I’m a big proponent of the idea that “limitations breed creativity.” That’s part of the reason I love indie games so much! Gorgeous photorealistic graphics and hundreds of hours of gameplay are all well and good, but with a low budget comes a willingness to experiment, to be rough around the edges in a way that connects with its target audience with a specificity that something with a bigger budget could never manage. That ambition is what I see most in I Was a Teenage Exocolonist.
IWATE is, first and foremost, a coming-of-age story. Mechanically and thematically I’d liken this game to Citizen Sleeper, but unlike that game which takes place over a couple months, IWATE is set over the course of 10 years. Your protagonist, Sol, is only 10 years old when their spaceship, the Stratos, arrives on the alien planet Vertumna. In this new and dangerous world, Sol navigates their teen years alongside the foundation of their colony.
The breadth of IWATE’s themes is astounding. The inter- and intrapersonal journeys had while growing up juxtapose the material conditions of the colony and their settlement in new territory, with environmentalism and colonization being the primary ethical issues explored. As a teenager, when can we trust authority? As a civilian, when can we trust those in charge? What do we do when those stupid, no-good, bossy adults are the ones waging war? What about when community leaders neglect the needs of the next generation they’re meant to foster? Being a teenager is hard, but try going through puberty and adolescence in the uncharted alien wilderness. Through these topics and more, IWATE masterfully weaves together sci-fi and coming-of-age into something greater than the sum of its parts.
\\ (The following section has minor spoilers.)
During your first playthrough, you eventually learn that Sol is in a time loop. This is, in part, a diegetic justification for New Game+; it’s not like, say, Undertale, where the true story can only be unearthed through repeat playthroughs. If you’re satisfied, you can put down IWATE after your first playthrough. But you’d be missing out on a lot.
For Sol, this time loop is a blessing, not a curse. IWATE holds a great love and empathy for humanity and our potential. You can’t do everything in a single playthrough. There’s no “Golden” end, where you max out every stat, befriend everyone, and lead everyone to a perfect tomorrow. Instead, you’re encouraged to construct the lives Sol could lead, the different people they could grow up to be. Each life is equally as valid as the next. What role will you play for your community?
\\ (Spoilers end here.)
Of course, it’s only natural that IWATE falls into some pitfalls with its limitations. The more choices there are for a player to make, the more choices there are that need to be accounted for. I wish there were more ways for characters to die, I wish there were more unique endings instead of career endings, I wish romance didn’t fade into the background after you’ve gotten into a relationship. I wish the team had more resources to really flesh out everything I’ve mentioned and more. But if they had had those resources from the start, would I Was a Teenage Exocolonist exist? Limitation breeds creativity, after all.
I’ve played through IWATE twice, and I plan to play it many more times in the future. It’s ambitious and its breadth of scope is breathtaking. I haven’t discovered everything and I don’t think I ever will, but it’s that sense of infinite possibility that compels me to see what else I Was a Teenage Exocolonist has to offer.
“The child you were will not return.”
IWATE is, first and foremost, a coming-of-age story. Mechanically and thematically I’d liken this game to Citizen Sleeper, but unlike that game which takes place over a couple months, IWATE is set over the course of 10 years. Your protagonist, Sol, is only 10 years old when their spaceship, the Stratos, arrives on the alien planet Vertumna. In this new and dangerous world, Sol navigates their teen years alongside the foundation of their colony.
The breadth of IWATE’s themes is astounding. The inter- and intrapersonal journeys had while growing up juxtapose the material conditions of the colony and their settlement in new territory, with environmentalism and colonization being the primary ethical issues explored. As a teenager, when can we trust authority? As a civilian, when can we trust those in charge? What do we do when those stupid, no-good, bossy adults are the ones waging war? What about when community leaders neglect the needs of the next generation they’re meant to foster? Being a teenager is hard, but try going through puberty and adolescence in the uncharted alien wilderness. Through these topics and more, IWATE masterfully weaves together sci-fi and coming-of-age into something greater than the sum of its parts.
\\ (The following section has minor spoilers.)
During your first playthrough, you eventually learn that Sol is in a time loop. This is, in part, a diegetic justification for New Game+; it’s not like, say, Undertale, where the true story can only be unearthed through repeat playthroughs. If you’re satisfied, you can put down IWATE after your first playthrough. But you’d be missing out on a lot.
For Sol, this time loop is a blessing, not a curse. IWATE holds a great love and empathy for humanity and our potential. You can’t do everything in a single playthrough. There’s no “Golden” end, where you max out every stat, befriend everyone, and lead everyone to a perfect tomorrow. Instead, you’re encouraged to construct the lives Sol could lead, the different people they could grow up to be. Each life is equally as valid as the next. What role will you play for your community?
\\ (Spoilers end here.)
Of course, it’s only natural that IWATE falls into some pitfalls with its limitations. The more choices there are for a player to make, the more choices there are that need to be accounted for. I wish there were more ways for characters to die, I wish there were more unique endings instead of career endings, I wish romance didn’t fade into the background after you’ve gotten into a relationship. I wish the team had more resources to really flesh out everything I’ve mentioned and more. But if they had had those resources from the start, would I Was a Teenage Exocolonist exist? Limitation breeds creativity, after all.
