The character is controlled from the third-person perspective, and as the game unfolds he gets a chance to interact with various aspects of the Island's mythology, from the once-hidden Swan station to the terrifying Smoke Monster to the murderous Others, as well as his fellow survivors. Each interaction has the possibility of sparking a flashback to a forgotten memory, triggering a mini-game in which players see a handful of fragmented images, followed by a short clip of the memory in question. As the memory plays out, they must snap a picture that includes the aforementioned images; if they get it right, a memory is unlocked and the hero moves one step closer to overcoming his amnesia. Other camera-based tasks, such as snapping photos of certain key characters' belongings, are hidden throughout the game. Finding them unlocks extras in the form of concept art from the game, as well as gamer achievements on the Xbox 360.

The Island throws up challenges of its own in the form of blown circuit boards in DHARMA Initiative buildings (which spawn mini-games in which players must reroute power around the board using three kinds of fuses), harrowing runs through the jungle pursued by the malevolent Others or the Black Smoke Monster, and an ever-so-sensitive trek back to the Swan Station with a highly unstable dynamite. At the same time, the game takes on shades of a role-playing game, requiring players to talk to the other Flight 815 survivors to unlock secrets, trigger flashbacks and purchase supplies.

Come for the mystery, stay for the sights

Lost fans would love to spend a few weeks exploring the television show's famous island, perhaps hunting down a few locations sketched out on the Swan Station's Blast Door Map. Unfortunately, from the opening scenes of Via Domus, it's clear that they're not going to get that chance.

After awakening in the jungle with one of the show's signature eyeball close-ups, the main character wanders down to the beach, where he finds his progress blocked by piles of plane debris. Even after helping the survivors, and being told by Jack to comb the sands for personal belongings that might trigger the return of his missing memories, the barriers remain, sharply demarking what's in and out of bounds.

It's a pattern that's repeated throughout the game: Players get to visit many of Lost's landmarks, including the DHARMA Stations, the Others' Barracks and the Black Rock, but they only get to explore so far. Even the jungle, which at first glance appears boundless, forces players to turn back if they venture too far from the prescribed path.

The end result is a game that makes players feel more like sightseers than explorers.

That's not necessarily a bad thing; the game faithfully re-creates Lost's locations, occasionally taking minor liberties with the layout in order to facilitate gameplay but mostly staying loyal to what's been seen on the show. There's a certain thrill that comes from getting locked in the Swan Station and having to enter the self-same numbers that the Losties did, as well as running for one's virtual life from the Black Smoke Monster. It also does a good job of capturing some of Lost's pacing, especially with its start-of-game recaps, which provide a quick rundown of what happened during the last play session, just like the review leading into a proper episode.

Via Domus draws inspiration from a variety of exploration/puzzle games—Myst immediately comes to mind—but the gameplay is uneven. The fuse puzzle games, in which players must figure out how to force a flow of electricity across a circuit board by swapping the correct fuses in and out, can be challenging, but the lack of a timer or any negative consequences makes them far less compelling than the similarly themed "hacking" mini-game from BioShock. The flashback mechanic, and the story it tells, is a nice touch, but it suffers from an all-or-nothing mechanic. Players either get the shot or they don't; there's no gray area (again, unlike BioShock's photography mini-game, which graded players and unlocked new in-game bonuses based on how well they did).

In the end, the game's biggest drawback is that it simply doesn't offer anything new to fans. If Via Domus had offered even one new secret, fans would have happily spent hours trying to find it. As is, they may have fun reliving the show's first few seasons, but it's not the adventure they were hoping for.