D+PAD Magazine writes:
‘Out with old and in with the new’ is obviously not an adage to which game creator Mike Blithell and composer David Housden – developers of abstract PC platformer, Thomas Was Alone – pay much heed. Their game, a labour of love that started life as a Flash prototype knocked up by the former, veritably embraces the old, relishing in minimalist Atari 2600 inspired visuals and near-lack of anything that you could call ‘character animation’. In fact, you would be forgiven for thinking that many of the game’s assets were placeholders awaiting a time when they would be replaced with the googly-eyed sprites that are so synonymous with the platforming genre. Playing the game in its fully realised form, however, it is hard not to be impressed with how Thomas Was Alone straddles a golden era from videogames’ past and modern game design concepts (most notably in the use of ever-present narration).Through this – and some fiendish spatial puzzling – it explores the relat...
A number of new deals are up and running on the North American Switch eShop. These include 80’s Overdrive, Assassin’s Creed III: Remastered, Spice and Wolf VR, Thomas Was Alone, and more.
As it’s a package from 2013 of a game that reportedly sold a million copies, you probably already know if you need to get Thomas Was Alone. If you haven’t played it and you have a Switch then you absolutely must get the demo – right away, no excuses. Its playful elucidation of how games work shouldn't be missed by anyone interested in the medium. The full game gives you a few hours of good platforming with great presentation and a well-told story. And as an artefact of its era of indie games, Thomas Was Alone is a delight. The game can be experienced start-to-finish in a few short sessions and Bithell’s commentary provides a sort of meta-narration to motivate another playthrough if you haven’t heard it before. In short, Thomas Was Alone was pretty great when it came out, it’s held up well and now it’s on your Switch.
WTMG's Leo Faria: "I thought Thomas Was Alone was just going to be yet another pretentious indie darling, but I’m glad to know I was dead wrong. It’s not only a well-designed puzzle platformer with good controls, but also a story-driven treat for the eyes and ears, a game that will make you care about a bunch of moving rectangles, somehow. It might not be very replayable (actually, let’s double down on this: it’s devoid of replayability), but it’s still pretty fun while it lasts. No matter where you decide to play it – and believe me, there are tons of platforms to choose – this game is worth experiencing at least once."
Any game that can make you care about basic shapes is doing something right IMHO.
