While 2021’s Lost in Random was far from a roguelike, the team behind the adventure game always knew its zany world and dice-based gameplay would be a great fit for the fast-paced, combat-focused genre.
“Lost in Random being a roguelike sounded like a great idea and [way] to continue with the IP, but taking a new spin on it,” Martin Storm, the director of the new roguelike Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, told Polygon during a recent video call. “And that’s kind of how it started.”
The Eternal Die spins off from Lost in Random, putting players behind the mask of the first game’s antagonist, Queen Aleksandra. Leaning into the randomness of the series, Aleks and Fortune, her sentient die companion, fight through a series of ever-shifting levels to escape a powerful artifact that has trapped them.
“I felt like the die and randomness and the world fit really well with a roguelite. So we started out really, really small as a small team, and the direction that we were given was a roguelite in the Lost in Random universe with more of a gameplay and combat focus,” Storm said.
While Even, the protagonist of the first game, could take her time exploring the Kingdom of Random, there’s no such time for a breather in The Eternal Die. Like roguelike king Hades, The Eternal Die is full of challenging encounters with story beats mostly coming before boss fights and in between runs. While playing The Eternal Die, it was clear Hades was an influence on the game, and Storm said as much. “Obviously Hades was a big inspiration. I think Supergiant [Games] deserves a lot of praise, honestly. It’s like they’ve shone a new light on the roguelite and roguelike genre… they showed a way to have narrative and great gameplay in the genre.”
The Eternal Die hails from Stormteller Games, a different developer than Lost in Random, though about half of the 19-person team consists of developers who worked on the original game, helping it maintain the weird, quirky, and unique qualities of its predecessor. “I think having so many people who worked on the first game in this also just helped with the essence. They know Lost in Random at heart,” Storm said.
As for what’s next for the world of Lost in Random, Storm couldn’t reveal too much about the team’s plans. However, he did confirm that Stormteller will be adding more content to The Eternal Die at a later date. “We are continuing on new things for The Eternal Die. I cannot say what or when, but we will add content to the game.”