I’ve played through IWATE twice, and I plan to play it many more times in the future. It’s ambitious and its breadth of scope is breathtaking. I haven’t discovered everything and I don’t think I ever will, but it’s that sense of infinite possibility that compels me to see what else I Was a Teenage Exocolonist has to offer.
“The child you were will not return.”
I can't believe I Was A Teenage Exocolonist and Citizen Sleeper came out in the same year. What a time for tabletop-inspired visual novels.
This game is so cool. The art is unreal, the writing is some of the most natural I've ever seen, and the mechanics are streamlined perfectly.
Everyone should play this.
This game is so cool. The art is unreal, the writing is some of the most natural I've ever seen, and the mechanics are streamlined perfectly.
Everyone should play this.
This review contains spoilers
Every so often, you get a game that hooks you straight away. A game that you're thinking about for every moment you're not playing it, and a game that you'll be thinking about for a long time after you've completed it.
For me, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is one of those games. The writing is incredible. Every loss hit me because the characters felt so real, and the way that choices interlink to create your own unique narrative is incredible. By the end of the game, my ending and the choices I made felt like the consequences of my actions paid off. And because I cared about the characters, all of my decisions, how I chose to spend each month, felt so tense and terrifying as the game progressed and the stakes got higher.
Also, I love the trans representation in this game. I liked the games fluid approach to gender and how you can change your expression, identity, and name whenever you feel like, even if I never used the feature (I played a girl the whole time). I also loved the trans characters in the game itself, especially Tangent, and how her transness is an important part of her identity and arc without focusing on cliched transition-related angst. There's a scene in the medbay between her and Utopia, another trans woman, that nearly made me cry.
In short, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, is a game I loved, I highly recommend, and I will probably be thinking about for a very long time. It's probably not for everyone, but it was for me, and at the end of the day that's all that matters.
For me, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is one of those games. The writing is incredible. Every loss hit me because the characters felt so real, and the way that choices interlink to create your own unique narrative is incredible. By the end of the game, my ending and the choices I made felt like the consequences of my actions paid off. And because I cared about the characters, all of my decisions, how I chose to spend each month, felt so tense and terrifying as the game progressed and the stakes got higher.
Also, I love the trans representation in this game. I liked the games fluid approach to gender and how you can change your expression, identity, and name whenever you feel like, even if I never used the feature (I played a girl the whole time). I also loved the trans characters in the game itself, especially Tangent, and how her transness is an important part of her identity and arc without focusing on cliched transition-related angst. There's a scene in the medbay between her and Utopia, another trans woman, that nearly made me cry.
In short, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, is a game I loved, I highly recommend, and I will probably be thinking about for a very long time. It's probably not for everyone, but it was for me, and at the end of the day that's all that matters.
I loved everyone more than they loved me.
perfect chronicle of the heartbreaking experience of seeing someone you love become a fascist
I saw this recommended a lot by cozy gamers. I LOVED the first playthrough of the game, and was invested enough to replay the game to see variations. However, I felt by the 3rd playthough it became a bit of a chore to play. There were certain story beats that would always occur, especially in the early game for an optimal playthrough. While I enjoy the characters, it got to a point where I was hunting for endings rather than character routes. The card game was okay at first, but it got to a point where you could cheese through any type of challenge with the same deck. At the end of it all, I still loved my first few playthroughs of it. The game is definitely replayable, but not as much as I expected from online discussion.
They should let you kill Vace by firing squad
I worked so hard to be monogamous with Sym only for Dis to literally cuck me in the ending LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
at first I thought "oh, yet another VN with a silly name". this game broke me in the best way possible. I had been craving for a good story driven game for a while now.
at first I ignored its existence, but then in the last steam sale it popped up and I was like "oh it has a demo? ok why not". immediately bought the game after the demo.
amazing story and characters, with cool time management and challenge mechanics.
at first I ignored its existence, but then in the last steam sale it popped up and I was like "oh it has a demo? ok why not". immediately bought the game after the demo.
amazing story and characters, with cool time management and challenge mechanics.
This game is compelling for a plethora of reasons but my reason for not being able to put this game down is because I wasn't satisfied with the endings I was getting. Because of that I kept playing and each playthrough, each session there was something new to learn whether it be about the world or the characters I loved that.
Starting off with the music it works in tandem with the game being effective when it wants to be and being unconcerned and peaceful otherwise. I daresay this is my favorite cast of characters in any game of all time I could only find one I didn't like but that's because I personally found him revolting but he could also be the best and I'm just missing out. The main plot is great. The art is very good. The gameplay is in a interesting spot for me. I like it and had trouble understanding it to its core but once you do it just clicks.
This is a must-play if you don't mind reading and love getting enthralled with a great world with amazing characters.
Starting off with the music it works in tandem with the game being effective when it wants to be and being unconcerned and peaceful otherwise. I daresay this is my favorite cast of characters in any game of all time I could only find one I didn't like but that's because I personally found him revolting but he could also be the best and I'm just missing out. The main plot is great. The art is very good. The gameplay is in a interesting spot for me. I like it and had trouble understanding it to its core but once you do it just clicks.
