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.