From a first impression, I expected Thomas Was Alone, as an indie puzzle platformer with simple graphics, to be focused on its gameplay, offering fiendish levels of challenge like so many others in its genre. I definitely didn't expect that a game about quadrilaterals would win me over based on the charm of its cast.

Yup, TwA's cast of characters is entirely composed of colored rectangles who never really say a word by themselves, and yet, this is a narrative-driven game. If giving these "characters" adequate names wasn't enough of an issue, how can you give them feelings and personalities?

Thomas Was Alone accomplishes this mainly by means of sound: music follows you throughout all stages, setting the mood for each moment in the story. And even more importantly, there's the narrator, who explains the thoughts of each character to you in great emotional detail, advancing the story even though the game's visuals don't show much.

Puzzles are also a big part of the storytelling. The stages in themselves are pretty simple, and a seasoned player probably see the solution right at the start. If looked at purely mechanically, it's busywork, but each puzzle reflects the characters' inner struggles and how they're overcome. It's another way in which the game manages to be surprisingly moving.

Thomas Was Alone is an incredible demonstration of minimalism in storytelling. It should take you two to three hours to fully complete, and it's while it's probably not going to be the best game you'll ever play, it's worth experiencing just from how unusual it is.