The Tail Section

On February 26, an action packed adventure game entitled Lost: Via Domus will be released on the XBox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC.  Gamers will play as a previously unseen survivor of Flight 815 named Elliott, a photojournalist who is suffering from amnesia.  Much like the Lost episode "Exposé" followed the parallel adventures of Nikki and Paulo, Via Domus will revolve around Elliott’s island discoveries throughout the first three seasons of the series.  The game is divided into seven different episodes, each set primarily on the island and interspersed with playable flashback scenes, which were planned in collaboration with the show’s executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.  As with most of the books, websites, and mobisodes affiliated with the show, the creators of Via Domus promise that the game will reveal exciting secrets of the island and the castaways.

One of the co-writers of the game, Kevin Shortt, recently gave an interview to MTV where he explained the thought process in creating the adventure.  “We all know the story of Jack and Kate and all of them," he said. "We wanted to recreate the Lost experience, and the best way to do that was to make you a new character who was one of the castaways on Flight 815 and you need to discover their story.”

While the game runs parallel to the first three seasons of the series, it obviously won’t give away any big secrets from the show.  Instead, the game will focus on the mystery of who Elliott really is, and why some mysterious people are showing up in the jungle and menacing him.  Shortt revealed that he did get some information from the Lost creative team about what the black smoke does, as well as the secrets behind the Black Rock, but he wouldn’t give any details.

Most of the gameplay in Via Domus will involve running around, solving puzzles, doing mini-games, making dialogue choices, and of course getting into a little bit of action.  As Elliott, you’ll have to do things like fix a fuel leak in the plane wreckage, input the infamous numbers into the Swan station’s computer, and talk with Kate to initiate a flashback sequence.  The game starts just before the crash of Flight 815, and wraps up with an ending conceived by Damon Lindelof that will leave fans with some questions.  That’s definitely to be expected in any Lost experience.

As for the voices of the characters, don’t expect to hear the likes of Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Josh Holloway in the game.  Many of the characters were voiced by stand-ins, though you will hear the real voices of Yunjin Kim, Michael Emerson, Emilie De Ravin, and Henry Ian Cusick.

Via Domus (which is Latin for "The Road Home") will provide about 10 hours of gameplay.  That should be just enough to keep any Lost fan busy between fresh episodes, though I’m interested to know how many fans out there plan to pick this up.  I’m an avid gamer, but I’ve been burned one too many times by less than stellar tie-in games.  I think I’ll probably wait for reviews on this one to ensure it’s not another Superman Returns type of debacle.  However, the fact that it was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, the studio behind such great games as Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed, means it’ll likely be a cut above most other tie-ins.

For those who want to see some of the game in action, the official trailer is below: