Transmit your disembodied ego between robots and devices and exploit their capabilities in first-person very British 70s/80s era sci-fi immersive sim Ctrl Alt Ego. Tool-up and break bad bots into broken bits, or sneak a bug quietly into the system as if you were never there.
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CTRL ALT EGO is legitimately one of the most mind bending games I've ever played! The entire thing is just one big puzzle that you can solve however way you want. I think we've found a game more worthy of the term "immersive sim" than Deus Ex! The fact that this was developed by only two people makes it all the more impressive. Highly recommended!
10/10
10/10
It's kind of bonkers to me how this game isn't massively popular considering it's one of the absolute best immersive sims out there right now. It's certainly the clearest example of the genre to me, with all the signature mechanics that make it fun. The monumental amount of ambition and finesse the devs achieved here is truly breathtaking, making for one of the freshest and most unique gaming worlds I've ever had the pleasure of playing through. The Steam page touts the game as "Prey 2017 meets Portal," and quite honestly I'd have a hard time coming up with a better selling point for the game myself. The level/environmental design here (like portal) is immensely detailed and puzzling, giving the player complete and utter freedom on how to approach it. Each level essentially acts as a giant sandbox of possibilities, complete with a full arsenal of upgradable tools to create some of the most insane chaos imaginable, it's glorious. Not to mention the traversal and movement are perfect for navigating the levels in a way that feels right to you. I seriously love how every approach to this game is the correct approach, letting the player craft the game through their own meaningful lens, SO cool. I however won't discuss the story or specific gameplay mechanics, as it's something best experienced blind, british quirks and all. If you love puzzle games with emphasized freedom, exploration and amazingly janky combat/controls, play. this. game. And if you don't, play it anyway, it rules.
Look, I'm a pushover for anything immersive sim related, but this one is almost more puzzle-like in its approach, making combat truly suck in a way that encourages you to find ways to sneak, hack or distract your way through the levels. It's a cool world with cool mechanics and amazing levels that you need to play if you think there's even the slightest chance you'll like this game.
Overlooked and underappreciated. MindThunk is currently in the preliminary stage of crafting a sequel and deserves your financial support to bring more of this stellar gameworld to life. For reference; even with only one active dev when I sent in a bug report, he immediately isolated the issue and had a fix ready to roll out in the next day or so. Also, the ingame mirrors reflect you in realtime. 10/10.
While it is possible to commit to an aggressive playstyle in Ctrl Alt Ego, I think it shines best when attempting to clear it stealthily and without harming any of the bots. Doing so recontextualizes many rooms into interesting puzzle boxes that require careful observation and planning to dismantle or pass through. But due to being a systemic Immersive Sim, these aren't one and done puzzle rooms kindred to the likes of Portal, but are rather invitations to forge one of many possible solutions. I feel this greatly aids in the potential longevity and replay value of Ctrl Alt Ego.
The game's also rather amusing, with a dryly humorous script. There's also CATS, a lot of CATS.
While it is possible to commit to an aggressive playstyle in Ctrl Alt Ego, I think it shines best when attempting to clear it stealthily and without harming any of the bots. Doing so recontextualizes many rooms into interesting puzzle boxes that require careful observation and planning to dismantle or pass through. But due to being a systemic Immersive Sim, these aren't one and done puzzle rooms kindred to the likes of Portal, but are rather invitations to forge one of many possible solutions. I feel this greatly aids in the potential longevity and replay value of Ctrl Alt Ego.
The game's also rather amusing, with a dryly humorous script. There's also CATS, a lot of CATS.
Easily one of my favourite games of all time, heck, maybe even decade.
a few thoughts about an hour after finishing it
-ctrl alt ego's success largely exists due to it's mechanical honesty. the developers know what the game excels at and lean into it heavy. it's ambition is evident but it's mastery and understanding of what it wants to do is palpable.
-level design is huge and constantly rewarding to explore, at it's peak in chapter 7 where it's almost segmented into five different micro levels, all with different ways of tackling each area.
-the first six chapters are all great, and i spent multiple hours in areas in the first two chapters and chapter six respectively, but the mission progress feels more linear and checklist like. the early levels feel like looking at your grocery list in a supermarket you've been going to for ten years, while the later levels feel like doing your groceries in a brand new supermarket.
-there's not a full commitment to the "disembodied ego" idea, with the game being spent controlling the Bug (the body the player is given) for 75% of it's runtime. some of the best moments in the game involve getting through entire rooms without using the Bug, or setting up the Bug for success before entering the room, but I'd love to go a whole chapter without controlling the main body.
-the story had potential for real comments on the human spirit/ego as a whole but honestly i LOVE that they chose not to do that and instead went for a smaller more contained story. the story is not that good in any real sense, yet it doesn't bring the game down due to it's smaller scope. think if they committed less to the identity of Dr Everyman it could have worked
-the first big boss of the game presents itself as a puzzle (the game tells you to think of it as a puzzle instead of a boss fight), but disappointingly, i managed to kill it by taking it into a loading zone the game wasn't expecting it to go. not the game's fault in a design sense, and i wouldn't mark it down for it, but still disappointing.
-often the player will be shown a music player, which will play a groovy tune, but the tune won't follow the player outside of when the player controls the music player itself. i wish it did! put a radio in bug or something! i want to jam out!
-did not like the "annoying bugs", they felt far too fast and hard to kill. wish there were more creative ways to deal with them
-sort of love the developers honesty throughout the game. at one point the narrator says that there's no real failstate, sort of brave to tell the player "Hey! You can't actually lose!"
game is real good, leaves a little to be desired but it does exactly what it wants to do and it's ambitions are worth the price of admission
-ctrl alt ego's success largely exists due to it's mechanical honesty. the developers know what the game excels at and lean into it heavy. it's ambition is evident but it's mastery and understanding of what it wants to do is palpable.
-level design is huge and constantly rewarding to explore, at it's peak in chapter 7 where it's almost segmented into five different micro levels, all with different ways of tackling each area.
-the first six chapters are all great, and i spent multiple hours in areas in the first two chapters and chapter six respectively, but the mission progress feels more linear and checklist like. the early levels feel like looking at your grocery list in a supermarket you've been going to for ten years, while the later levels feel like doing your groceries in a brand new supermarket.
-there's not a full commitment to the "disembodied ego" idea, with the game being spent controlling the Bug (the body the player is given) for 75% of it's runtime. some of the best moments in the game involve getting through entire rooms without using the Bug, or setting up the Bug for success before entering the room, but I'd love to go a whole chapter without controlling the main body.
-the story had potential for real comments on the human spirit/ego as a whole but honestly i LOVE that they chose not to do that and instead went for a smaller more contained story. the story is not that good in any real sense, yet it doesn't bring the game down due to it's smaller scope. think if they committed less to the identity of Dr Everyman it could have worked
-the first big boss of the game presents itself as a puzzle (the game tells you to think of it as a puzzle instead of a boss fight), but disappointingly, i managed to kill it by taking it into a loading zone the game wasn't expecting it to go. not the game's fault in a design sense, and i wouldn't mark it down for it, but still disappointing.
-often the player will be shown a music player, which will play a groovy tune, but the tune won't follow the player outside of when the player controls the music player itself. i wish it did! put a radio in bug or something! i want to jam out!
-did not like the "annoying bugs", they felt far too fast and hard to kill. wish there were more creative ways to deal with them
-sort of love the developers honesty throughout the game. at one point the narrator says that there's no real failstate, sort of brave to tell the player "Hey! You can't actually lose!"
game is real good, leaves a little to be desired but it does exactly what it wants to do and it's ambitions are worth the price of admission