This is a must-play if you don't mind reading and love getting enthralled with a great world with amazing characters.
This is one of my favorite games to come out recently. As soon as I saw THAT illustration (You know which one) I was hooked. This game tackles so many themes, so many stories, and doesn't fumble with a single one.
The only real criticism I can come up with right now, is that the card system gets VERY boring, but the option to turn them off and just do dice rolls instead is a blessing to the games replayability.
The only real criticism I can come up with right now, is that the card system gets VERY boring, but the option to turn them off and just do dice rolls instead is a blessing to the games replayability.
you 🫵 are NOT 🙅 immune 💉 to dog boy 🐶👱🏾♂️
This is really great. I love the setting, I love the writing. The card game is neat enough to be interesting despite having not-much player control over what happens. As a kid I read Animorphs all the time, and this is the video game that I never knew I wanted to see. It's a little slow to pick up, a little strange to get used to, but by the end of the first year I was loving it.
Despite its Sci-Fi setting I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, like few other games I have played, encapsules what it is like growing up.
To become an adult, see you friends grow up into real humans with opinions and hopes and dreams that sometimes mesh with yours, and sometimes clash. Some people you will be close to forever, some you might grow apart from.
Discovering romance and sex, in all its innocence and awkwardness and sweetness. Celebrate birthdays. Morn losses.
Look back at it all, years later, realizing that you truly are a combination of everything you ve ever met, and everything that ever happened to you
To become an adult, see you friends grow up into real humans with opinions and hopes and dreams that sometimes mesh with yours, and sometimes clash. Some people you will be close to forever, some you might grow apart from.
Discovering romance and sex, in all its innocence and awkwardness and sweetness. Celebrate birthdays. Morn losses.
Look back at it all, years later, realizing that you truly are a combination of everything you ve ever met, and everything that ever happened to you
I liked the storylines and fun RPG elements, but after one playthrough of a full arc, I wasn’t interested in revisiting anyone. Fun world building but that’s about it.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a difficult game to explain - it’s part life sim, part visual novel, and part deck builder. Miraculously, I think it brings those elements together remarkably well even if it doesn’t quite nail some of the individual mechanics.
We played this game for Pride Month and I was thrilled by how well queer themes are presented throughout the entire game. The game opens and you get to choose your gender and pronouns, but more importantly - you can also adjust your gender throughout the game adding a lot of fluidity and freedom to how gender and sexuality is represented. Relationships throughout the game are not as binary and homogenous as we’re used to. It’s a wonderfully queer game.
The life sim elements are the main foundation of Exocolonist as you work on improving your skills and relationships with the other characters. The deck building comes into play as you have to basically assemble poker hands to beat challenges throughout the game using cards you’ve acquired through events and skill-building. My main annoyance with the deck-building is that it’s much easier to accumulate cards than it is to get rid of them. You get a few opportunities to remove random cards but you can’t fully tailor your deck to your liking as much as you typically can in deck-builders.
I’ve lost track of the amount of games that tout the whole “your choices matter” thing, but there aren’t a lot of games that do it better than Exocolonist. I feel like 50 people could play this game and all have pretty different experiences depending on which skills they decide to work on, which colonists they decide to be friends with, and which events trigger because of how you play the game. It’s pretty cool talking to friends and seeing how we all had pretty different experiences. However, because the game is built so dynamically, sometimes it doesn’t totally react properly to things you’ve done. For instance, I got a card late in the game that featured a character that had died years earlier.
Overall, I loved my experience playing through the game and it was cool how much the story I told really felt like my own. The game has so many different possible endings and events that could happen, it makes me want to play it again and maybe I’d do that if the runs weren’t 10 hours long.
+ Fantastic queer representation
+ Fun story with great characters that evolve in meaningful ways as the game progresses
+ The game reflects your choices so well that your experience ends up feeling unique
+ Neat card system for beating challenges
+ Great character art and illustrations
- Deck-building is limited
- Card puzzles get a bit stale
- Some game elements don’t react properly to your choices
- Multiple playthroughs are encouraged but the game is too long for that
We played this game for Pride Month and I was thrilled by how well queer themes are presented throughout the entire game. The game opens and you get to choose your gender and pronouns, but more importantly - you can also adjust your gender throughout the game adding a lot of fluidity and freedom to how gender and sexuality is represented. Relationships throughout the game are not as binary and homogenous as we’re used to. It’s a wonderfully queer game.
The life sim elements are the main foundation of Exocolonist as you work on improving your skills and relationships with the other characters. The deck building comes into play as you have to basically assemble poker hands to beat challenges throughout the game using cards you’ve acquired through events and skill-building. My main annoyance with the deck-building is that it’s much easier to accumulate cards than it is to get rid of them. You get a few opportunities to remove random cards but you can’t fully tailor your deck to your liking as much as you typically can in deck-builders.
I’ve lost track of the amount of games that tout the whole “your choices matter” thing, but there aren’t a lot of games that do it better than Exocolonist. I feel like 50 people could play this game and all have pretty different experiences depending on which skills they decide to work on, which colonists they decide to be friends with, and which events trigger because of how you play the game. It’s pretty cool talking to friends and seeing how we all had pretty different experiences. However, because the game is built so dynamically, sometimes it doesn’t totally react properly to things you’ve done. For instance, I got a card late in the game that featured a character that had died years earlier.
