Lost and Found Co.
Picture this, you’re in elementary school and your instructor uses a single hour of class to bring everybody to the library. This is assuming your school contained a library or one located nearby. The main point being your teacher slowly wants to introduce children to the world of books. All children are expected to reach a specific level of reading and spelling at specific ages. It’s also a great way to teach children other factors. Such as being able to research and learn without having to be assisted by an educator. Develop empathy based on how a story connects with them. Have the ability to come up with their thoughts and analogies based on interpretation. This is not to say books are the only way to do this. As film, animation, and video games over the years have done an excellent job at communicating everything I had just described. I am not saying one medium is above all else, because that is disrespectful to what art can be. What I’m asking you to do is to imagine the first time you stepped into a library. There are shelves worth of books to check out, and the first thing your simplistic six year old eyes gaze upon are picture books.
Children and infants are more likely to be captured by something containing colors, and visuals versus the plain text we as adults are accustomed to. Introducing a light novel with both pictures and words is a fantastic way to slowly get children into appreciating literature. Develop the inner workings of the mind, so that by adulthood they read The Handmaid’s Tale, Fahrenheit 451, or some book that has gotten banned in American school libraries since the time I’ve got outta high school. Man, what a f*cking world huh? Your infant eyes are bouncing all over the place on what to pick, but they land on a picture book unlike anything else on the shelves. That being the I Spy books created by Jean Marzallo. Books that don’t contain stories, but instead act as games. Each page being a carefully arranged assortment of objects. Toys, nick-nacks, and stuff to entertain the eyes. The goal of each page is to locate a specific object among the scenery, and this could take minutes to an hour depending on your observation. I Spy can be played by yourself or with your friends. Heck, maybe make original challenges yourself to see if your pals can spot the specific thing you’re gazing at. As a child I always thought I Spy was cool. It’s not the first find the object book ever made as Where’s Waldo came before. With his 1,000 yard stale screaming for help. To me I Spy is cool, because of the work and effort that had to be put into scenes.
Getting all the pieces together, assorting them, and making sure one corner of the picture didn’t contain too much of one specific kind of item. The person who created I Spy passed away in the same year when I graduated middle school, but his family continues to produce his work and the pictures within them. Not because a million dollar franchise and stopping now means halting all their family income, but they enjoy the craft behind it. That is dedication there my dear readers, and it’s more magical that despite existing for twenty plus years they haven’t used generative AI considering the rise of technology. That is MASSIVE dedication right there. Bringing us onto the topic of how I Spy would be converted into other art forms. That being video games of course! There used to be I Spy computer games when I was little. My cousin used to own one where it’s set in a spooky house. Wandering between rooms and a creepy voice telling you what to find. My town library had one for the kids’ computer before they became outdated and replaced them with single monitor Apple devices. There’s a multitude of free Flash games online for kids to play, but I don’t think there’s ever been a video game to me that captures the feeling of playing I Spy. That wondrous feeling of self satisfaction when you find the spec among the specs.
That wasn’t until I played Lost and Found Co this year developed by indie studio Bit Egg Inc. A small team stationed in Taiwan who previously helped with the development of other indie titles. Such as designing creature models for Bloodstained: Ritual of The Night. This is the first game the studio has made and published by themselves, and I say they did a splendid job. Cozy games aren’t my thing not because I think they’re bad, but I enjoy talking about games that are more mechanically deep instead. While glossing at Steam demos this title popped up, and I played the demo on a wind. It left a positive impression on me, and I decided to buy the full game. I was a bit worried the game would get stale the longer it ran, but then I managed to pump seven hours in one day. Lost and Found Co is one of the most unique and surprising indie games I’ve played in 2026. The kind of game I needed amongst all the hardcore action games coming out. Simplicity executed amazingly, and I couldn’t ask for more. Taiwan has been on the rise with hits like this and Nine Sols. So today let’s talk about Lost & Found Co and why it deserves your attention.
