Most great games end up taking their direction down one of two routes. The first gives you a game with amazing gameplay and mechanics, but a somewhat lacklustre storyline which isn’t that memorable. The second route gives you an amazing story and narrative, but generally doesn’t have the best execution of gameplay mechanics.
Always Sometimes Monsters takes neither of these routes.In Always Sometimes Monsters, the story is the main mechanic. It’s all about choice, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
You are a character, a writer on the brink of failure, living in a city. Your rent is overdue, your publisher is about to drop you, and you’re suffering from a severe case of a broken heart. Apart from this, the circumstances you find yourself in are all yours to choose in some fashion, and that’s something I love about the title.
The way in which choices are made is subtle and interesting, and genuinely something we haven’t seen before. As an example, the first choices you make are who you are and who your partner is, and it’s done by walking around a party as a publisher, talking to a variety of different potential writers. The character you have a drink with becomes the player. Following this, you, as your newly-created character, goes out to to the balcony to find your partner. Again, you can talk to a variety of people, and at the end of each conversation you can either reply “He’s waiting on me”, or “He’s waiting on us”. Once you have your partner, you write a card for the publisher’s birthday, and sign it, choosing your character’s names.
It’s as simple as that. Dynamic and intuitive, it puts you into the character and forces you to make choices without fully understanding the repercussions, leading to a truly personal experience.
Because of this, despite the lack of combat I’d argue that Always Sometimes Monsters is a true RPG. You have a role, you become that character and make day-to-day decisions on behalf of that character, which can lead to vastly different outcomes.
There are no wrong choices; Some will kill you and end the experience, but they’re still an option. Hell, you can die at the first possible choice, but it’s still a legitimate choice. There is no game over screen, only the credits.
As you would probably expect, every choice you make has consequences, even though they may not become apparent for hours. Even your most basic, instinctive choices; race, gender and sexuality, can effect how other characters react to you. On my second play-through, playing as a female previously in a same-sex relationship, I noted that the old lady down the hall always referred to my ex as my “room-mate”, whilst others outwardly accepted the romantic nature of the relationship. This was in stark contrast to my first game, where I played a straight character, highlighting the still-prevalent otherness of alternative relationship experiences, especially within older generations. The game doesn’t try to define you by your sexual preference, gender and race, but makes it part of the narrative and personalises the experience. It treads the line between normalising difference and highlighting it, but it does so really well.
Throughout the 8 or so hours it’ll take you to finish the game you’ll find that this is a very mature game. Commenting on issues from gender dysphoria to depression and substance abuse, it’s constantly too close to reality for comfort whilst showing respect for and understanding of the subject matter. You will constantly be judged for your decisions but only really in shades of grey. Often, there is no “Good” choice, only lesser evils, tying into the well-considered title and the notion that we are all sometimes monsters, just trying to make our way in the world.
People will get hurt and things won’t always go the way you hope. In my game I tried my best to get the love of my life back. I tried to do the right thing when possible, only taking the lower road when desperation took hold, but in the end I was unable to win her heart. That’s just the way it goes, and I love the fact that failure is an option and a legitimate end to the story.
Graphically, ASM has a simple but effective aesthetic, reminding me of older top-down 2D J-RPG’s, which blends mature themes and dark concepts with the cutesy look you would expect. The music is also pretty good, albeit a repetitive loop, but it could be said to augment the feeling of life-long monotony?…
All in all, I loved my time with Always Sometimes Monsters. It’s bright and accessible with a few fun mini-games, but full of dark and mature themes and meaningful choices. It’s easy to get deeply involved in the story, and it’s definitely worth a look if you like heavily narrative-led experiences.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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