Overall, I loved my experience playing through the game and it was cool how much the story I told really felt like my own. The game has so many different possible endings and events that could happen, it makes me want to play it again and maybe I’d do that if the runs weren’t 10 hours long.
+ Fantastic queer representation
+ Fun story with great characters that evolve in meaningful ways as the game progresses
+ The game reflects your choices so well that your experience ends up feeling unique
+ Neat card system for beating challenges
+ Great character art and illustrations
- Deck-building is limited
- Card puzzles get a bit stale
- Some game elements don’t react properly to your choices
- Multiple playthroughs are encouraged but the game is too long for that
Interesting game, but it does feel a little too long in the tooth. The writing is well done and I liked that you can't do everything in one go, and things will go wrong and people will die and you might not finish a questline in time to stop someone from doing something or solving some problem - but the gameplay is very one note and gets tedious very quickly. I did one and a half playthroughs and I'm honestly spent on this game. I don't think I'll ever go back to it, but what I did experience was very good. I just wish there was a way to experience the story in a much faster way on replay.
Probably my favourite game of all time, I never want to leave Vertumna; giving this game a perfect score does not mean the game itself is inherently perfect, but that it is an experience I do not know will ever be topped. Please play if you're looking for gay space depression
This is the perfect game to me. The art is gorgeous, the card game is so satisfying and fun to play, which is good because you do a lot of it throughout multiple playthroughs. I will be replaying this game for forever, the characters are so nuanced and well written, the themes of isolation, colonisation, empire, and conservation are explored so thoroughly and with so much intelligence and care I almost couldn't believe it. I can't recommend this game enough if you enjoy time loop games.
Turns out the way to get me to play a roguelite deckbuilder is to make it a life sim where the runs are 5-8 hours long and the cards are tied to the narrative.
In I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, you play as the eponymous teenage exocolonist (who knew?), born on a colony ship bound for the planet "Vertumna". The ship lands when you are age 10 and the game continues until age 20. Each year has various bespoke narrative events and about a dozen "turns" where you can grow your stats and manage your relationships.
Notable narrative events award you a new card, the deck contextualized as your memories. Cards have suits (yellow for social, blue for mental, red for physical), a number value, and possibly an extra effect like "+1 during mental challenges". For skill checks, you draw a hand from your deck and try to beat the goal number with the card slots available. You get extra bonuses from pairs, straights, flushes, et cetera. If you puzzle out the highest possible value with your cards, you get a minor cash reward. If you can't hit the goal, you can take a stress penalty to push through anyway.
It's a solid gameplay loop that carried me through a couple runs before I eventually turned on Debug Mode to skip every card battle and tweak stats to my liking (humans are just human, yeah?). There's also an option to ignore the cards entirely and turn the challenges into straight stat checks, if you're into that.
Of course, I wouldn't have cared about the cards and deckbuilding if not for the narrative context in which they exist. But the writing is... uh. Well. It doesn't really jive with my personal tastes, but I think it would for a lot of people. Another review (positively) describes the game as "queer socialist propaganda", and I can't really disagree with that assessment. I appreciate the game's politics, but not its aesthetic.
The colony is some kind of anti-capitalist, communal child-care, anti-cultural, vegetarian collective. You can change your name, appearance, and pronouns at any time along a spectrum of female-presenting to male-presenting. There are multiple romanceable characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and the game lets you date any of them, though that doesn't mean the relationship will always work out. It's better than I expected from a game that puts "you can date a dog-boy" on its Steam page, at least.
This is also a time loop story, which helps contextualize multiple playthroughs and allows you to pick options on later runs that help optimize your new life (a unique narrative strength of video games as a medium that has been insidiously co-opted by the isekai genre). For example, instead of spending several months figuring out a solution to an impending famine, you can guide characters directly to a solution you figured out last time, saving lives and giving you more time to spend patrolling the walls or repairing robots. Figure out someone's likes and dislikes, and those will stay in their character window in the next run.
But with one foot firmly embedded in the Twee Zone, Exocolonist could headline a Wholesome Direct (derogatory). Your menu doesn't have an Achievements section, it has a "Cheevos" section. Vertumna is cast entirely in pastel blues, pinks, and yellows; populated by aliens like "floatcows" and "unisaurs". Every character has a cutesy hippy name that's shortened from a longer word, so you're hanging out with Marz (Marzipan), Kom (Kombucha), Tonin (Melatonin), Seeq (Obsequious), et cetera. The fictional space sport is literally called "sportsball". Un-fucking-bearable.
The game advertises a large number of endings, but it's more of an Obsidian-style modular ending slides thing. Depending on what jobs you picked most often and the status of your relationships, you get some paragraphs about how they all turned out. I played enough to get three different job-related endings and most of the bespoke endings that require more specific sequences of events, and my Steam runtime is listed at about 35 hours. Though, as noted, this was with me using Debug Mode to speed up later runs considerably.
