Digixart Entertainment is a new name, but there’s some experienced talent behind it worth paying attention to. Yoan Fanise, a 14-year veteran of Ubisoft, is the head of the new studio. You might recognize his name as the director of Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Free), a game that we enjoyed very much when we reviewed it here at TouchArcade. Digixart’s debut title is something a little different from that game, however. It’s called Lost In Harmony: Kaito’s Adventure, and I was lucky enough to get the chance to play it on the floor of the Tokyo Game Show.
It’s a hybrid auto-runner/rhythm game where you take the control of a young man named Kaito. You’ll travel through his dreams on a skateboard, with the object of his affections hanging on to his back. Kaito moves towards the screen, similar to some of the levels in the classic Crash Bandicoot games. You can move left or right by dragging your finger on the screen, and swiping up makes Kaito jump. Occasionally, some prompts will appear on the screen that you’ll have to tap with the right timing. The levels themselves are gorgeous, taking full advantage of the fact that they happen inside of Kaito’s head. You’ll be traveling along a busy road only to have it close over top of you into a tunnel, which eventually opens up into a brightly-lit city highway. Another level has Kaito avoiding Tetris blocks, Twitter logos, and mail notifications in a digital landscape, all while a variation on the classic Tetris theme plays in the background.
I couldn’t quite get a handle on the combination of running and tapping to the beat in my limited time with the game, but I still enjoyed the wonderful sights and sounds of Lost In Harmony. It’s a striking game visually, with a strong sense of style obviously influenced by Japanese animation, and the music is just great. Grammy Award-winning musician Wyclef Jean contributed to the soundtrack, among other artists, giving the game surreal, beautiful audio to match its superb visuals. Lost In Harmony: Kaito’s Adventure will be releasing sometime next year, and I personally can’t wait to get my hands on it in a better environment than a noisy show-floor.
