Thomas Was Alone Review

The story, appropriately, centers around the characters as artificial intelligences, with each puzzle representing an abstract challenge for them to overcome. It’s a good premise for the format... but sadly, that only makes it all the more unsatisfactory when the story, in the end, seems to peter out and give up right as things get interesting. The game builds tension fairly well for most of the playing time, but as the final levels wrap up, the story leaves almost no resolution to enjoy. To top it all off, the game ends with a very disappointing and uninspired ‘reward’ for finishing, which I won’t spoil here. Suffice it to say that I was hoping for much more than I got.

On the music side, in a game where minimalism is explicit in the visuals, an artist might be tempted to take the obvious mirror by making the music straightforward and, of coursed, synthesized. Thankfully, the composer knew better and instead gave the game an inspirational and energizing score, making the levels and story feel more personal. The effect encourages players to look beyond the plain visuals they are being shown: just as the monocolor squares and blocks have deep and lush personalities under them, so the black-foreground levels have implied potency revealed through the music.

As far as the visuals in the game go, either the minimalism works for you or it doesn’t. There are some minimalist games that are inherently brilliant in their use of simplified visuals, and while Thomas Was Alone tries to keep things interesting, no matter how you dress it up they’re still blocks, living in a world of stairs and flat walls.

Thomas Was Alone has bits of pieces of a fantastic game. It’s got the presentation all right, and in fact most video games would do well to learn from its example in this area. But unfortunately there aren’t enough bright spots in the game to make up for its deficiencies in gameplay and its disappointing story. It’s a real shame, because this title has got the writing and the style to make a fantastic game, but the gameplay never really rises above a mediocre level. You should play this game if you find yourself in need of a pick-me-up. It won’t change your life, but it will bring a smile to your lips for a few hours.