Thomas Was Alone: Simple, but brilliant

Thomas was alone is a simple puzzle platformer made by Mike Bithell and originally released as an online browser game in 2010 and re-released on other patforms in 2013 and 2014.

Featuring a stunning narration by Stephen Merchant or "an idiot abroad" the game revels in simplicity. It seems to strive to show other developers that graphical complexity isn't what makes a good game, and with Metacritic giving the pc version of the game 80/100 it seems to accomplish that task quite nicely.

Visually, Thomas was alone is one of my personal favourite games, there's just something about the way the shadows form gorgeous fractals as i slowly wind my way through the snake like levels that just seems to send me into a near meditative state. The kind of state where minutes pass like seconds, hours like minutes and all of a sudden its 4am and im still playing.

But the games visual style is not the only thing that sets it apart from the herd, its emotional captivity is something that has to be experienced to be understood. Somehow the game makes us fall in love with these little coloured blocks, giving them whole personalities, internal struggles, and even a romance or two along the way. All while never giving them their own voices, simply through Stephen Merchants beautiful narration of their inner monologues.

Thomas was alone conveys a fantastic style of humour through its narration, for example when one of the characters known as Claire, arrives on the scene, Merchants narration immediately switches to her inner monologue, at which point she discovers that she can float in water, that the main threat of the game cannot harm her. This causes her to believe that she is a superhero. Right away she tries to come up with a superhero name and refers to Thomas as her sidekick.

The games puzzle design is brilliant, forming complex puzzles and challenges from the simplest of mechanics. The core mechanic is as simple as it gets. Jump... That's it, the characters can jump. The player is able to switch between which of the characters they are controlling at any one time, and through that can use this jumping to great effect. For example at one point in the game the player has to cross a pool of water, as we know the superhero Claire can float in the water. Where as any of the others die immediately on contact with it. In order to solve the puzzle the player must JUMP Claire into the water, JUMP the other characters onto her back, move along, then JUMP back out again.

Finally I would like to recommend this game, it's a must play for any gamer that likes puzzles, or deep emotional stories, or humour, or beautiful artwork. Or just games really.

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