Story
The game opens up at the shrine of former Goddess of War, Mei. She was once a powerful deity who came to others in the form of a dragon. Granting whatever prayers and desires they had, but as time passed on, need for her lessened. No more war meant no more needs for protection and safety. Laws kept everything in order, agriculture & architecture advanced, and the world for the most part became a safer place. Nowadays the thousand year old goddess lounges around. What we all deem by today’s standard, a chud. Nomming away at snacks, staring at her phone twelve hours per day browsing social media, and adopting much of the slang we use. Only one shrine is left for the goddess, and it’s a tiny structure beneath a blossom tree with a small stream of water circling around. Not many come by and if so it’s only for the tree. That isn’t until one day a pink haired social media star stops by. Live streaming to her fans the history of this location, signaling to Rei that she may be one of few people who remember her. A mysterious fox zips by causing the star to lose a trinket she was carrying. That trinket was in the shape of a fish, and a duck who had migrated to the pond thought it was dinnertime. The duck ate it, choked, and spat the trinket back at the girl. Seeing this as the goddess paying back for her prayers she thanks Rei in the skies above. Generating a physical encapsulation of faith that enters Mei’s body.
Rei checks her phone and realizes the shrine’s popularity has blown up online. More people plan to stop by, pray, and wish for the forgotten goddess’ help. Wanting to regain what was lost, she devises a plan to start a business. One that specializes in finding lost items under her name. Sadly a business cannot be run by one person, so she turns to the duck. Using what little power is left, Rei transforms the duck into a human male. Hence our protagonist our journey, Ducky. As with all beings given a cognitive enough mind Ducky begins to freak out. Saying all they wanted was to eat Taiyaki and splash around like the innocent creature they are. Rei convinces Ducky that if he works for her she’ll reward him with all the Taiyaki he wants. Our young adult with the mind of a ten year old agrees, but right afterwards the humanoid dragon goddess turns into a reptilian esque creature. A result of exalting her powers, and her body struggles to exist since not enough people believe in her. Off our two protags go to help people, make a name for themselves, and bring order back to society. Even if it means challenging the ruling corporation nearby. Cool.
Gameplay
Just like the tomes of the old days, Lost and Found Co replicates what it feels like to play one of those object identification games like I Spy or Where’s Waldo. You load into a level and you get a bright colorful set piece filled to the brim with details. Character, objects, and activities flood the screen. The more you progress into the game the more advanced these scenes become. Growing in scope and detail. Some levels even contain multiple rooms and layers you’ll have to navigate to uncover more secrets. There are two tabs the player can view at all times. The objectives tab and the object bar. The second shows you what objects you need to pinpoint to progress the main goal. However, the objective tab shows you optional tasks. For example, a level may ask you to find lost sheep, crows, or gacha machines. Extra objects to add onto your list to find. The more you find then the more likes you’ll get. Allowing you to rank up as a lost and found master. You may even earn gifts in the mail for pursuing these optional objectives. These can then be used to customize a room Ducky lives in, which you unlock later on. Essentially allowing you to create your very own bombastic search scene albeit smaller than the ones you’re going through.
As you find items you may get confused or struggle to locate them. If so you can click the object bar to get a small hint. They won’t tell you exactly where to look, but the sentences they offer do give a suggestion on what scene to check. Let’s say that isn’t enough, and you still end up having to struggle. Look closely at the world and you may find objects resonating with dark energy. Juju is what you may have spotted and clicking on Juju bottles them. They operate as a currency that when spent gives you a second clue for an object you’re trying to find. One that’s slightly better than the one you have, so essentially you got two clues helping you. Whoever designed this title had to always keep in mind how they wrote each hint. Making it so they aren’t vague enough to leave the player confused or frustrated. Second hints especially had to be well accounted for as you want to feel the investment in a second clue worthwhile without it giving too little or much. This is all there’s to say about the gameplay loop of Lost and Found Co. Do this across seven to nine hours, and eventually roll credits. My greatest fear writing this review was that I wouldn’t have enough to talk about. I love covering mechanically rich titles, but at the same time talking about simple games is fun. Sometimes doing one thing well is better than a ton of things alright. Lost and Found Co masters this and I hope you’re eager to help Ducky too.
Thoughts on The Magic of Finding Stuff
A majority of cozy games to me are usually low energy, because much of what you do is meant to be relaxing. Why play a game that’s stressful after a long day of work? Yet again, this can be applied to any video game depending on what you see as comfortable. Hades is a comfort game to me despite the amount of hacking and slashing through hordes there is. Baldur’s Gate 3 can be relaxing for its slow pace and methodical choices despite the amount of systems to keep in mind. The reason why I do not play a majority of cozy games is because some developers think cozy means to turn your brain off. Why have interesting mechanics, systems, or rules? It’s why to this day my favorite game in the cozy game genre is Spiritfarer, because even though you can take as much time as you want with it everything you work towards pushes to an ultimate endgame goal. That and it’s well designed in general, but thankfully Lost and Found Co is a cozy game that at least remembers that it has to be an engaging video game. Its core gameplay loop is simple, but as said a few times throughout this review being simplistic isn’t a bad thing. Doing one thing is at times better than multiple, because it allows you to test how you can expand ideas.
