The Lost


 * Not to be confused with Lost: Via Domus

The Lost was a third-person shooter/survival horror game co-developed by Irrational Games and FXLabs. Set to be released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles, The Lost went through several phases of development hell until it was completed, and cancelled.

Story
The Lost is heavily inspired by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, particularly Inferno. The setting is present day, and the main character is a waitress/medical student named Amanda Wright. Amanda is a single mother who has lost her only daughter, Beatrice, in a tragic car accident. Desperate and suicidal, Amanda makes a deal with the devil. Selling her soul, she is given the chance to plunge into the bowels of a concentration camp-esque hell in an attempt to rescue her daughter's soul. The only aids she has in the bowels of hell are Virgil, a strange reptilian creature who Amanda must free from an enchanted sword, and four hellish beings called the Entities.

Entities
While in hell, Amanda meets several Entities. She is able to trade identities with these beings, and each Entity is playable, with their own special abilities.


 * Shadow: A thief-like character, Shadow specializes in stealth and deception.
 * Light: Adept in defensive spell-casting, Light can also provide healing spells.
 * Corruption: An emaciated mage that performs powerful, offensive spells.
 * Instinct: A sword-wielding character that is best used in close combat.

Development
The Lost's development period had always been relatively rocky. Playable models of the game had been described as unstable, with a jittery framerate. The developer chose to retool the graphics engine in mid-development. Also, Crave Entertainment changed The Lost's traditional publishing model to a budget game model. Eventually, legal problems amassed, and the completed game was canceled.

In March 2008 it was reported that all development and rights to The Lost was acquired by FXLabs, who later released the game for Windows PCs in India under the title Agni: Queen of Darkness. Agni is thought to feature redone art but keeps basic plot and gameplay elements intact. FXLabs have released the game in yet another version, presumably for Western audiences, simply entitled "Inferno". There currently appears to be no way to order this game online.