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.
"stupid motherfuckers don't play ctrl alt ego, not playing this game is for motherfuckers who are stupid"
-Me
-Me
Imagine for a second, you're a ghost. We're running on some classic ghost story shit, so let's say you can possess just about anything you want and fiddle with it. How would you assert your influence on the physical plane? Most, uh, totally real ghosts, assert it via doing really dumb shit like spelling out memes on Ouija boards. But if you were in this position and wanted to actually do something, imagining stuff from the perspective of a disembodied conscious is actually pretty fun. Video games have been working for a while now towards this semi-puzzlebox design. You've got a basic observational puzzle, and then the game lets the physics engine or other nuanced mechanics do the work, so it's only natural that their finest conceptual evolution would be a game where you basically are the puzzlebox. You create your own mechanisms to solve anything you want, in just your own way, limited only is the fact that you need to manage a resource to keep possessing things, which really makes you prioritize each decision for what you possess- something that comes in really handy to remember across the large-scale maps where items can be transported super long distances. Ctrl Alt Ego perhaps doesn't falter on its great concept immediately, but creeping issues strike it in one clear cut way: conformity.
You're in a room full of objects you can possess, you have 15 Ego points left and you want to be wise. You could possess an enemy for 10 points, but that's a heavy drain of Ego, and, if you run out of juice, or have your new host destroyed, you're fucked. The easier bet might be possessing something to sneak around that a percentage of enemies don't care about, but you might be shit out of luck if some do care later down the line, or if you need to get to a tough-to-reach place. Instead, you might try to prepare a bomb, or a destructible object, to immediately kill your enemies, allowing yourself to get past without draining much Ego at all in case you need it later. Here's the plot twist: a situation like this almost never happens in the campaign. Inside your poltergeist toolbox, is an infinitely replicatable host body, which has its own toolbox- one that merely relies on easily replaceable resources and RPG upgrade systems to decimate most encounters. The vast majority of objects you can place yourself in, are actually pretty useless, and the game outright teases you into possessing them by giving you Ego, or allowing you to read text that gives clues on what to do, locking you mentally in "hold possess button in new room" mode frequently. This straight up means you're almost never short on Ego, and the system begins to crumble. Player expression is at a maximum, but at what cost? These intricate systems at play are almost never fully utilized, as running in and using some combination of basic Bug 22-centric tools fixes everything. For as much as you're a disembodied consciousness, you sure feel very... embodied in this game. Most goals you have amount to simplistic things, too, like grabbing an object, or possessing a certain thing for a split second and then going back to your Bug- again, usually stuff that merely demands your usual host body. Puzzles with the host body don't actually tend to reach their maximum either: all the other Bugs are, effectively, useless, and have no tools of their own, besides being used to open doors. It ends in Ctrl Alt Ego having the makings of a puzzle game that could appeal to fans and non-fans of the genre alike, except the best method to win is to not scratch your brain at all. For such a negative take-away, I'll let you know I enjoyed the game a lot still, and I think this will slowly go down as one of those must-plays in the modern indie sphere. It's unabashedly original in some ways (and not in others, but I digress) so all I can ask for the sequel is for the game to stroke its own Ego a little, and run less on the possessed qualities of certain other shooter-adventure-puzzler-RPG-simulation-type games that it takes the form of so often.
You're in a room full of objects you can possess, you have 15 Ego points left and you want to be wise. You could possess an enemy for 10 points, but that's a heavy drain of Ego, and, if you run out of juice, or have your new host destroyed, you're fucked. The easier bet might be possessing something to sneak around that a percentage of enemies don't care about, but you might be shit out of luck if some do care later down the line, or if you need to get to a tough-to-reach place. Instead, you might try to prepare a bomb, or a destructible object, to immediately kill your enemies, allowing yourself to get past without draining much Ego at all in case you need it later. Here's the plot twist: a situation like this almost never happens in the campaign. Inside your poltergeist toolbox, is an infinitely replicatable host body, which has its own toolbox- one that merely relies on easily replaceable resources and RPG upgrade systems to decimate most encounters. The vast majority of objects you can place yourself in, are actually pretty useless, and the game outright teases you into possessing them by giving you Ego, or allowing you to read text that gives clues on what to do, locking you mentally in "hold possess button in new room" mode frequently. This straight up means you're almost never short on Ego, and the system begins to crumble. Player expression is at a maximum, but at what cost? These intricate systems at play are almost never fully utilized, as running in and using some combination of basic Bug 22-centric tools fixes everything. For as much as you're a disembodied consciousness, you sure feel very... embodied in this game. Most goals you have amount to simplistic things, too, like grabbing an object, or possessing a certain thing for a split second and then going back to your Bug- again, usually stuff that merely demands your usual host body. Puzzles with the host body don't actually tend to reach their maximum either: all the other Bugs are, effectively, useless, and have no tools of their own, besides being used to open doors. It ends in Ctrl Alt Ego having the makings of a puzzle game that could appeal to fans and non-fans of the genre alike, except the best method to win is to not scratch your brain at all. For such a negative take-away, I'll let you know I enjoyed the game a lot still, and I think this will slowly go down as one of those must-plays in the modern indie sphere. It's unabashedly original in some ways (and not in others, but I digress) so all I can ask for the sequel is for the game to stroke its own Ego a little, and run less on the possessed qualities of certain other shooter-adventure-puzzler-RPG-simulation-type games that it takes the form of so often.
