I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a 2022 role-playing video game developed by Northway Games and published by Finji. The player starts the game as a ten year old, going through events that affect the colony until the game ends when they turn twenty. The game released on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in August 2022.
| I Was a Teenage Exocolonist | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Northway Games |
| Publisher(s) | Finji |
| Designer(s) | Sarah Northway Colin Northway |
| Artist(s) | Meilee Chao |
| Engine | Unity[1] |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | August 25, 2022 |
| Genre(s) | Visual novel, role-playing, simulation, strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
editWhen the player starts Exocolonist, they can customize their character, picking traits that affect the rest of the game alongside choosing a childhood friend. The game takes place in years, with players having to choose an activity to do each month. These can include learning about the military or traveling to places other than the main hub. Players engage in a card mini-game that determines stat increases during each of these activities. The player acquires cards through events, each of which is a "memory" with a unique skill bonus associated with it. These stat increases open up new options or make it easier to win the card game.
Outside of that, players can make decisions that determine if characters live or die depending on the activity they chose. The player can build friendships with other colonists by giving them gifts or doing activities with them, which opens up the possibly for romance. At the end of the character's twentieth year, the game comes to a close. While replaying the game, the player can make new choices using knowledge gained from prior playthroughs.[2]
Plot
editAfter events on Earth led it to be difficult to inhabit, a group of colonists built a ship and set course to a wormhole to take them to Vertumna IV. The player starts on the Stratospheric, which soon after reaches the wormhole. The player grows dizzy and falls into a coma.
When they awake, the ship has been disassembled into a colony with different departments for the player to learn and gain skills from.
Midway through the game, the colony is nearly destroyed by an alien, and a new militaristic group from Earth arrives to take control. Towards the end of the game, the player has the option of outing the military leader and stopping the takeover of Vertumna by other colonizers, or letting them remain.
Development
editThe game started development in 2017. A developer noted that an important part of the early years was making sure "the characters feel natural, and giving you gameplay hooks to hold on to while interacting with them". The game's focus around giving the player impactful decisions to make was enabled by "thousands of conditional statements" to ensure that it could adapt. Exocolonist's story consists of eight hundred events that can be triggered on and off depending if the player has met certain requirements. The early game deaths were presented without much foreshadowing and drama to capture how a ten-year old experiences loss.[3] The game's dialogue system was built in a custom scripting system known as Exoscript.[4] The game uses a mix of 3D objects and 2D billboards that face the camera to give depth to scenes.[5]
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | NS: 83/100 PC: 91/100 PS5: 83/100 |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 9.5/10 |
| Nintendo Life | 7/10 |
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist received "generally favorable reviews" on Switch and PS5, and "universal acclaim" on PC according to review aggregator Metacritic.[6][7][8]
Destructoid liked the memories system, saying it worked both as a gameplay mechanic, "but also mimics how our memories work in real life quite beautifully".[9] Nintendo Life enjoyed the art style, but criticized how the story lacked consequences, "Apparent jeopardy is usually overcome straightforwardly, and when our choices did seem to have gone badly wrong, the consequences just evaporated".[10] Polygon praised the game's approach to gender, liking how "your character’s gender expression can be changed at any point in the game, and it doesn’t affect who you can romance".[11]
Accolades
edit| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Golden Joystick Awards | Best Storytelling | Nominated | [12] |
| The Game Awards 2022 | Games for Impact | Nominated | [13] | |
| 2023 | 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Story | Nominated | [14] |
| 23rd Game Developers Choice Awards | Best Narrative | Nominated | [15] | |
| Social Impact Award | Nominated | |||
| Independent Games Festival | Excellence in Narrative | Nominated | [16] | |
| Excellence in Visual Arts | Honorable mention | |||
| British Academy Games Awards | Game Beyond Entertainment | Nominated | [17] | |
| GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Video Game | Nominated | [18] | |
| Canadian Screen Awards | Best Video Game | Won | [19] | |
| Games For Change Awards | Best Gameplay | Won | [20] |
References
edit- ^ Saver, Michael (2022-12-27). "Made with Unity: 2022 in review". Unity Technologies. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
- ^ "I Was a Teenage Exocolonist explores how kids absorb politics". Digital Trends. 2022-08-30. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ ""I Wanted The Player To Feel Stunned And Powerless" - Death And Memory In Finji's Deckbuilding Timeloop RPG". Nintendo Life. 2022-08-15. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ Northway, Sarah (2022-08-31). "Deep Dive: I Was A Teenage Exocolonist's scripting language Exoscript". Game Developer. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ Northway, Sarah (2022-08-25). "Deep Dive: Optimizing the visuals of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist". Game Developer. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ "I Was a Teenage Exocolonist". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2023-05-03. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ^ "I Was a Teenage Exocolonist". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ^ "I Was a Teenage Exocolonist". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ^ "Review: I Was a Teenage Exocolonist". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ "Review: I Was A Teenage Exocolonist – Beautiful, Generous, And Too Nice For Its Own Good". Nintendo Life. 2022-08-25. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ Clark, Nicole (2022-11-04). "The best time loop game of 2022 is a teen sci-fi gem". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ Loveridge, Sam (2022-11-22). "Here are all the Golden Joystick Awards 2022 winners". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 2022-11-25. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- ^ Romano, Sal (November 14, 2022). "The Game Awards 2022 nominees announced". Gematsu. Archived from the original on November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
- ^ Kim, Matt (12 January 2023). "26th Annual DICE Awards Game of the Year Nominees Announced". IGN. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ Mejia, Ozzie (2023-01-26). "Elden Ring & Stray lead Game Developers Choice Awards 2023 nominees". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 2023-01-27. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
- ^ Mejia, Ozzie (2023-01-24). "Independent Games Festival Awards 2023 finalists revealed". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 2023-01-28. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
- ^ "2023 BAFTA Games Awards: The Nominations". BAFTA. 2 March 2023. Archived from the original on 2 March 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
- ^ Complex, Valerie (January 18, 2023). "GLAAD Announces Nominees For The 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 18, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
- ^ Jenna Benchetrit, "Brother dominates with a dozen wins on third night of Canadian Screen Awards" Archived 2023-04-14 at the Wayback Machine. CBC News, April 13, 2023.
- ^ "Awards Nominee Overview".