Despite my issues, I'd say enjoyed my time with Exocolonist. While I'd love to see its broad structure applied to an aesthetic I find more personally appealing, its (relative) simplicity compared to the big RPGs I usually play starts the creative gears turning in my head. Whether it's actually realistic or not, games like this and Citizen Sleeper make me wonder if this is something I could do one day, as late a start as it might be.
A thought for another day, perhaps.
In I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, you play as the eponymous teenage exocolonist (who knew?), born on a colony ship bound for the planet "Vertumna". The ship lands when you are age 10 and the game continues until age 20. Each year has various bespoke narrative events and about a dozen "turns" where you can grow your stats and manage your relationships.
Notable narrative events award you a new card, the deck contextualized as your memories. Cards have suits (yellow for social, blue for mental, red for physical), a number value, and possibly an extra effect like "+1 during mental challenges". For skill checks, you draw a hand from your deck and try to beat the goal number with the card slots available. You get extra bonuses from pairs, straights, flushes, et cetera. If you puzzle out the highest possible value with your cards, you get a minor cash reward. If you can't hit the goal, you can take a stress penalty to push through anyway.
It's a solid gameplay loop that carried me through a couple runs before I eventually turned on Debug Mode to skip every card battle and tweak stats to my liking (humans are just human, yeah?). There's also an option to ignore the cards entirely and turn the challenges into straight stat checks, if you're into that.
Of course, I wouldn't have cared about the cards and deckbuilding if not for the narrative context in which they exist. But the writing is... uh. Well. It doesn't really jive with my personal tastes, but I think it would for a lot of people. Another review (positively) describes the game as "queer socialist propaganda", and I can't really disagree with that assessment. I appreciate the game's politics, but not its aesthetic.
The colony is some kind of anti-capitalist, communal child-care, anti-cultural, vegetarian collective. You can change your name, appearance, and pronouns at any time along a spectrum of female-presenting to male-presenting. There are multiple romanceable characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and the game lets you date any of them, though that doesn't mean the relationship will always work out. It's better than I expected from a game that puts "you can date a dog-boy" on its Steam page, at least.
This is also a time loop story, which helps contextualize multiple playthroughs and allows you to pick options on later runs that help optimize your new life (a unique narrative strength of video games as a medium that has been insidiously co-opted by the isekai genre). For example, instead of spending several months figuring out a solution to an impending famine, you can guide characters directly to a solution you figured out last time, saving lives and giving you more time to spend patrolling the walls or repairing robots. Figure out someone's likes and dislikes, and those will stay in their character window in the next run.
But with one foot firmly embedded in the Twee Zone, Exocolonist could headline a Wholesome Direct (derogatory). Your menu doesn't have an Achievements section, it has a "Cheevos" section. Vertumna is cast entirely in pastel blues, pinks, and yellows; populated by aliens like "floatcows" and "unisaurs". Every character has a cutesy hippy name that's shortened from a longer word, so you're hanging out with Marz (Marzipan), Kom (Kombucha), Tonin (Melatonin), Seeq (Obsequious), et cetera. The fictional space sport is literally called "sportsball". Un-fucking-bearable.
The game advertises a large number of endings, but it's more of an Obsidian-style modular ending slides thing. Depending on what jobs you picked most often and the status of your relationships, you get some paragraphs about how they all turned out. I played enough to get three different job-related endings and most of the bespoke endings that require more specific sequences of events, and my Steam runtime is listed at about 35 hours. Though, as noted, this was with me using Debug Mode to speed up later runs considerably.
Despite my issues, I'd say enjoyed my time with Exocolonist. While I'd love to see its broad structure applied to an aesthetic I find more personally appealing, its (relative) simplicity compared to the big RPGs I usually play starts the creative gears turning in my head. Whether it's actually realistic or not, games like this and Citizen Sleeper make me wonder if this is something I could do one day, as late a start as it might be.
A thought for another day, perhaps.
I knew this game had a reputation when it came to life-sim pseudo-novels, but damn, still I was impressed.
Exocolonist is a game about tragedy, and subverting it. It's a game that requires you to run through it a myriad of times, similar to Signs of the Sojourner or Citizen Sleeper, but this game really does LEAN into the replay value by having run-based knowledge play into future runs. Oh you knew that dog was there? BAM, explosive trap.
This game does a lot in a short run and it's written beautifully, every character is unique and special in their own way, you get to see stupid kids you play ball with turn into militaristic turncoats, or isolationists bloom into explorers. There is a lot and I can't do justice to how well the characters are written and how well the development plays out. There are many mini-events, side-stories, side-quests, entire hidden areas and events. Each of my runs really felt unique each time, even if spamming tasks to raise scores became a bit of a chore.
The only complaints I really have are my not-too-much-love for the overworld design and some of the repetitive aspects of the game, but even if you do eerily-similar things, you still get massive sweeping changes you'd not have noticed before. I will warn you though, the first run is going to beat the ever-loving sh-t outta you, things will happen, you won't know how, and you'll need to learn how to get further. It's like the game sets you up to fail, to convince you to continue forward.
It's really a great game and deserves the praise it gets. While I'm unsure if it's systems work as well in-unison as some other titles like Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, or even Beacon Pines in some regards. It definitely plays it's hand well and got me addicted to keep running it over and over.