Should say that Lost and Found Co is not a game for everyone. The more I say this statement in reviews the more I kinda hate it. Yes, not every game is for everyone and trying to appease every person imaginable leads to a product for no one. Key emphasis on product versus art, because art has the target goal of resonating with those who put time and energy into understanding. Hence why I’d rather admit when a game isn’t for me than demanding a developer change their vision. Much like what I said with not playing cozy games earlier. Although I hate this statement more with time, because some people say it without either describing who the game is specifically for or barely trying to convince people to try games outside their comfort zone. It’s why despite me seeing video games as an artform it’ll always be a medium looked down upon, because to most people games are what’s big. Shooty shooty bang bang games or what’s big with streamers. It’s why the term ‘ball and gun gamer’ is so big now, because they hold back video games growing as an artform. We should push people into checking out games beyond one genre, and that’s what I try to do. Play a game outside my tastes, and Lost and Found Co is this.
A game I didn’t know I needed in my life, but now that I have it my heart blooms beautifully. As someone who grows more observant to detail in video games whether it be design, writing, or the smaller details it feels tailored for me. As someone who can spend several sentences making one thing sound extravagant. You load into a scene, search for the items you need, and obtain likes for your work. You don’t need to pursue optional objectives to beat the game, and as great as the system is it doesn’t hold you back from progressing. Shame the main story only has eleven main missions and the fifteen plus or so are optional. Lost and Found Co can be a really short game if you only do the main missions and objectives, but I found myself one hundred percenting every level rather than blow through the main goal like most games. It’s just very satisfying to play and I might consider finishing the levels I haven’t beaten after writing this review. Earlier I stated how the hints for where each object felt like they had to be cleverly written. Descriptive enough so you have a good idea where to check, but not so much you give away the answer entirely. It’s easy to f*ck up and remove the challenge of something. I’m asking for Lost and Found Co to be obtuse like old school click and point games, but not hold and guide you by the hand.
The second clues especially had to be well written, because of the valuable Juju bottles. There’s only so many in the game, and you don’t want spending one to feel wasteful. In the intro I said it’s a miracle I Spy hasn’t utilized generative AI over the two decades it has existed. I thought the same thing while playing this game in that every scene is filled with detail. Every character, even meaningless background blokes, are different from one another. They had to design one hundred heck maybe even a thousand characters for this game. There’s the scenery, objects, and putting in animations to certain things. There’s a reason why Lost and Found Co is the game that reminds me the most of I Spy. The attention to detail and setting of scenes. The time I imagined it took to make, and at no point did the developers cut corners. Ask a chatbot a stupid question like, “How do I speed up production on this.” No, you do it yourself and place every detail one by one. That is the most based solution you can choose. F*ck AI mate, it’s never gonna make you better. The game has this colorful chibi look and despite how many anime references there are in this game I respect it for not going full anime. There’s a lot of references if you look closely enough. You’ll find Batman, He-Man. Sailor Moon, One Piece, Sonic the Hedgehog, Zelda, and at one point there was a Dead Cells which is nice for how much popular stuff there is.
There is a story, and I kinda liked it. Not the most complex tale in the world, but there are some nice morals and lessons to it. They want to help people not because of what you get in return, but you enjoy seeing how your actions genuinely make their lives better. The perspective of the main character is fun, because you think a duck turned human would struggle to understand humans as people. Instead Ducky gets on their feet, explores the wonders of the city, and adjusts easily. He acts like a manic pixie dream boy, and that’s cute. Fun fact, I thought the protagonist was a girl when glossing the Steam page initially to then be shocked it was a boy. There’s like three lads in this game who look like women and are actually male. Happy to see artists oversee design men who look feminine and see it as okay. Nice. There’s some nice nods to eastern mythology, myth, and religious practices. Some are really clever if you pay attention enough. Anyways you help the goddess gain faith, and she realizes faith is not gained through popularity but performing acts of kindness. As the finale kicks in and you get to locate all the wonderful people you’ve helped. Defending a false accusation thrown at the company, and cheering you on. You can tell by now it gets a strong recommendation from me. This game is a masterpiece, and I hope Bit Egg Inc has a bright future. I give Lost and Found Co a 9.5/10 for being superb.
Comments