Always Sometimes Monsters

Always Sometimes Monsters is an independent RPG for PC, AND and iOS in which we assume the role of a completely ordinary protagonist who, being ahead of a life curve, tries to stop his love from marrying the wrong person. The game was developed by a debuting Canadian studio called Vagabond Dog which received an award for their project at PAX Prime and PAX East.

Plot

The action takes place in the contemporary world and the protagonist, whose gender the players can chose, is a terribly unlucky person who find themselves at bottom in an instant. Not having a single penny, they are thrown out by the greedy landlord which puts a question mark over their further artistic career. Moreover, they find out that the love of their life intends to marry somebody else. Having nothing to lose, the protagonist embarks on a journey from the East to the West Coast of the United States in hopes of stopping their beloved one from marrying a different person. Will they be able to regain the love lost and how much will they have to sacrifice to change their life for the better?

Mechanics

Starting out, we create a character by setting her race, gender, and sexual orientation. Although our choices will have a significant influence on the course of the game, in Always Sometimes Monsters we won’t see any combat. The essence of the title is interacting with encountered non-player characters, all of whom have their individual character, preferences, and prejudices and hence will treat us according to their own whims. During 30 days in life of the protagonist—this is how long one playthrough spans—we have to make a series of difficult decisions that will have a direct or an indirect impact on the hero’s/heroine’s fate and the game’s ending. Our primary weapons is empathy, our biggest enemy is indecision.

Technical aspects

As far as graphics are concerned, Always Sometimes Monsters for PC, AND and iOS is a representative of the indie stream. Therefore, it features somewhat old-school two-dimensional graphics that resemble simple titles known from Nintendo handheld consoles. We observe the on-screen events from a camera placed at a 45-degree angle.

Last updated on 01 June 2015