Simply great.
Exocolonist is a game about tragedy, and subverting it. It's a game that requires you to run through it a myriad of times, similar to Signs of the Sojourner or Citizen Sleeper, but this game really does LEAN into the replay value by having run-based knowledge play into future runs. Oh you knew that dog was there? BAM, explosive trap.
This game does a lot in a short run and it's written beautifully, every character is unique and special in their own way, you get to see stupid kids you play ball with turn into militaristic turncoats, or isolationists bloom into explorers. There is a lot and I can't do justice to how well the characters are written and how well the development plays out. There are many mini-events, side-stories, side-quests, entire hidden areas and events. Each of my runs really felt unique each time, even if spamming tasks to raise scores became a bit of a chore.
The only complaints I really have are my not-too-much-love for the overworld design and some of the repetitive aspects of the game, but even if you do eerily-similar things, you still get massive sweeping changes you'd not have noticed before. I will warn you though, the first run is going to beat the ever-loving sh-t outta you, things will happen, you won't know how, and you'll need to learn how to get further. It's like the game sets you up to fail, to convince you to continue forward.
It's really a great game and deserves the praise it gets. While I'm unsure if it's systems work as well in-unison as some other titles like Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, or even Beacon Pines in some regards. It definitely plays it's hand well and got me addicted to keep running it over and over.
Simply great.
Growing up, trying not to be saddled with previous Earth-en expectations and burdens, watching people you thought you knew change (or not) right in front of you. Unapologetic queerness and disregard for traditional relationship barriers. Loves lies crushing and hope springs eternal.
proper review coming when i get through more playthroughs but i just have to get this out: this game has some bonafide pure autism flavor CRACK in it.....tell me why i spent AN ENTIRE DAY playing this, literally trapped in tism'd tunnel vision trying to make That Stupid JROTC Twunk go to therapy. the PERILS of good character design the PERILS of promising + relatable early characterization the PERILS of dropping lore as insane as [insert genetic enhancement] right as im starting to get tired of his ass. just pissed me off so bad omggg [character in abusive relationship/Psychological Bondage with twunk] i UNDERSTAND you, we are sisterwives atp
anyway ive given up on that endeavor bc like i have a LIFE and a HOME and a MAN and PHOTOSENSITIVITY and RENT TO PAY i cannot be glued to the SteamDeck® like this! i really just got so irked that I didn't get the outcome i was casually seeking out that i spent hours backtracking and/or save-scumming (if it should be called that in such a game) to resolve the frustration and dissonance. classic erik moment #MentalHealthMatters
unfortunately this mental reset will NOT free me from this game's clutches (ive done three? four?playthroughs, technically) bc every playthrough my blue hair and pronouns femme queen will stumble upon a piece of interesting game-changing lore that i know i can learn more about it if i reincarnate and start EngineerMaxxing from birth 😭 Nigerian Father Mode ON ☝🏿
anyway . shit need to come with a surgeon generals warning.....its 5 am, i have work today......five stars
anyway ive given up on that endeavor bc like i have a LIFE and a HOME and a MAN and PHOTOSENSITIVITY and RENT TO PAY i cannot be glued to the SteamDeck® like this! i really just got so irked that I didn't get the outcome i was casually seeking out that i spent hours backtracking and/or save-scumming (if it should be called that in such a game) to resolve the frustration and dissonance. classic erik moment #MentalHealthMatters
unfortunately this mental reset will NOT free me from this game's clutches (ive done three? four?playthroughs, technically) bc every playthrough my blue hair and pronouns femme queen will stumble upon a piece of interesting game-changing lore that i know i can learn more about it if i reincarnate and start EngineerMaxxing from birth 😭 Nigerian Father Mode ON ☝🏿
anyway . shit need to come with a surgeon generals warning.....its 5 am, i have work today......five stars
this game had such an emotional impact on me, it is one of the best stories I've experienced in a game! re-playing the game and seeing all the ways that your choices impact the story is so beautiful. I would die for basically any character from this game. also the pronoun and presentation sliders are so cool, I love that they're in the game!
no spoilers as always
I initially was a lil turned off by the art style, but had to try for the queer rep & cause so many folks seem to love this game, & I'm so glad I did! I actually warmed up to the art style quite quickly~ the environment BGs in particular are so pretty!
I thoroughly enjoyed the extensive options for pronouns & other social terms/titles, & how such a wide variety of different kinds of queerness were woven into the characters & their relationships so naturally (whether gender, sexuality, romance, relationship style, family structures etc). I really loved the characters, they all felt real & had interesting arcs, which u really need to do multiple playthroughs to experience, it's designed really well for replayability! I really appreciated that following the kids from age 10-20 was well handled, with everything feeling v age-appropriate.
while it maintains a fairly light & sweet not-too-deep vibe, it definitely doesn't shy away from darker things like death, grief, illness, mental health, trauma, tragedy...
