Ctrl Alt Ego

I don't know what to say besides that it's a fantastic indie immersive sim, so I'll just talk about the main mechanic and gameplay which is what I'd consider its selling point. The main game mechanic of the game is being able to transfer your ego onto objects and other robots, leaving your "physical body" (=Bug 22, the main robot you control and upgrade throughout the game) behind. This way, you can bounce around numerous rooms just controlling select objects and progressing the game through a whole different perspective. Taking over hostile robots in this way does require you to spend EGO, the main "currency" of the game, which you obtain through scavenging containers, taking over friendly objects, or smashing bots to bits. The skills that you can obtain throughout the game vary from flying to, vacuum cleaner, grenade, shotgun, invisibility, generating objects to making hostile enemies and objects unstable, causing explosion on contact. True to immersive sims, there are multiple solutions to progressing throughout the game and death in general isn't really punishing so it's difficult to really get stuck. (If all else fails, upgrade vacuum cleaner skill). Anyway, it's a really fun game that I recommend fans of immersive sims to try out!

Such an original and interesting game - should be getting way more attention - gems like this don't come along very often. For balance: Some questionable aesthetic choices. Some very wild physics. Took me a while to acclimatize. But it is so worth it... because the gameplay is on another level. And the aesthetics and clunky robots very soon end up making complete sense. Most modern immersive sims are RPG/FPS/Stealth games with immersive sim elements, but this one is like the other way round - it's an immersive sim heart-and-soul and the RPG/FPS/Stealth elements are the add-ons. The story initially seems thin but ends up deeeeep. The game knows when to ramp things up to the next level, re-inventing itself in all manner of creative ways as you progress. A true indie GOTY contender. Buy it!

Interesting game taking cues from The Sentinel. Gameplay invites you to either go explore using one of several robots you can control, but also frequently allows you to navigate through parts of the game without actually lugging a body around. The game is very physics based, at times almost encouraging you to break the physics of the game to your advantage. At times this works a bit to its detriment, making it a bit wonky to navigate around. I was a bit surprised at the length of the game. First pleasantly, but nearing the end it was starting to wear out its welcome. Apparently there's also a procedurally generated mission generator which I have yet to play with. In summary: If you want to have interesting mechanics rarely seen, some good geek humour and a sandbox like game with some challenges in navigation, this is a great game. If you prefer a traditional FPS, or much more in the way of content than 10ish types of actors and items, you might want to look elsewhere. All in all, great experience from a 2 man development team. Frequently adding updates.

It's a bit hard for me to name games to directly compare Ctrl Alt Ego to, but when it comes to the feeling it's gameplay (though not its style or story!) evokes, I'm most reminded of the old Thief games or Deus Ex, in the best possible way. Just like in those titles, most missions could be solved by just barging through, but the real fun lies in exploring every nook and cranny of a map and finding new solutions to get past enemies. You could just get a shotgun upgrade and fire at an enemy bot, but you could also use your telekinesis power to shift an armed mine in its path, or crawl into the vents above it to drop the vent cover on the bot's head. Learn to teleport, or just turn invisible and sneak past. Hold a crate in front of you so it doesn't sense you. Take over a harmless "pup" bot and use that to explore. Take over a serializer bot, slurp up a heavy item, then spawn it above other enemies to crush them. Or don't bother going past the enemy in physical form at all and hop your way through door locks, security cams and random possessable electronics until you find your target that way. It all feels very loose and free with no "right" solution to any given situation. For maximum fun, I'd recommend using the Load function only sparsely and just going with the flow of whatever mess happens! The possession mechanic is, of course, the central element and synergizes best with a stealthy approach. It serves as a puzzle solution, as a means of saving, of scouting ahead, of recovering after your current vessel is destroyed and also as a way to fast travel. Where in other games you might have to backtrack, here, any previous location in the level is just a hop away. Overall, I had great fun with this game and if any of the above mentioned appeals to you, I can heartily recommend it!

One of, if not, THE BEST immersive simulators ever made. The main gimmick of being a disembodied ego makes the different ways you can "solve" a level is so interesting to me. My personal playstyle for the first half of the game was using anything that wasen't BUG 22 to try and progress. But as you explore the crevices of the map and collect more worms, making BUG 22 more powerful, by god do they become a beast. Every room makes you think outside of the box in a truly amazing way.