Alone With You - TorontoGameDevs Review
/Alone With puts you in the not to distant future as the last crew member of a mission gone horrible wrong. You're on a mysterious and dangerous planet that your crew was trying to terraform but due to an incident, you're left as the only survivor. Well, the only human survivor, as your computer A.I. companion has also "survived" and will help guide you through the journey of escaping the planet.
The cast of character doesn't end there though. While you are the only one left on the planet, that doesn't mean you won't be interacting with other people. The A.I. has set up a holograph where you get to interact with four important characters; Winnie Laurier the communications expert, Jean Lumumba the Resource Manager, Pierre Tong the director of the terraforming project, and Leslie Bharadwaj who managed the living plants and food. These characters are long dead but you help piece together their last days, while they help you equip your spaceship with the tools needed to get home. It's a strange and fascinating mechanic that has you building relationships with characters that aren't even alive, or real.
Eventually you start to learn more about these characters, their thoughts and feelings towards other crew members, as well as what they were doing up to their dying breath. It's an odd feeling to build a connection with a character, and then remember it's not real. Or perhaps it is? Alone With You doesn't hold back on the open ended questions of whether or not feelings are weird.
Along With You builds relationships with characters that are not even alive.
Gameplay-wise, Alone With You is similar to Benjamin Rivers previous game Home, while taking some important steps forward. There is no combat, instead the player is left to wander the desolate planet while scanning items, solving puzzles, and piecing together what happened to the mission and its people. After finishing a section of the planet, you head back to the central hub where your A.I. companion will set up the holochamber to let you "talk" to a deceased member of the team who can help you repair the escape ship using their specific skills.
As far as the music and graphics are concerned the game is great, and they set the atmosphere really well. The pixel art shines in a lot of areas, and the ambient noise helps drive home the loneliness theme. Loneliness plays a big part in Alone With You, and Benjamin Rivers has done a great job using the look and sound of the game to constantly remind you you're the only one left alive. There is also some great Resident Evil vibes going, such as seeing the door in first person as you walk in between areas.
Solve puzzles and piece together what has happened to the terraforming project.
Trophy-wise the game has some really clever ones, a lot of missable that will require multiple playthroughs though. Considering the game is about 4-5 hours with branching conversation paths this isn't a huge deal, but worth mention for any other trophy hunters out there.
While not as open ended of an ending as Benjamin Rivers earlier game Home, Alone With You gives you an exceptional story about love, and loneliness, with gameplay that gives you a little more than your traditional visual novel.