I loved the way relationships between the characters & ur player work!! all the characters maintain their agency & stay true to their desires & needs, even when they change- it doesn't stoop to that gamified/coercive/transactional entitlement zone that games too often do. i do have a few critiques, like how even though there are some open relationship & polyamory options (which is wonderful!), they are still based in a hierarchical relationship escalator ideal (ie: open relationship is less serious/commited than an exclusive "romantic" relationship) & most options are actually quite mononormative, but overall I was quite impressed!
the gameplay is very straightforward & simple, & I found the whole combo of everything to be quite engaging and enjoyable! I may utilize the dice rolls in place of the card game on further playthroughs (which I for sure will do!), a cool option if u wanna focus on story.
that being said, the story is alright? it's nothing groundbreaking that's for sure, it's definitely more focused on the characters, but I felt like it didn't really need to be anything more than it was.
it does touch a bit on the complications of what it means to colonize a planet, & I was sort-of satisfied by the level of critique in my playthrough, though I think it could have easily been focused on more, & I wonder how different playthroughs will affect what I think. I did appreciate that it wasn't heavy-handed & focused more on giving space for u to think on things. however, keep in mind that there is a wiiild amount of different possibilities & variations on how each playthrough might unfold, so I'll see how further playthroughs inform my perspective~
overall, a breezy & cozy game with a simple & enjoyable gameplay loop, adorable characters & a satisfyingly huge amount of choice & variation in how the story could unfold!
I initially was a lil turned off by the art style, but had to try for the queer rep & cause so many folks seem to love this game, & I'm so glad I did! I actually warmed up to the art style quite quickly~ the environment BGs in particular are so pretty!
I thoroughly enjoyed the extensive options for pronouns & other social terms/titles, & how such a wide variety of different kinds of queerness were woven into the characters & their relationships so naturally (whether gender, sexuality, romance, relationship style, family structures etc). I really loved the characters, they all felt real & had interesting arcs, which u really need to do multiple playthroughs to experience, it's designed really well for replayability! I really appreciated that following the kids from age 10-20 was well handled, with everything feeling v age-appropriate.
while it maintains a fairly light & sweet not-too-deep vibe, it definitely doesn't shy away from darker things like death, grief, illness, mental health, trauma, tragedy...
I loved the way relationships between the characters & ur player work!! all the characters maintain their agency & stay true to their desires & needs, even when they change- it doesn't stoop to that gamified/coercive/transactional entitlement zone that games too often do. i do have a few critiques, like how even though there are some open relationship & polyamory options (which is wonderful!), they are still based in a hierarchical relationship escalator ideal (ie: open relationship is less serious/commited than an exclusive "romantic" relationship) & most options are actually quite mononormative, but overall I was quite impressed!
the gameplay is very straightforward & simple, & I found the whole combo of everything to be quite engaging and enjoyable! I may utilize the dice rolls in place of the card game on further playthroughs (which I for sure will do!), a cool option if u wanna focus on story.
that being said, the story is alright? it's nothing groundbreaking that's for sure, it's definitely more focused on the characters, but I felt like it didn't really need to be anything more than it was.
it does touch a bit on the complications of what it means to colonize a planet, & I was sort-of satisfied by the level of critique in my playthrough, though I think it could have easily been focused on more, & I wonder how different playthroughs will affect what I think. I did appreciate that it wasn't heavy-handed & focused more on giving space for u to think on things. however, keep in mind that there is a wiiild amount of different possibilities & variations on how each playthrough might unfold, so I'll see how further playthroughs inform my perspective~
overall, a breezy & cozy game with a simple & enjoyable gameplay loop, adorable characters & a satisfyingly huge amount of choice & variation in how the story could unfold!
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is an interesting game with a lot of moving parts that have a distinct take on social simulation VN games like Princess Maker. The game tackles a lot of interesting science fiction ideas, with an engaging story that encourages multiple play throughs so that someone can get various different endings and variations on each playthrough to make each one feel unique as you cannot complete everything in one playthrough, much less your first which does lock you out of certain content.
However, the gameplay does not support multiple playthroughs. Each playthrough is very lengthy and time consuming, while the means of playing the game being tiring after even just one playthrough. The VN portions while having decent albeit young adult writing, can start to feel dull due to the text window needing a bit more refinement. The day to day movement along the map while being charming at the start begins to overstay its welcome due to the way it handles finding collectables which are very helpful with low respawn rates and also when events come up with certain characters, requiring you to run around the entire map every day to ensure nothing new came up. Furthermore, while the card game is interesting and fun at the start, it overstays its welcome and gets extremely tedious later on, especially once you start doing a lot of expeditions outside of the colony where you do multiple card game checks a day. The game just doesn't support multiple playthroughs through its gameplay, since it gets dull halfway through your first playthrough and will only get worse as you get to other playthroughs.
Speaking of, in your first playthrough there are many things you cannot do until your second playthrough, which does lock out some things. This would be really cool and something I would praise the game for, but its rough when each playthrough is so incredibly draining that I do not think I can handle a full second playthrough despite the good ideas behind it. As it is, this does mean the game locks you out of being able to get with one of the 2 women characters that will actually stay with your character in the ending, since 2/3 of the women characters you can date in your first playthrough will break up with you and sleep around with others after it despite you telling said character you're fine with open relationships, which can feel a bit problematic considering everyone in this game is bisexual so 2/3 first route romances with bi women end in getting broken up with for them to mess around feeling like a harmful stereotype. Speaking of, a lot of progressive ideas in this game can feel almost regressive or problematic at times which can be quite rough. While it has some interesting things to say about gender, some stereotypes and how it expresses polyamory, open relationships, and sexuality in general can be very rough. I will say I will always appreciate a piece of media that tries and fails to explore LGBTQ+ topics than one that doesn't bother at all, but it still bears bringing up.
