Ophelia Payne

There’s nothing scarier than dealing with the Post Office…

Letter Lost is part of a special genre of games I’ve noticed an increase in lately. You are just happily going about your day, consumed with a mundane task, and BAM, something scary/mysterious happens, and it sets you on an unexpected path.  I think it’s a brilliant mechanic, because a lot of these tasks lure you in with their repetitive nature; a calm sort of trance sort of overcomes you. While other games might have you repairing items or cleaning, Letter Lost has you receiving, sorting and processing letters and packages. 

While you will constantly hear the clock loudly ticking behind you as you work, FlatNine Games’ Letter Lost thankfully doesn’t have any jump scares. The horror components are primarily simmering in the background. Always there. 

Part work simulator, part puzzle game and part horror game, Letter Lost is ultimately about the struggle to escape your situation and realizing over time that it is impossible. 

In the opening scene, you wake up in a dungeon. Once you find your way out, you enter a Post Office. (My cynical side said this felt a little like an amusement park or escape room where they’d likely have you exit through the gift shop.) When you answer the ringing telephone, you speak to your new ‘supervisor’, Liv. Apparently, this is your new job.

 

Your first day is about getting used to the system of processing letters. Check the address, apply the proper stamp, and drop them in the appropriate chute to be delivered. Be sure to be in bed by 8pm, and oh, that’s right, you can’t leave.  This clearly feels ‘off,’ and your interactions with the people that come to the post office window don’t help that feeling go away. Most of them seem out of it too. Something is going on in this small town.

Back to the job. The island of Kharnym has 5 zones, each with their own stamp. Letters are straightforward, but parcels must be weighed, scanned, stamped and put onto trust for delivery. Fitting the most parcels into the truck each day is necessary, and some have odd shapes or requirements. Fragile ones can’t be close to broken pallets on the truck, and explosive ones can’t be near other packages.  When you first start, there are only 3 zones to work with, but over time you have more areas to cover as well as ‘wrinkles’ like certain zones not having service and all items heading there must be processed ‘return to sender’.

Remember Live warning you that your day ends at 8pm? Well, that’s not optional. And I found this part unnerving and stressful. Whether you are in the middle of a task or not, at the end of the workday a mysterious force pulls you from your workspace and takes you to your room. At the week’s end, it’s even more alarming as you loop back to the beginning (sort of) and start in the dungeon again. While you remember everything, Liv treats you like it’s your first day and you start wondering if you’re losing it. 

During your workday, most tasks are at your own pace, other than when people come to your window. You will have time to explore a little and little puzzles, and mysteries will pop up requiring your attention. Time management isn’t always my strong suit, and this was more stressful at times, especially with that clock ticking and watching for 8pm. When you are in your room, there are also mysteries to be discovered. 

My favourite part of Letter Lost was talking to, and helping, the locals who came to the window. They normally gave you a little bit of information about the island, giving vague hints, then asked you to post something for them. Occasionally, though, they ask for something specific. They might ask you to open a letter, search for a parcel, or, in one instance, a woman asks you to mail a letter to a graveyard so she can resurrect her dead husband. As mentioned prior, be sure to get everything done by the end of the week, before the loop resets, and you lose your progress. Now, if the time constraints weren’t stressful enough, some of the outcomes of your actions will change what happens to the characters. Being responsible for someone dying isn’t easy to wrap your head around. 

Don’t overlook the environment in Letter Lost. In the beginning, I mostly ignored my empty shelves in my bedroom but started to notice that I would find mementos there after completing tasks for customers. This was a lovely detail to help give you conclusions to certain story elements.  Also, be sure to check out the Starry Painting in your bedroom.

Once you realize there are clues hidden around, your instinct is to start sleuthing. Drink the random morning coffee? Sure, why not? Look at the photos on the wall. Of course, every time I was looking around, customers would be at the window. It’s like the post office didn’t want me to find a way to escape. But I just KNEW it was there. So, I ignored my duties; I opened mail and parcels; I ignored the window; I ignored the phone and Liv. I even randomly punched numbers into the phone to see who might answer. No spoilers, but it was eye-opening. I can’t wait to play more of the game.

Overall, Letter Lost has a fantastic balance of environment and dialogue-based puzzles.

While there isn’t a lot of spoken dialogue in the game, I must shout out the voice of Liv, developer Christine Wade, who brought both a sense of warmth and levity to an otherwise lonely and quiet workplace.  She also managed to bring the creepy and unnerving quality that I respect. Managing to bring 2 very different sides to a character is not an easy task.  When Liv isn’t being vague and secretive, she’s fun to joke around with.

Music also plays an important role in the game; it took me a while to realize that the piano wasn’t just playing between lively and eerie, but also during the last hour of the shift it changed. I didn’t need to keep an eye on the clock after that; I would listen for the music to change and then I’d know to start wrapping up daily tasks.

I became an avid listener to the radio. Sadly, when you look away from it, it becomes difficult to hear, but listening to the local events on the island brought me joy and amusement. There are 8 different channels for you to scroll through. I heard an entire conversation about a resident who couldn’t stop dancing. Considering this is an optional activity, I appreciate the work that went into it.

The character artwork is also a highlight of Letter Lost. While you speak to them at the window, their expressions will change from time to time. I was impressed and unnerved by how fluid this was for drawings. The way they arrived and departed into the mist was also both magical and eerie. 

A single playthrough is roughly 12-15 hours, up to 20 if you want to discover all the secrets (according to the devs).

This isn’t a game for everyone. It’s a slow, methodical game that requires you to use your brain. You simply can not brute force your way through it. Also, the lurking feeling of someone always watching you felt a little too much at times, and the eerie feeling made me get up and walk away for a few minutes. But I always came back…. omg, just like the game!!

The Lovecraftian vibe is evident, the puzzles are smart, and the interactions with the customers are clever. This game isn’t what I expected from the trailer, and it was a genre I didn’t know I needed more of in my life, but I am grateful I had the opportunity to experience it for myself.

Until next time…be good to yourself and be good to each other.

**Special Thanks to Nerder She Wrote for the review code**