Lost in Harmony is a combination of a runner and a rhythm game. The player has five different lanes which they can move between, and must dodge or jump over the different obstacles that are spawned to match the music. There are also segments where the player has to tap stars that appear on the screen. It received a release on the Nintendo Switch as well as a PC port on Steam on June 21, 2018.
There are two different stories in this game.
- Kaito's Adventure: This story is about Kaito, whose best friend Aya is suffering from a serious illness. The game levels use music to represent the thoughts and feelings that Kaito is having during this. Soundtrack can be listened to here.
- M.I.R.A.I.'s Escape: This story is about a musical robot who escapes to earth after its creator is ordered to terminate it. Soundtrack can be listened to here.
Road 96: Mile 0 continues Kaito's story while being a prequel to the original Road 96.
This game provides examples of the following:
- Allegedly Free Game: The player has a total of five lives that recharge over time, which are spent each time they do a level. Within a level, they have a limited amount a hit points to complete the level. The fact that this game used to be a paid game without any life system has left older players upset with the change to free-to-play.
- Averted on the Nintendo Switch version: The whole game costs $6.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Some of the backdrops are in outer space, but no one wears special gear for these segments. Justified by M.I.R.A.I. being a robot, and Kaito's dreams not being real.
- Bears Are Bad News: Dream 3 of Kaito's Adventure has them running from a bear. M.I.R.A.I. is repeatedly attacked by mech bears.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kaito's Adventure ends with Dream 13, symbolizing him dealing with his grief from losing Aya, followed by a post-credits bonus level featuring Aya happy and free of pain in the afterlife.
- Cute Machines: M.I.R.A.I. is a cute musical robot.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: It's never specifically stated what Aya's illness is. It's probably cancer.
- Empathic Environment: Particularly in Kaito's Adventure, since the dreams are more symbolic than literal to begin with.
- Fake Difficulty:
- M.I.R.A.I.'s overall design makes it much harder to see any incoming obstacles from directly behind him.
- The Switch version has a couple of bugs where the controls in the tapping segments override the jump controls, making it basically impossible to jump over an obstacle if it approaches right as a tap section begins.
- Follow the Money: The stardust paths provide points, and often have less obstacles than the lanes around them.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Dr. Mute is seen chasing after M.I.R.A.I. and getting closer whenever the player makes a mistake. Even at the end of the story, when he's not after M.I.R.A.I. anymore.
- Genre Shift: Kaito's Adventure could be set on the earth we know. M.I.R.A.I Escape involves a musical robot on the run from a bunch of aliens, and is less somber in tone.
- Green Aesop: M.I.R.A.I.'s Escape involves the earth needing to be evacuated due to pollution. There's also a bit in Kaito's adventure when he muses that Aya might be having trouble breathing due to the pollution.
- Go into the Light: The end of Dream 12 in Kaito's Adventure, Aya steps into it alone. She dies in real life shortly after.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Kaito is always wearing headphones as part of his using music to fuel his dreams of taking Aya on adventures they couldn't possibly do in real life due to her illness. They also symbolize his escapism during hard or stressful times as, in-game, nearly an entire year passes between levels when Aya is in good health.
- Hope Spot: Aya's treatment seems to be working at the end of episode 4, which is followed by one of the most calm and happy dreams in the game. But this is less than halfway through the game, so things get worse immediately afterwards.
- Level Editor: It's possible to create custom levels for this game in the mobile version.
- Never Say "Die": Later in Kaito's Adventure, when Aya's health is really bad, she talks about the possibility of dying without ever using the words 'die' or 'death'.
- No-Dialogue Episode: Dream 13.
- Robot Names: M.I.R.A.I.'s name is written as if it's an acronym, but is probably named after a Japanese word meaning 'the future'.
- Rock Me, Amadeus!: Most of the soundtrack of Kaito's Adventure is composed of remixes of classical songs.
- Shout-Out: Quite a few of the game's achievements are music references, including "Cause This is Thriller", "Sweet Dream Are Made of This", "Song of Storms", and "Through The Fire and Flames", to name a few
- Snow Means Death: The dream after Kaito learns of Aya's death is mostly set in an icy land.
- Solo Sequence: The last two chapters of Kaito's Adventure are done with just Kaito and just Aya respectively.
- Time-Passes Montage: The calendar on the wall changes months to show the passage of time in Kaito's Adventure.
- Unlockable Content: The characters have different outfits and designs that can be unlocked.
- Wham Line: During the exchange of text messages after Dream 12.Kaito: Aya? Aya, answer me!
Aya: Kaito? This is Aya's mom. She didn't wake up this morning... Thank you for everything you've done.