Definitely a very ambitious, creative, and interesting game that is dragged down by a tedious gameplay loop that doesn't evolve enough as the game progresses to be able to support all the content in the game. Which is a shame, since there is a lot of good content in this game post a first playthrough that is worth exploring. I will probably get back to other playthroughs another time, but right now I feel it would be unfair to be trudging through gameplay I am burned out on to get to the new content.
However, the gameplay does not support multiple playthroughs. Each playthrough is very lengthy and time consuming, while the means of playing the game being tiring after even just one playthrough. The VN portions while having decent albeit young adult writing, can start to feel dull due to the text window needing a bit more refinement. The day to day movement along the map while being charming at the start begins to overstay its welcome due to the way it handles finding collectables which are very helpful with low respawn rates and also when events come up with certain characters, requiring you to run around the entire map every day to ensure nothing new came up. Furthermore, while the card game is interesting and fun at the start, it overstays its welcome and gets extremely tedious later on, especially once you start doing a lot of expeditions outside of the colony where you do multiple card game checks a day. The game just doesn't support multiple playthroughs through its gameplay, since it gets dull halfway through your first playthrough and will only get worse as you get to other playthroughs.
Speaking of, in your first playthrough there are many things you cannot do until your second playthrough, which does lock out some things. This would be really cool and something I would praise the game for, but its rough when each playthrough is so incredibly draining that I do not think I can handle a full second playthrough despite the good ideas behind it. As it is, this does mean the game locks you out of being able to get with one of the 2 women characters that will actually stay with your character in the ending, since 2/3 of the women characters you can date in your first playthrough will break up with you and sleep around with others after it despite you telling said character you're fine with open relationships, which can feel a bit problematic considering everyone in this game is bisexual so 2/3 first route romances with bi women end in getting broken up with for them to mess around feeling like a harmful stereotype. Speaking of, a lot of progressive ideas in this game can feel almost regressive or problematic at times which can be quite rough. While it has some interesting things to say about gender, some stereotypes and how it expresses polyamory, open relationships, and sexuality in general can be very rough. I will say I will always appreciate a piece of media that tries and fails to explore LGBTQ+ topics than one that doesn't bother at all, but it still bears bringing up.
Definitely a very ambitious, creative, and interesting game that is dragged down by a tedious gameplay loop that doesn't evolve enough as the game progresses to be able to support all the content in the game. Which is a shame, since there is a lot of good content in this game post a first playthrough that is worth exploring. I will probably get back to other playthroughs another time, but right now I feel it would be unfair to be trudging through gameplay I am burned out on to get to the new content.
Play this game immediately if you like dating sims or cosmic horrors beyond your comprehension
He leído en varios sitios que el juego tarda en arrancar, pero tras 4 horas del mismo bucle jugable, creo que ya le he dado oportunidades suficientes para que me sorprenda. Pese a que la idea es interesante y algunos de los dilemas que plantea pueden estar bien escritos, el juego falla prácticamente en todo lo demás:
- El apartado artístico es muy mediocre. Las ilustraciones de los personajes no varían ni un ápice para mostrar ninguna emoción. Casi ningún evento va acompañado por imágenes, solo por textos.
- El juego de cartas, pese a ser entretenido por momentos, es muuuuuy básico y se vuelve repetitivo con demasiada prontitud.
- Como he comentado anteriormente, el bucle jugable no varía prácticamente nada durante el juego, con la única decisión como jugador de qué barrita subir ese mes.
- El apartado artístico es muy mediocre. Las ilustraciones de los personajes no varían ni un ápice para mostrar ninguna emoción. Casi ningún evento va acompañado por imágenes, solo por textos.
- El juego de cartas, pese a ser entretenido por momentos, es muuuuuy básico y se vuelve repetitivo con demasiada prontitud.
- Como he comentado anteriormente, el bucle jugable no varía prácticamente nada durante el juego, con la única decisión como jugador de qué barrita subir ese mes.
Usually I hate games where your a kid protagonist, but like, this one rocks.
An incredible game about relationships, capitalism, colonialism, and what it means to be human.
It's one of the most touching video game stories I've played. A story that can wrap around you like a cozy blanket, only to tear you away and toss you out into the rain.
I don’t normally NG+ games because I have so much to play but I immediately jumped back in the moment credits rolled. There’s a compelling time loop mechanic that provides context for it.
I’m kicking myself for not having played it at launch. If you've had even a slight interest in Twine, I highly recommend it.
It's one of the most touching video game stories I've played. A story that can wrap around you like a cozy blanket, only to tear you away and toss you out into the rain.
I don’t normally NG+ games because I have so much to play but I immediately jumped back in the moment credits rolled. There’s a compelling time loop mechanic that provides context for it.
I’m kicking myself for not having played it at launch. If you've had even a slight interest in Twine, I highly recommend it.