Lost: Via Domus

Lost: Via Domus (Incorrectly translated "The Way Home" in Latin; also known as Lost: The Video Game in Europe) is a video game based on the ABC television series Lost that was released for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 27th 2008. The game was officially unveiled at Comic-Con 2007.

A Lost game was released for mobile phones on January 16, 2007 and fifth-generation iPods on May 23, 2007. It is not related to Via Domus, nor created by the same developer.

Development

On May 22, 2006, Ubisoft announced that they had licensed the rights from Touchstone Television to create a video game based on Lost planned for release at the end of February 2008.

Although it was speculated to be in development hell for some time, as there were no updates on the game since its initial May 2006 announcement, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse stated in the official Lost podcast of April 16, 2007 that the game was in production and that they had seen playable footage of the game.

Trailers

A trailer was released on the GameTrailers website on July 27, 2007, showing the island and some of the main characters. In the later released Xbox Live trailer for the game, at 1 minute 8 seconds (23 seconds from the end), just after the character gets slapped and before the ship blows up there is a hidden frame which says "Find us and we will show you the way" on the calculating computer. Also at 1:20 on the Xbox Live trailer the blast door map shows up in red.

Gameplay

The player is cast as a previously unseen survivor, Elliott Maslow, a photojournalist with amnesia. Gameplay involves Resident Evil-style fetch quests and puzzle solving. The use of flashbacks as a storytelling device, which are integral to the television show, is part of the game play. Also, owing to the main character's amnesia, they are often just as revealing to the character as they are to the player. The game's timeline coincides with the first 70 days portrayed in the television series. The player explores locations seen in the show, such as the beach camp, the dark territory, The Pearl Station, The Hydra Station, the Flame station, the Black Rock and the Swan Station. The player also interacts with some of the major characters of the television show; Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Mikhail, Ben, Juliet and Locke, among others. Elliott must also avoid the "Black Smoke" monster. Trading with other survivors and taking photos with a camera are also part of the gameplay.

The game is split up into seven "episodes". These episodes are "Force Maejure", "A New Day", "Forty-Two", "Hotel Persephone", "Whatever It Takes" and "Worth A Thousand Words". Each episode was plotted by the show's executive producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Characters

Elliott Maslow - Elliott, the main character, is a photojournalist who suffers from amnesia. He doesn't know his own past and must work to regain his memory and to find a way off the island.

Lisa Gellhorn - A reporter, before the crash Lisa had a brief affair with Elliot while she was working with him on a very big story. She died some time before the events of the game, after being shot in the head by Zoran Savo.

Zoran Savo - The president of the Chenchey Institute of Research. Because of his institute's humanitarian work, he has been named an International Union Goodwill Ambassador of Peace and Tolerance. He is on a diplomatic mission to Sydney to promote a human rights amendment to the IU Charter of Rights signed by over 50 nations.

Beady Eyes - One of Savo's loyal bodyguards, Beady Eyes has been with him since the early days. He was initially involved in the illegal arms trade before Savo approached him to act as a liaison with the criminal world. As their relationship developed, the henchman became Savo's right-hand man, making sure that his boss - and primary source of income - was protected from every threat.

Additionally, the main characters from the series are also present in the game. They include Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, Claire Littleton, Hurley Reyes, James "Sawyer" Ford, John Locke, Desmond Hume, Ben Linus, Juliet Burke, Sayid Jarrah, Charlie Pace, Sun Kwon, Jin Kwon, Michael Dawson and Tom among others. The actors for Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), Sun (Yunjin Kim), Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), Claire (Emilie de Ravin), Tom (M. C. Gainey) and Mikhail Bakunin (Andrew Divoff)all provided voice work for the game, while the rest of the major characters are provided by stand-ins.