Thomas Was Alone (2012)

This game reminds me of rymdkapsel and Auralux (and Auralux: Constelations). Games that distil their genre to their essence. Just strip all the fancy graphics and extra systems and get to the minimal version of what you need.

Except that Thomas was alone does add a story. A story that it's not too connected to gameplay, but that serves as a good excuse to get a narrator with a soothing voice to speak to us for a couple hours. Just like this review served as a good excuse to mention two extremely obscure RTS games.

Wellllll. I remember feeling much more fond of this game than it left me this time. Where to start.

• the overall art style is quite bland, along with the music. The music is the same annoying loop the entire game, the backgrounds are basically just flat colors (not in a charming way), and the animations should have been so much better
• the puzzles are super boring. They’re all way too easy and not very creative.
• The physics are also quite bad. The character doesn’t jump as expected half the time, and also randomly gets stuck. This game doesn’t feel good to play
• The character switching mechanic is just tedious
• The narration / story is also a snooze. It’s starts off promising and quickly becomes mind-numbing. The narrator’s voice just made me upset lol

It’s so strange how much better I remember this game being. I bailed after the 45th level or so. It has a decent premise, and really could have done so much more with it. It was superrr boring and tedious, don’t recommend.

TL;DR: Classic indie platformer with fantastic story & music.

Pros:

• Story & Characters: Fantastic characters and story are what carry this game. The ability of the game writer to make us feel emotion and character from what are simple geometric shapes is a fantastic and strong credit to the writer's skill. It is also worth noting that character animation here also plays a role. Each character's jump being slightly shorter or longer, and the bounce animation after finishing a jump. Every detail is included in an attempt to ensure the player ends up with some connection with Thomas and his allies.

• Music/sound: Great music throughout. Upbeat but with a slight sombre undertone fits the wider themes of the game.

Neutral:

• Gameplay: The gameplay is fine. Not terrible, not great. Some of the platforming was occasionally challenging (particularly in the later stages) but overall not too shabby.

Cons:

• Length: The game is short but feels like it slightly overstays its welcome. I'm not certain if the gameplay is varied enough to carry its run time.

Conclusion:

A fantastic game. Easy to see why it was an indie darling at release.

I liked this small little game. At its heart it's puzzle platformer where you control different shapes that each have distinct advantages and disadvantages that you have to use together. What makes the game special though, is showing how by simply adding narration and a story, just simple shapes can start to take on personalities; where you feel that the shapes you're controlling are not just shapes, but characters.

The only negative I really have is that sometimes its very tedious to switch between multiple shapes to complete the levels, especially when there are more shapes on a level. I also found the LB and RB buttons to change shapes kind of sensitive so I would sometimes skip the shape I was trying to switch to.

A quick, fun puzzler. I had some free time on a weekend, so I sat down and played from start to end in about 3 hours. Aside from the main story mode, it looks like there are some additional puzzle scenario challenges that I didn't tackle.

The controls are those of a basic platformer. You control a varying number of rectangles, each with different abilities. Some are taller than others; some jump higher than others; some can float in water; others can double-jump; etc...

The basic idea is to get each of the rectangles to a specified location in the stage -- usually "up and to the right". To do this, you need to make your rectangles "help" each other get to their spots. Your little square-dude can't jump high enough to get to a ledge? Use one of the other rectangle-dudes as a stair-step. Need to get across a waterhole? Load up on the floaty-rectangle and ride across. You get the idea.

The puzzles are not particularly difficult. Only once did I get "stuck" on a puzzle. When I went online and YouTubed the solution, it turned out that I wasn't actually stumped by a difficult puzzle; but rather, the game encountered a bug (it wouldn't let me jump to hit the switch on the wall that ended the level).

On top of all of the puzzling, each shape has its own name, personality, and motivations; and all of this is narrated by a pleasant British dude. Eventually, you're given a purpose for all of the puzzle-solving, which evolves into a satisfying storyline.

Fun game. Worth the playthrough.

I liked the game. I really liked the characterization in the beginning, but the story got a bit too complex in the latter part. Enjoyed the narration throughout. Would have liked more if the original set of characters would have led the the game in the end more.

The jumping and puzzling was okay for the most of it, at times fun, but at another times frustrating because of sticky walls or timed jumps with lagging. Still everything was manageable even considering this as a breather game in-between bigger games.

Thomas Was Alone has been on my radar for a while. It's one of those games that I see in my steam list as I scroll past, I might even pause on it for a second when I'm looking for something new to try. But the screenshot from the game has never grabbed me, even though I've heard that it's a lot of fun.

I recently picked up a cheap Kindle Fire and have been putting it through it's paces. Mostly reading and watching movies, but I really enjoyed playing Monument Valley on it, so I thought I'd give some other games a try. At some point I must have purchased Thomas Was Alone when it was free on Amazon, so I installed it.

I've played through the first 14 or 15 levels and it's been a lot of fun. Not too challenging, which is nice on a tablet. It's nice to just relax and play something without dying or being lost all the time. The dialog is wonderful and a bit whimsical, even if it is sometimes off the screen for me, which is annoying. I'm also assuming that it will get more challenging as I move further into the game, but even if it doesn't I think I will still finish it.