I Was a Teenage Exocolonist – Destructoid

Don’t overlook this indie masterpiece

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a kind of video games that I stored listening to about, but it surely took me a minute to get round to enjoying it with all of the superb titles that got here out final yr. I do know I’m a bit late to the social gathering on this one, as the sport initially got here out again in August of 2022, however I’m so glad that I went again to provide this one a shot. 

I went into this playthrough with out realizing something concerning the sport and with none actual expectations, and precisely one accomplished playthrough later, I’m completely in love with this title. I can’t consider every other sport prefer it, and I can’t consider a sport I’ve ever performed that’s made me wish to dive instantly into one other playthrough instantly as a lot as this one did.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (PC [Reviewed], Nintendo Change, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5)
Developer: Northway Video games
Writer: Finji
Launched: August 25, 2022
MSRP: $24.99

From the beautiful artwork to the lovable characters to the addicting gameplay and a lot extra, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist had me hooked from the start, and my intrigue solely snowballed because the hours ticked away.

The premise of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is that Earth’s first extrasolar house colony has set down roots on an alien planet known as Vertumna that they accessed by means of a wormhole, and the participant takes on the position as one of many teenage members of the group. The sport follows the participant character from age 10 all the best way as much as age 20, chronicling the dramatic highs and lows of colony life. 

Let’s speak gameplay

Gameplay-wise, it’s a mixture of a story RPG offered in a visible novel type with deckbuilding mechanics. The principle gameplay loop consists of rising friendships by means of conversations and presents, finishing useful duties across the colony, and collaborating in card-based battles and different deckbuilding mechanics.

Gamers even have a complete of 15 completely different stats, that are damaged down into three completely different coloured classes: emotional, psychological, and bodily. Specifics embrace traits like bravery, creativity, toughness, empathy, and group, simply to call just a few. You largely enhance your stats by taking up completely different jobs across the colony, however there are another modifiers that may make leveling up even simpler.

This sport provides an enormous number of content material, together with 10 completely different romanceable characters, 25 completely different jobs, 200 battle playing cards, 1,000 story occasions, and 50 completely different endings. It’s additionally vital to notice that the sport solely took me roughly 10 hours to get by means of the primary time, but it surely’s designed to be performed on repeat – it’s even marketed on its official web site as a “narrative deckbuilding RPG with a timeloop twist.”

I’m an enormous fan of deckbuilders, so I used to be pumped to leap into the card-based mechanics on this sport. Mainly the way it works is that everytime you partake in an exercise or must take part in a “verify” to see should you have been profitable at performing a process, you’ll enter a card problem. Every process has a particular quantity objective that you have to attain, both in a single go or on the finish of three rounds. The playing cards themselves have a distinct go well with (yellow, blue, or pink based mostly on their associations with the three completely different stat classes), a numerical worth, and sometimes a singular card energy that impacts the opposite playing cards on the board.

There are additionally different mechanics that may allow you to achieve bonuses or do away with playing cards you don’t want anymore, however in any other case, it’s a reasonably easy minigame, however a balanced and endlessly pleasurable one at that. 

My different absolute favourite factor concerning the playing cards is that they correspond with recollections your character kinds – having a brand new or significantly compelling encounter, both with different characters or alone, will reward you with a brand new card. This ties the principle battling/minigame mechanic again into the sport’s story extremely nicely by performing as a meditation on how your experiences form your personalities, pursuits, and talents. It additionally simply encourages you to mirror in your journey as far as you repeatedly have a look at the whole lot you’ve gone by means of and the bonds you’ve fashioned, which not solely ties completely into the themes of the sport, but additionally mimics how our recollections work in actual life fairly fantastically.

A loop you gained’t wish to break

For those who’re nervous you’re not gonna get your cash’s price with this one, I can guarantee you that there’s nothing to stress about on that entrance. The sport encourages you fairly strongly proper after you end that it’s meant so that you can begin once more, and I do know for a incontrovertible fact that I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is simply going to get higher with every subsequent playthrough, as per a good friend’s anecdotes now that they’ve performed the sport 3 times by means of.

The characters on this sport are so extremely loveable. You not solely get a transparent sense of who everybody is true off the bat, but it surely’s significantly intriguing to see how every particular person modifications and grows as time goes on. The younger forged members are actually formed by their atmosphere, and each step of the best way you get to see how your mates react to the hand that they’ve been dealt. It’s a few of the finest character work I’ve seen in a sport in an excellent whereas, and I do know I solely scratched the floor of these 1,000 distinctive story occasions.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist can also be a sport that hinges on its choice-based narrative and let me say, I don’t assume I’ve ever felt like my selections matter a lot in a sport earlier than. Even the smallest motion, or lack of motion, can solely alter the established order of a playthrough within the opening hour, which is able to ship ripples all through all the remainder of your expertise. It’s so extremely straightforward to overlook sure encounters that those you do discover really feel actually particular.