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
Easily one of my favourite games of all time, heck, maybe even decade.
An extremely solid experience within it's first playthrough but also absolutely worth 100%-ing just from all the ways you can break the game and challenge yourself. Extremely creative in so many ways, that it's hard to want to spoil- yet most playthroughs will find their own uniquely interesting discoveries anyways.
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.
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
Ctrl Alt Ego Is One Of The Better Gaming Experiences I've Had In Recent Memory
With its fair amount of uniqueness and quickness, the only way I can describe this piece is as the aftermath of a rough, drunk, unprotected sex session between a puzzle game like Portal and a sci-fi immersive sim like Prey. It's the most 'immsimmy' immersive sim game on the market, if that makes any sense. The player creativity here is equal to none – so great that, in some aspects, it's even a sandbox game of some sort.The puzzle-like structure here is top-notch too; it's consistent throughout the whole experience, and the fact that it's infused with some sandbox elements just adds to the almost infinite ways you can deal with each scenario. Whether it's going hog-wild on some robot enemies or actually using your brain and controlling them with EGO, which brings me to the next topic in my review: the game mechanics. Ctrl Alt Ego's combat consists of basic tools like a teleportation device, a shotgun, and even a vacuum cleaner (it's the absolute best tool, believe me). But most importantly, the EGO system sets this game apart. In this game, you control an entity that can hijack the body of any electronic device in the game by using a currency called EGO. By hijacking enemies, you can open up an infinite amount of player approach options for any scenario in each level.To this day, I still can't grasp the fact that this masterclass was made by only two (but incredible) individuals. I cannot recommend it enough, and if you're reading this, please go and support this awesome project – it's truly one of a kind.
Rating: 10/10, it's incredible
With its fair amount of uniqueness and quickness, the only way I can describe this piece is as the aftermath of a rough, drunk, unprotected sex session between a puzzle game like Portal and a sci-fi immersive sim like Prey. It's the most 'immsimmy' immersive sim game on the market, if that makes any sense. The player creativity here is equal to none – so great that, in some aspects, it's even a sandbox game of some sort.The puzzle-like structure here is top-notch too; it's consistent throughout the whole experience, and the fact that it's infused with some sandbox elements just adds to the almost infinite ways you can deal with each scenario. Whether it's going hog-wild on some robot enemies or actually using your brain and controlling them with EGO, which brings me to the next topic in my review: the game mechanics. Ctrl Alt Ego's combat consists of basic tools like a teleportation device, a shotgun, and even a vacuum cleaner (it's the absolute best tool, believe me). But most importantly, the EGO system sets this game apart. In this game, you control an entity that can hijack the body of any electronic device in the game by using a currency called EGO. By hijacking enemies, you can open up an infinite amount of player approach options for any scenario in each level.To this day, I still can't grasp the fact that this masterclass was made by only two (but incredible) individuals. I cannot recommend it enough, and if you're reading this, please go and support this awesome project – it's truly one of a kind.
Rating: 10/10, it's incredible
The game is free to a fault, where obstacles act less like obstacles and more like suggestions on what you might not want to do for most of the game — you can pretty much trivialise every level by possessing an enemy, and running through with invisibility when needed.
The gameplay and world-building are top-notch im-sim stuff, but I found that the pacing of the game dragged around halfway through, and it only really got better when I further upgraded my character to completely trivialise the actual challenges, so the game became more about exploring the station at my own pace than actively struggling to make it through.
Overall, this game feels more like an exploration sandbox than most other immersive simulators, making me disengage at times, but it really has no major flaws in my mind, and I would recommend it to anyone who would find this intriguing based on its Steam page.
The gameplay and world-building are top-notch im-sim stuff, but I found that the pacing of the game dragged around halfway through, and it only really got better when I further upgraded my character to completely trivialise the actual challenges, so the game became more about exploring the station at my own pace than actively struggling to make it through.
Overall, this game feels more like an exploration sandbox than most other immersive simulators, making me disengage at times, but it really has no major flaws in my mind, and I would recommend it to anyone who would find this intriguing based on its Steam page.
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.