In a video game world full of detailed and charming characters a new one, a blocky and red one, has been born out of accidental artificial intelligence: A simple rectangle called Thomas that developed a conciousness. Despite his basic appearance he's watching and feeling the surroundings as he's skirting and jumping about, with a narrator explaining the funny and often deep thoughts. Since Thomas WAS alone, lots of new characters appear eventually, different in shape, size, and color, with special skills but also handicaps, and each with a different personality.

With a humorous narrative and a curious story, Thomas Was Alone is a fresh puzzle platformer that mixes classic elements, character-switch gameplay and artsy bits. Beginners get introduced gently with every gameplay mechanic explained in tutorial-like stages and it never gets too difficult thanks to simple controls: just moving left/right, jumping, and switching characters. You also get a fair amount of checkpoints. The goal in each level is to reach the exit. With 120 stages (each stage is freely selectable once unlocked) there's lots of variety to be found, as the plot thickens within. New characters, hazards and challenges appear all the way through, so it never gets old. Most stages are relatively short, and the bigger ones don't drag on for too long either. Progress is saved automatically after each stage.


Graphics and music are good enough for what they try to accomplish and easy on the eyes. Very simplistic but mostly well designed black blocky environments with some futuristic dreamy backgrounds. Calm and ethereal melodies or soothing ambient electronic pieces that change every 10 stages add to the atmosphere greatly. There is an online leaderboard for friends to compete in time trials for every stage. And you can turn on an audio commentary to hear about the development process and other interesting tidbits from creator Mike Bithell.

The TV screen is mirrored on the GamePad. The game can be played with GamePad or Wii U Pro Controller at the same time. It’s not completely flawless though. There’s framerate hiccup now and then, and I also encountered a music glitch where you need to close and restart the game to make it stop.

Thomas Was Alone is recommended for all puzzle and platformfans, and people who like art design and storytelling combined to something freakishly deep.

SKTTRSKORE: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8/10