I do know the “visible novel” type isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, however any skepticism ought to actually be helped by the truth that the artwork on this sport is beautiful and so vigorous. One other advantage of the sport’s restrained but stylized artwork is that it permits for a ton extra variation in what gamers can expertise within the story – an absence of animation and smaller scope implies that the story can department any which manner with out it being a pressure on sources, which additional opens the door for a choice-based sport to completely embody its descriptor.

I additionally must say that I completely love the music in I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. I’m already pre-disposed to having fun with something remotely associated to the lo-fi style, however I discovered the music at all times completely matched the temper and heightened the emotional ambiance. It was simply good to take heed to, truthfully. This sport is very polished, as nicely. All the things seems and feels nice, and I can’t recall a single bug from my complete run. 

It’s darkest earlier than the daybreak

Proper from the beginning, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist makes it clear within the type of some prolonged content material warnings that it’s going to be pertaining to some fairly darkish subject material, and let me inform you, I’m glad it did – this sport doesn’t pull its punches. I used to be happy that any darkness that’s included, although, just isn’t gratuitous or there for the sake of constructing the title edgier. Mainly, the entire premise of the sport is that this colony of individuals has come all this manner by means of house and landed in a precarious place on this new planet the place they don’t know whether or not they’re going to make it or not.

 It is smart that they’d encounter some harrowing conditions, however what makes I Was a Teenage Exocolonist actually shine is the way it makes use of these difficulties to mirror on the characters, their relationships, and finally what it’s prefer to proceed dwelling on within the face of life-altering adversity.

Contemplating the time we reside in now, the place a lot of our lives are on-line and we are able to all really feel so distant, there was one thing actually highly effective a few story that centered on a small, tight-knit group that has to work collectively within the face of an ever-present existential menace. Whether or not it’s from an absence of sources, difficulties adjusting to the ecosystem of their new dwelling planet, or straight-up assaults from each inside and outside forces, there’s by no means some extent on this sport the place it feels just like the colony can solely breathe a sigh of aid.

It’s actually a troublesome situation to think about, however I can’t deny the sense of hopefulness I felt in partaking in actions in the neighborhood that have been a transparent profit to the remainder of the group at giant, whether or not it was digging round within the greenhouses, serving to out within the kitchens, or aiding within the med bay. It was refreshing and truthfully fairly grounding to have such a tangible, useful impact on a fictional group when in the true world, having an influence on something actually substantial feels out of attain.

Concerning colonialism

In fact, the sport’s narrative additionally touches on the “colonist” a part of this entire endeavor. Clearly, colonialism on Earth has its personal darkish historical past (one thing the sport additionally acknowledges), however I Was a Teenage Exocolonist leaves it as much as the participant to resolve what they make of individuals from Earth staking their declare on a planet that’s not their very own. This determination is made barely simpler as a consequence of the truth that the colony solely actually encounters animals/bugs/crops versus, from what they’re able to confirm, totally sentient beings, but it surely’s nonetheless a key piece of the sport’s story. 

There’s an attention-grabbing query to be explored about how a lot destruction of nature may be justified within the title of survival, which I believe is at all times related as we’re a species that not solely depend on nature to outlive however has rotated and exploited it as means to our personal egocentric ends. You possibly can most likely guess the place I landed within the sport’s political divide – no matter the place you fall, this sport presents an attention-grabbing strategy to discover matters like this in a simulated atmosphere, and one which challenges you to return at its story with a distinct perspective on every playthrough.

In conclusion

I do know that is excessive reward, but it surely’s deserved – this sport jogs my memory numerous Disco Elysium. In truth, it appears like I Was a Teenage Exocolonist noticed Disco Elysium, discovered from it, and put its personal spin on the closely text-based RPG in a manner that actually strikes the style ahead. Don’t let the cutesy characters and artwork type idiot you – this must be one of the well-told and built-in RPG tales I’ve seen in an excellent whereas. I do know that is partially as a result of I must play extra RPGs, however the level right here is that this sport is one for the historical past books.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a sport to get misplaced in, from its heartbreaking, hopeful storytelling to its partaking gameplay. I believe it’s a disgrace that this title most likely didn’t get as a lot widespread recognition because it deserves, as a result of it has to have one of the touching tales about what it means to be human that I’ve seen in video games. I’m so thrilled that this title is supposed to be performed on a loop, as a result of it’s a sport I’m wanting ahead to returning to, and studying from, repeatedly.