COMPLETE: Thomas Was Alone
Jun. 30th, 2017 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kjorteoAs I said in my Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers entry, my original plan had been to cross a few more light and fluffy one- or two-hour popcorn games off the backlog before starting on my next big project, and I had very mistakenly assumed PMD:E was one of those. (All I had to do was the postgame! I should just breeze through that, right?)
After what was supposed to be a light and fluffy popcorn game instead turned into a marathon, I needed another light and fluffy popcorn game just so I could remember what those were like. I wasn't sure I could handle jumping from PMD straight to another full-length game. Enter Thomas Was Alone, possibly the poster child of one-hour indie jaunts.
I will try not to textwall because otherwise I would stand a very real chance of spending longer writing this entry than I did actually playing the game, and also because... like... everyone knows about this one already, right? I mean, PewDiePie has a fetish for it. It's not exactly something I have to explain...
okay fine real quick this is an indie platformer about a bunch of squares and rectangles with different jumping abilities and miscellaneous powers and they have to help each other get to the goal. The thing that sets it apart is the cozy British narration of Danny Wallace, who personifies everyone in a way that is surprisingly effective and thoughtful for such simple gameplay. Like, you'll be controlling a long flat rectangle who serves as a trampoline, and then the narrator will helpfully inform you that her name is Laura and she has always been insecure about her ability and even tries to hide it from new people she meets, because she's afraid of people who just use her to reach high places and then abandon her. It works really well!
My favorite character is probably Claire, the big massive square with the power of being the only character in the game who doesn't instantly die in water. This makes her the game's Surf HM for the rest of the party, but the way the narrator spins her personality as a depressed insecure wreck who suddenly fancies herself a superhero is instantly endearing. Like, I can easily imagine this big massive (heavyset?) slow square throwing herself into the superhero role because it beats the alternative of feeling like a failure at everything else. I just want to give her a hug and cheer for her. You are definitely my hero, Claire.
So yeah. Good game. Even better palate cleanser.
After what was supposed to be a light and fluffy popcorn game instead turned into a marathon, I needed another light and fluffy popcorn game just so I could remember what those were like. I wasn't sure I could handle jumping from PMD straight to another full-length game. Enter Thomas Was Alone, possibly the poster child of one-hour indie jaunts.
I will try not to textwall because otherwise I would stand a very real chance of spending longer writing this entry than I did actually playing the game, and also because... like... everyone knows about this one already, right? I mean, PewDiePie has a fetish for it. It's not exactly something I have to explain...
okay fine real quick this is an indie platformer about a bunch of squares and rectangles with different jumping abilities and miscellaneous powers and they have to help each other get to the goal. The thing that sets it apart is the cozy British narration of Danny Wallace, who personifies everyone in a way that is surprisingly effective and thoughtful for such simple gameplay. Like, you'll be controlling a long flat rectangle who serves as a trampoline, and then the narrator will helpfully inform you that her name is Laura and she has always been insecure about her ability and even tries to hide it from new people she meets, because she's afraid of people who just use her to reach high places and then abandon her. It works really well!
My favorite character is probably Claire, the big massive square with the power of being the only character in the game who doesn't instantly die in water. This makes her the game's Surf HM for the rest of the party, but the way the narrator spins her personality as a depressed insecure wreck who suddenly fancies herself a superhero is instantly endearing. Like, I can easily imagine this big massive (heavyset?) slow square throwing herself into the superhero role because it beats the alternative of feeling like a failure at everything else. I just want to give her a hug and cheer for her. You are definitely my hero, Claire.
So yeah. Good game. Even better palate cleanser.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-01 09:54 am (UTC)I've also long been curious about how this game, uhm. Stacks up. Next to "Blocks That Matter" which seems like a similar concept, except that "Blocks That Matter" is a title that makes me hesitate every time I think about buying it for some reason.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-01 02:17 pm (UTC)According to my admittedly very rusty memory, they're sort of but not all that similar? Blocks That Matter is a sort of puzzle/platform game with Minecraft trappings, where you are a drilling robot that gathers up blocks of various materials and places them back down elsewhere to use as platforms and etc.
What your "I'm not sure about this title" senses are trying to tell you is that this game is pure Indie Scene masturbation. The plot is about two talented indie developers who make successful indie games (no, really) who get kidnapped when their newly announced upcoming game attracts too much attention from nefarious goons who want them to finish their game for them. (Can you tell this game was made by former Ubisoft employees?) Anyway it's up to their drilling robot to save them. As for the titular Blocks That Matter, those are hidden optional one-per-level collectable blocks that reference other games (a ? block from Mario Bros, a Weighted Companion Cube, etc.) that all go to a sort of side gallery you can peruse like Smash Bros. trophies.
That's all well and good--I mean, it's an handwaved excuse plot for a puzzle game, pay it no mind. What stopped me was, being an indie puzzle game, Blocks That Matter was fucking hard and I eventually got stumped. I still want to try it again someday, but it's not exactly the only thing in the backlog, so.
Remember when I said I got it at the same time as the Lexaloffle bundle, though? I remember the BTM team was so enamored with Chocolate Castle that they made a whole set of Chocolate Castle themed extra BTM levels. And I remember I couldn't figure those ones out either.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-01 02:29 pm (UTC)Ohhh man I don't want to even touch anything with "Markus" in it right now. Or maybe ever again. Yeah I think I'm gonna continue to circle this one at a fair distance.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-01 09:57 pm (UTC)Oh dear lord I looked up who that could be a namesake/insert for and yeah, no. Burn it all to the ground, indie games were a mistake.
Still no idea who "Alexey" is supposed to be, but my gut tells me I'm better without that knowledge.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-01 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-01 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-16 11:58 am (UTC)