I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

I couldn't put it down for 6 hours straight, wow. Very immersive and memorable experience. I just secretly wish your parents and character were customizable from the start. Other than that, no complains. Incredibly unique. Definitely a must-play.

This is technically more of a "Meh" rating (Steam really needs to add that). The gameplay was solid, certainly. And the story choices are complex, with multiple endings. But the story itself is where it falls apart. Really depressing, as in, there is no outcome that goes well. Your jolly little colony forming soon turns to constant disease, violence, abusive authorities, child deaths, etc. Like, it's not super-ultra grimdark, but if I wanted to see a world where all that kind of crap constantly happens, I would just turn on the evening news. (Admittedly, my first and only run of the game, I've been told by fans was a solid kick in the teeth, as even they flinched at how bad it went. My guy watched his parents slowly die from starvation and disease, then his best friend dies from electrocution, then other adults die from monsters, then trouble arrives and kills more people. Then the new authorities execute half the colony in cold blood (including his other two friends), then his only surviving friend ends up in an abusive relationship, then my guy's girlfriend gets forced at gunpoint to make a virus that kills all life on this alien planet, then she dumps my guy over guilt for the virus, and her mentor commits suicide over guilt, and then my guy dies alone and miserable.) Like, geez... not a very good way to make a good first impression. And from what I've been told, it doesn't get all that much better in the other paths. That said, the only reason I went with a Thumbs Down, is because I'm really not motivated to give this another try after all that. I really wish Steam had a "Meh" rating. Like... I dunno. If you're into dark and moody, yeah, you'd be fine here. If you like miserable space colonies with a shocking body count, you'll probably like this. In any case, you probably should wait for a sale.

此游看这画风可爱，外星生物植物都长得很鲜艳好看，但故事真的有点不对劲jpg（褒义） 多周目的设计还蛮有意思的，几个特殊结局也都很好玩。最喜欢的部分可能是本作的浪漫线，选项比较反刻板印象，并不是对所有人都是在一样的浪漫关系模版里选一个看起来最对的选项，每个角色的关系具体要怎么选都有要参考到性格来反应才会有好感的发展，这一点很好啊！npc也会有自己的感情线，大家各自的取向也不一样，就算开了浪漫线也不一定在结局文本里会是一直绕着主角转的（？），体验比较立体，就很对我的胃口。。。。。

I realized I never left a review for this game, so it's time to rectify that: this game is incredible, an emotional and genuine and deeply relatable ride that instantly became dear to my heart, with gorgeous art and unique, complex, well-realized characters that I will never forget. If you love good stories, please play this game.

I've sat on this review for what feels like ages, debating whether or not to post it, but here we are. After playing through the game several times, I'm gonna TL;DR and say that, no, I wouldn't suggest it unless you like LOTS of toxic behaviors and relationships, unfulfilling romances, meh stories, and frustrating endings. Finishing the game gave me the same general sense of distaste and discomfort you get when you finish a book that went totally sideways and you held out hope until the last few chapters that it'd suddenly pull up from the nose dive, but it ended in a crash and burn and you're left wondering what the heck you even just read. Except in this one, you're supposed to re-read it. Over and over. I will say, however, that the idea itself and basic theme is very interesting, and one that seems to be pretty popular right now - reincarnation, in a way, and retaining some memories of previous lives that (can) affect you in the subsequent playthroughs. That plays out beneficially, especially if you failed hard through the first playthrough and didn't know which classes raise which skill. Slight spoiler here, but your first run is going to be frustrating - if you're going to try this game out, I suggest 2 playthroughs: once to get through all the teeth pulling, and the second to be able to avoid failure better. And the art's aesthetic is whimsical and pretty, so it's not hard on the eyes to have to replay in that aspect. On the classes, through: trying to figure out exactly which ones to pursue and play through to get specific endings, jobs, or pass certain checkpoints is truly a pain, as are what flags you have to hit and NOT hit (just as important) to get specific endings for characters or the world that you want. There are all sorts of guides available, but you have to follow them to a T, which for me removes all the fun of playing and only ends up possibly scratching the completionist itch in finishing off the achievements - which as you can see I gave up on in favor of just being done with this game. The card game idea instituted is honestly the only thing that had me continuing to play it - it's simple and fun and reminds me of all the good parts of playing card games IRL but none of the unfortunate secondary aspects of IRL card games. It's fun to try to stack your cards with ridiculous combinations, to get your deck looking exactly as you want it, and to play through the game. By the third playthrough I was skipping past a lot for the card games. It truly is fun - kudos to whoever on the team balanced it. The plot itself isn't bad. The premise is, again, done a lot (which isn't necessarily bad), but it's done in a nice way, and you find that of the VERY few characters that are at least decently written, you end up liking pretty well. I feel like many scenes that were intended to be tough or tug your heartstrings ended up falling flat for me because most of the characters are uninteresting, or their whole identity is wrapped up in ideologies or aspects that I don't particularly relate to in any way. Every single character is gay or toxic in some way, and the only ones that inarguably AREN'T (at least, not written that way) is either an extreme pacifist, or is intentionally written as a villain, which was pretty off-putting. I love the addition of post-game details in any game - it's part of why you choose certain options, after all, to find out that your ally is going to be alright, or whatever - but the post-game scripts are all pretty unsatisfying or outright irritating, either for the characters or the different possible 'endings' you get on Vertumna. The only one that seemed truly 'good' to me after having suffered through nearly all the rest first ended the game instantly - with NO post-game descriptions like every other one, and then you get a finger wag when you reincarnate as you you're punished for choosing it. Which, you know, ouch. I hear that there is a bunch of modded content but I have not tried any of it. I'm pretty done with this whole game now and have little to no interest in ever playing it again... and that's alright. If you managed to make it to the end of this long-winded description and still want to play, more power to you. I, personally, get tired of feeling bamboozled by all the 'yas queen' comments and then play a game and it is seriously lacking, but if what I've described appeals to you, I genuinely hope you have fun playing it. A lot of care and effort goes into any artistic medium and, while it's certainly not my cup of tea, maybe it's yours.

Absolutely adore this game, on my first run through I was tempted to not pick it back up again for fear of it being repetitive but after finishing my 3rd playthrough I've run into so many new moments and endings I didn't expect at all. The art style is lovely, each character has distinct personalities and relationship events. Honestly my only complaint so far is I wish there was more cut scenes, and diverse dialogue with each character, and when you romance a character the dates get a little repetitive. (But I've heard there are mods where you can choose which date to go on) The story is a little hard to follow if you don't go exploring a lot so I recommend focusing on that as an early playthrough. Truly though, once you get past the hurdle of the first playthrough and you understand the concept a bit more the story sucks you in like crazy. (If you want to 100% the game though you will need to look at some guides cause a few of the endings are hard to reach if you don't know where to look.) I was also a little worried I wouldn't like the deck building aspect to it because I've never been a fan things like that but it's mostly mindless and pretty easy if you're looking to turn your brain off for a bit and just grind a skill. If you're looking for more of a challenge they also have a hard mode, or you can skip the card challenges all together. Overall great game highly recommend if you like choices-matter games, and things with a lot of story.

This game gives me feelings.