I adore otters!! They are nature’s clowns; they are so darned playful. If you think so too, you’ll love this demo, Otterly Lost, starring Otto the otter as well as a variety of frogs, a mountain goat, a wolf, a sheep and a huge turtle!
The Backstory of Otterly Lost
The demo begins with Otto, an adorable otter, standing on the back of a very large turtle. Otto told me there was a storm or maybe an earthquake; all he knows is that everything shook. He realized that he had fallen downstream from his home on a mountain peak, all the way to this new area. Otto needs to find his way back to his family, and he needs my help.
The large turtle explained to Otto that four tablets guide the world, but they were lost in the earthquake, which broke the balance of nature. The turtle has one of them under his shell, and if Otto finds some items for him, it could be removed. Then there are only three tablets more to recover. And so the adventure begins!!!
The Gameplay of Otterly Lost
Otterly Lost is a charming adventure quest game, played on land and in the water. Like many games of this genre, one quest leads to another. I was given a hammer to break shells as well as rocks (which amazingly give me shells!). I was also given a very helpful journal. The quest log within the journal even repeats the little hints that the NPC told me when I learned of the quest. I really appreciate that!!
I was also given an inventory system, which is super easy to use. The screen tells me what tools I have, but I don’t have to select the right one. The game knows when I need a specific tool (hammer, climbing spike, etc) and simply uses it when appropriate. So easy!
Another fun detail is that the inventory system is called a pocket. That’s because in real life, otters have a fold of fur under their armpits which acts as a pocket, giving them a place to hold small items. Learn something new every day!
Otterly Lost uses shells as currency, which makes sense. I love how quest items and shells sparkle, making them easier for me to find. I spent a very long time swimming underwater (as otters do!) just collecting shells and the occasional sea lettuce. It’s a lovely place, there are even shipwrecks to explore and treasures to find, as well as really nice, colorful plants and fish of all varieties. I love how I never need to come up for air, so I can set the pace of my adventure.
The controls were super easy for me to learn. I often need a lot of handholding when I begin a game, but this game demo was very self-explanatory. It didn’t even have a tutorial; I just began playing and having a great adventure.
The soundtrack is a variety of music types, some are jaunty and peppy, while others are quiet and calm. The music in the demo is just a placeholder; in the final game, each area will have its own soundtrack, which I think is cool. The new soundtrack will have the same general vibes as the demo, though.
I played the demo for 3 ½ hours because I play really slowly and get lost a lot! The final Otterly Lost game is projected to take about 4-5 hours to complete the main quests. However, there will also be plenty of side quests, which could increase the gameplay time to 6-8 hours even longer if you play at my pace! When the game is released, the demo portion will be included, but it will be enriched with more details and fun things to do.
The World of Otterly Lost
Otterly Lost has a 3D open world with so many areas to explore!! There is no energy system to keep track of, no need to eat or sleep and no day/night cycle. Just quests to complete, NPCs to meet and things to discover, all at my own pace. This is my favorite type of game. There are numerous areas to explore in the demo. These include 2 farming communities, a climbing canyon, the north mountain, a fishing cove, a frog pond and the turtle’s home. The final game will contain many more areas, the devs figure at least double the amount in the demo. I begin the game with the ability to walk, swim and jump, but I also gain the ability to glide and climb mountains. Gliding is a handy way to cover a lot of territory quickly.
In the demo, I was directed by signposts within the game, which worked alright, but the devs are planning to add a map feature to Otterly Lost, too. I will appreciate that.
The game features a ton of NPCs. At one point, there were a bunch of frogs in the pond sitting on lily pads while they waited for a concert to begin. I must have spoken to 7-8 of them, and they all had interesting things to talk about with me. I also met a cool fisherman frog, and I have a quest to do for him to advance the game.
I met Axel, who is surprisingly not a frog (the game has a lot of frogs)!! He’s a mountain goat, and for a small quantity of shells, he sold me climbing stakes. The first set allows me to jump once, affix my stakes to a mountain and then jump up once more. That gets me to the top of smaller hills.
Later in the demo, after I’d completed a quest for Axel, I was given upgraded stakes, which allowed me to climb higher. Some items are only found high in the mountains, so these stakes are very necessary.
I wanted to know if I was ever in any danger, especially up high on a mountain. Nope!! I jumped down from a high spot and landed nice and safe. This is a super cozy game. There is a cave to discover in the demo and plenty more in the full game. And in the full game, there will be customization options like funky hats and cool outfits that you can purchase with the valuable items you find.
A Shout-out To The Game Developers
Even though I required no help learning how to play this game, I did run into one issue. I reached out to the devs on Discord and was helped within minutes. Turns out I had found a small bug which was fixed within hours. Fantastic! I’ve noticed they have also been very responsive to other players who post on Discord. I always think that a helpful and responsive dev team shows dedication to the quality of the final product.
Final Thoughts
Otterly Lost is developed by Soulworks Interactive, which is a small team of 2 developers and one writer. This will be their first game, and they have put their hearts and souls into creating it. They’ve worked on many commercial games at other studios in the past, but wanted to go indie. So they quit their jobs and started building their own pipeline from scratch. Once they were satisfied, they began creating the game.
I think it’s a really unique and special game. It has a projected release date sometime in early 2026. I wish them the best of luck and encourage you to try the Otterly Lost demo!!
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