closed off unless you unlock specific moves. It’s a decent reason to explore areas you’ve already cleared, perhaps collecting some crystals missed, before moving on. I’m hesitant to slot this into the Metroidvania genre though – there are slight aspects of that here but nothing too crazy, especially given how the levels themselves are laid out.

As a whole though, Fe‘s gameplay should be a lot more compelling than it actually is. The system of enticing plants to open the way forward, flitting up trees and gliding from one to the next, sneaking around, etc. should be a lot more arresting. At certain points – especially one epic sequence later in the game – it certainly is. It’s that moment where I feel the experience peaks. However, Fe just doesn’t strike that chord all throughout. Its level design is fairly rote. Aside from a few hidden nooks and crannies, the overall platforming won’t really tap into your ingenuity like Super Mario Odyssey or Celeste would. At times, I was caught thinking about Grow Up and how its concept felt like it could have used a lot more work to go with its massive levels and epic scale. Fe does have that slight bit of cleverness tucked away but it’s slow goings from the beginning.

The ambiguous atmosphere bleeds into the aesthetic. In terms of art direction, Fe looks very unique. Some animals come across as sharp silhouettes more than fleshed out figures (though their markings keep them from being too shadowy). The environments are a mix of minimal geometry and complex hues with the plants obviously sticking out as very intricately designed and luminescent. I could appreciate the screen hue changing dramatically when the Silent Ones became overbearing, simulating a crushing feeling but not really pushing the envelope. The playfulness of different animals in their animations is also a nice touch – when a game is so centred around nature like this, the developer deserves credit for imbuing so much personality into its creatures while still maintaining a fairly nondescript plot.

"If Fe‘s ambiguity was the set-up for compelling, tight-knit gameplay throughout its entire playtime, I would have probably been more interested in it."

Don’t get me wrong – aside from the ambiguous nature of the story mixing into the gameplay, making it hard to tell exactly what needs to be done next sometimes, Fe isn’t a bad game to play. The controls are fairly tight, roaming around the world is pretty soothing and aside from a few frame rate stutters here and there (old school Xbox One for the win), its performance is fine as well. You’ll sink a good couple of hours into the story and maybe go back to find the things you’ve missed. Don’t be surprised if you don’t though, even if the game can be fun at a number of points.

Sadly, despite the personality in its inhabitants, I never felt like Fe beckoned me to truly get lost in its world, much less fully appreciate its makeup. The stone tablets that depict various hieroglyphics of events taking place somehow reinforced my detachment rather than strengthened it.

If Fe‘s ambiguity was the set-up for compelling, tight-knit gameplay throughout its entire playtime, I would have probably been more interested in it. For as relaxing as the world can be to walk around in, if it was just a bit grimier, maybe a little more lived in and organic (which feels odd to say given all the flaura and fauna within), I would have had a stronger urge to see what the next corner held. As it stands, Fe is a whimsical experience that leaves a brief yet forgotten impression when you’re done playing it. Unfortunately, it’s more content to be dreamy and breezy instead of capturing your entire conscious during its short playtime.

This game was reviewed on Xbox One.