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Thomas Was Alone

Developer / Publisher: Mike Bithell
30 June 2012
Thomas Was Alone - cover art
Glitchwave rating
3.06 / 5.0
0.5
5.0
 
 
427 Ratings / 4 Reviews
#2,611 All-time
#112 for 2012
A red rectangle named Thomas finds himself alone in an abstract world of jumps, puzzles and exit portals.
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A narração é bem legal, os puzzles, engajantes. Emociona com personagens que são, literalmente, formas geométricas.

Mas se isso é impressionante a certo ponto, na prática o seu estilo artístico acaba cansando.
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gabrielctps 2021-08-04T04:11:12Z
2021-08-04T04:11:12Z
3.0
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Thomas Was Alone is a puzzle platformer involving a group of various quadrilaterals each with different properties and jumping ability. The graphics are simplistic, the game-play can vary and the story is definitely interesting.

In terms of story, the squares and rectangles are supposed to be AI that have developed awareness and personalities. The game is narrated, and as you progress, you learn more about the individuals. You start out as Thomas, a small red rectangle who is initially alone, but obviously finds other A.I.s and they assist each other through the levels. Next comes Chris, who is a small orange square with weak jumping ability but he can fit through small holes. Laura the pink rectangle can be used as a bouncy platform. Tall yellow rectangle, John has a superior jumping ability. Green rectangle James uses inverse gravity and walks on ceilings. Large blue square Claire can float in water. Sarah is a tiny purple square that can double jump.

You control one character at a time and can switch between them at will. The puzzle element usually comes in the form of re-arranging your party to form stairs for characters with weak jumping ability to climb up. Later on, other obstacles such as water, spikes, and switches which transform levels are all introduced, and a bit of planning is needed. The aim of each level is to guide each character to their designated marked location.

A small amount of levels are very clever, but often the difficulty completely drops and you are presented with extremely simplistic levels which don't require much thought. This can happen quite randomly but is often done to introduce new characters. However, it takes a bit too long for the difficulty to get back up to what it was. Therefore, the majority of levels end up being very bland and some are just plain insulting. It becomes a chore when you see the solution almost instantly, or there is a solution repeated several times such as stairs (small character jumps on larger character then jumps onto platform, repeat 5 times). It is easy to plough through the game and it only lasts a meagre 3 hours and doesn't really offer replay value.

Despite the characters being shapes, their personality is well developed, and the narration adds a lot of charm but sadly, the ending is a huge anti-climax and features a extremely bland level rather than an epic challenge. It's not a completely terrible game, but it's definitely not good enough to rave about.
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CaptainClam 2019-07-27T17:22:00Z
2019-07-27T17:22:00Z
2.0
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This is another one of those Indie art games where there is an abstract story with abstract objects representing deep philosophical things, you basically control different blocks and use them to solve puzzles across different Worlds, most of the puzzles are fairly easy but there are maybe 10 or so that do require a decent amount of thinking. The game mostly plays itself and there isn't much value once you beat the game. Its a fun game to go through a single time but again, like most Indie games it has little value and its not on the level of brilliance as say Journey or Binding of Isaac.
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jweber14 2017-07-21T22:49:52Z
2017-07-21T22:49:52Z
3.5
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Evolved from the original flash game published in 2010, Mike Bithell developed a "fuller" version of Thomas Was Alone in 2012; a game that would showcase more ambition than actual substance.
The DIA's major gimmick is Bithell's creative coupling of plain narration over plain gameplay, which succeeds in completely altering the emotional tone of the game to potent degrees of humor and drama. This would not be so impressive if it were not for the game's stripped-down animation lowering your expectations; the graphics are "bare-bone" to say the least. Sure, there are tricks of shadows and lighting here and there, but the game's visuals are made up of squares and... not much else.
It should be said though, Mike Bithell isn't that interesting of a writer. He imitates the playfulness of personalizing his characters in a way that's reminiscent of Douglas Adams, but other than that the "deeper" context of the story is confused and weakly presented throughout. Levels are divided into segments tailoring an explanation of a bigger story in-between which is something about the first case of coded AI programs becoming sentient and self-aware (what your characters represent) and taking over the corporation of programmers' computers; but all in all the greatest delight there is in Thomas Was Alone is its coloration of some blocks we didn't ever expect to characterize and feel an affection for; not some fictional breakthrough in science fiction.
Nonetheless Danny Wallace's work as the story's personable narrator beautifully makes up for the boring background plot; he gives every character the voice they need with just the right delivery to invoke personality.
The puzzle-design is alright, but as I said, what's most inspiring is the game's narration contrasting with the visuals: it provides some interesting ideas as to how players engage with an interactive experience, how vividly context changes everything.
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ZeeDDD65 2017-04-20T16:27:35Z
2017-04-20T16:27:35Z
6.0 /10
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Squares and circles
Thomas was alone is a puzzle platformer that an interesting story and some cool puzzles without ever being too hard. You have to coordinate the unique abilities of several shapes in order to reach your objective. The game is narrated in a charming way, and it marks the game in the same way that Bastion was marked by its narrator.

The game is a bit on the short side, and the story does end abruptly, but i enjoyed all the way through it
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Threntall 2016-11-28T00:09:23Z
2016-11-28T00:09:23Z
3.0
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Catalog

ThatDomino Thomas Was Alone 2024-03-02T01:14:04Z
2024-03-02T01:14:04Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
CombinedOcean Thomas Was Alone 2024-03-01T19:53:17Z
2024-03-01T19:53:17Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Yorios Thomas Was Alone 2024-02-26T15:32:05Z
2024-02-26T15:32:05Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Brett11102 Thomas Was Alone 2024-02-23T18:35:56Z
2024-02-23T18:35:56Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
noodleflyrevolution Thomas Was Alone 2024-02-18T02:10:12Z
2024-02-18T02:10:12Z
3.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Fujijimo Thomas Was Alone 2024-02-14T04:52:09Z
2024-02-14T04:52:09Z
1.0
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
mph Thomas Was Alone 2024-02-06T06:07:54Z
2024-02-06T06:07:54Z
1.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
JAC29 Thomas Was Alone 2024-02-05T19:09:06Z
2024-02-05T19:09:06Z
3.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Giann96 Thomas Was Alone 2024-01-23T01:06:37Z
PS3 / PS Vita / PS4
2024-01-23T01:06:37Z
5.0 /10
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
JayHampton Thomas Was Alone 2024-01-22T02:40:25Z
2024-01-22T02:40:25Z
3.0
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
walrys11 Thomas Was Alone 2024-01-21T09:18:17Z
2024-01-21T09:18:17Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
ibubobubo Thomas Was Alone 2024-01-20T14:15:43Z
2024-01-20T14:15:43Z
2.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
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Single-player
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  • xx_ludis 2021-07-30 10:36:57.231949+00
    hide Removed by mod
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  • algo42 2022-11-12 18:06:16.270061+00
    hide Removed by mod
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  • DavidthePearce 2022-11-26 20:04:38.77194+00
    the funniest indie game according to 2012 redditors (derogatory)
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  • rock_time 2022-12-16 07:34:11.534074+00
    goat alert goat alert goat alert goat alert goat alert goat alert goat alert goat alert
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  • GatorThyMe 2022-12-29 15:42:20.144104+00
    This game is a 9/10-- its soundtrack is an 11/10-- I don't like the actual game very much, but the music is some of my favorite music ever made that just so happens to come with a mostly unengaging puzzle game.
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  • skylukewalker99 2023-11-28 19:50:21.360686+00
    awful game, irritating soundtrack, british narration, bad gameplay, etc
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