German games magazine M!Games (formerly Maniac) reviewed The Lost Child as part of their Import Review section.
Short translated summary since there havent been many impressions yet on GAF:
You play as Hayato, a rookie journalist who works for a fringe magazine that covers supernatural phenomena. One assignment leads him to a subway station were he is shoved onto the train tracks and saved at the last second by a mysterious, young woman. She hands him a strange suitcase that contains a magical pistol. After a series of convoluted events, Hayato meets another young woman who claims to be an angel. The two of them enter a dungeon (called Layer) and suddenly have to fight and capture demons.
Dungeons consist of multiple levels, battles with normal monsters are rather easy while boss battles always demand the right strategy. One interesting aspect of the combat system: The game lets you know which characters in your party are possible targets for an enemy attack in the next turn, so you always have to think ahead and make decisions concerning elementary weaknesses and the right defense to properly shield vulnerable party members.
The Lost Child comes off as a pared-down version of SMT (angels, demons, complex story, lots of dungeons, silent protagonist) with some wasted potential. It lacks that certain something that would help differentiate it from similar games. The story starts off slow and convoluted but gets more interesting over time. The DRPG gameplay gets more and more complex the more you play and it demands a big time investment from the player. The Lost Child is a continuation of the story from El Shaddai. Enoch and Lucifel make a return and they are joined by characters and monsters - old and new- that were designed by Takeyasu Sawaki.
+battles that require the right strategy and keep you thinking
+various kinds of Astrals
+the story is interesting (but told slowly)
+returning characters from El Shaddai
-long loading times (esp. annoying inside dungeons)
-the soundtrack doesnt stand out
-sparse graphical presentation (esp. 3D backgrounds)
-you learn skills randomly, cant pick and choose
72/100
