Letter Lost is a mysterious tale developing in a paranormal post office. Inspired by escape rooms, its cozy job environment works well with its spookier tendencies.
Have you ever thought that there is more to life? As if this reality is a facade that you have always thought is a lie. That if a genie magically appeared, your only wish would be to take a peek behind the curtain. 2017’s film Under The Silver Lake portrays a young man finding a conspiracy reaching all the way to the higher rungs of society in Los Angeles. Through hieroglyphs known as the homeless code left across town, he slowly follows the clues to haunting conclusions. Not too dissimilar, Letter Lost is a perplexing puzzler that, by sheer observation, may allow players to find a way out of a cursed post office.
Imagine you wake up in a literal dungeon. With no recollection of how you got there or where you were before. Trying to get your bearings without panicking too much, a key drops from a shoddy brick. After unlocking the cell, you are faced with four other locked doors in this jail. The tutorial asks you to pick up a letter opener. A shiny envelope begs to be knifed. Another key drops. A way out—or further in?—is finally within your grasp. You are being observed. It was all according to plan.
Where Am I?
Welcome to your new home: the Kharnym Post Office. How you got here is but the first of many mind-boggling enigmas that get deeper as the game progresses. But never mind about that. The phone is ringing. It’s your manager, Liz. A cheery, gentle voice welcomes you into your first day as a postmaster. As the single post office in the fishing isle of Kharnym, your work is invaluable, you are told. But how do I get out of here? You may be asking. Liz will condescendingly motivate you to learn the ropes instead.
Letters automatically arrive through a tube on your desk. You stamp them according to their corresponding area, which in the beginning are Dragshallow Bay, Doloth Hills, and Wistvale. You click on the designated region to send the mail, and voila. Easy as pie. Then you have parcels. Similar to letters, these have an extra step and have to be scanned before they are shipped. If at any point during this process you mess up, be careful. A swift message through a pneumatic tube will reprimand you for your mistakes. The claustrophobia sets in soon.
Letter Lost works much like an escape room. Albeit, with a significant caveat: there’s something really weird going on here. Paranormal phenomena start to manifest as soon as you clock out of your first day of work. As Liz mentions, downtime is “mandatory.” This literally means an unseen force pulls you into your apartment upstairs. Accompanied by creepy high-pitched violins, this is an occurrence that you should get used to. After all, you are stuck here until you try to unravel the office’s secrets.
Creative Minds Needed
Thinking outside the box is Letter Lost’s specialty. Once you have gotten used to the grind of stamping and sending letters and parcels—which is quite satisfying in and of itself—you may think to break away from the routine. Hounddog investigators will be rewarded for their curiosity in spades. Hidden documents tucked away in shelves next to classic works of literature nudge you into sparking your curiosity. Secret number codes that work as phone numbers, solutions, or safe codes will eventually find their way to you. Perhaps there is actually more to life.
Because there are several endings and plot points to pursue, paying attention to everything that is being said is crucial. That distressed woman who lost her daughter? The sinister man who is asking you to break the rules? Or what about that eerie, siren-looking lady? Nothing is what it seems in Kharnym. Even if you ignore it, the game will find a way to remind you that your destiny is not to be enslaved forever within these four walls.
What works in Letter Lost is not just the succulent mystery to desperately find a way out, but also how cozy this office is. Besides the supernatural forces that whisk you away every night, it seems rather calming to be here. Each day, the relaxing piano soundtrack entices you to work harder than yesterday. Ultimately, the money earned at the end of each day is meant to be spent on improving your workspace.
That’s Life
And oh, are there improvements to be made. Other than the 1800s-inspired posters that the place came with, there’s plenty to personalize. Decorations like groovy lighting and flashier wallpapers are on sale. Once you get tired of the incredibly eerie news on the radio, a record player seems like a great option to make the atmosphere your own. More efficiently oriented advantages like the smart chute that rejects wrong letters, a motivational poster that makes letters move faster, or an unseen helper that automatically sends envelopes aim to ease the burden of everyday work.
Reading the dialogues of each character, it is clear that the spooky themes are on full display. As mentioned, the radio news will discuss possessed workers standing on the streets of Kharnym, or macabre men in hooded robes. Letter Lost is not outright horror—there are no jumpscares—but the uneasy feeling that something is wrong is always there. Every customer is stricken with sadness, amnesia, or despair. Rarely will you find a character who is right in the head.
Verdict: Letter Lost
Freewill is at the center of this clever mystery. There is something wrong in this post office. That is as far as you know. Letter Lost is unlike any other escape room you will ever be trapped in, in real life or video games. Banking on you to unravel its secrets, there is no shortage of clues to follow at any given time. This makes for an exquisite analysis of its elaborate puzzles that will have you writing things down intuitively. Whether you make it out alive is entirely up to you.
Reviewed for Steam.
Developer/Publisher: FlatNine Games
Release Date: Out now
Pros:
- Inspiring prose
- Unnerving worldbuilding
- Massive amount of secrets
- Various plot points to follow
- Several endings that entice replayability
- Elaborate puzzles that require lateral thinking
Cons:
- Strictly for unconventional thinkers
- Most puzzles do not hold your hand
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Letter Lost
