Hunting for map fragments in Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Hunting for map fragments in Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City Compass rose. Feature by Christian Donlan Features Editor Updated on 20 Jul 2021 3 comments This piece contains spoilers for Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City Smartphone games can offer magical moments. I will never forget walking into Brighton's Jubilee Library and firing up God of Blades to unlock the special library-themed sword in that book-obsessed classic. And I don't think I'll forget yesterday, the sun blazing outside while I stayed in, curtains drawn, and hunted down pieces of map in Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City. The Lost City is a revamped version of the endless sand-surfer from Land & Sea and Snowman. It's a special edition that has just landed on Apple Arcade, and I pretty much lost the weekend to it. The Lost City itself is a new landscape for you to race through, beautiful houses and distant caverns, and you find it not by surfing as far as you can, but by collecting those pieces of map, ten of them, scattered over the world. Each piece of map is an adventure in itself - there is often a trick to getting it. Because you can't slow down, when you see the beacon that means a map fragment is up ahead, there's a wonderful tension as you prepare for - who knows what? It's a bit like that old Lohman & Barkley sketch about the people visiting a drive-in restaurant in a car whose breaks have failed - if you miss the map fragment, it will come around again. But these are wonderfully compact set-pieces whether you get them the first time or the fifth - one might have you wall-riding into the sky to grab it, another might make you duck down beneath the rope bridge you're grinding across. Watch on YouTube The Lost City is pretty fantastic, but more than anything it reminds me of what a special game this is. There's a wonderfully grainy texture to the endless slopes and valleys you race across, and rarely has the horizon been treated so well in a video game, moving from rosy dawn to nights filled with stars, while a bright moon coasts past distant temples. I'm struck by how beautifully everything clips together - you perform simple tricks to earn speed boosts that allow you to smash through rocks, you select between varying paths as a hot air balloon rises into view trailing a rope you can grind along. This is a lonely, beautifully poised world filled with the promise of adventure. And this new version has woven an entirely new mystery into the existing fabric. I've had a lovely weekend with Alto, and I suspect I'll still be at it once the hot spell has passed and the curtains are open again. What a game. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 28 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 3 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store