''Always Sometimes Monsters'' is a 2014

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by Canadian studio Vagabond Dog and published by

Devolver Digital Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wil ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. A later update using the

MonoGame MonoGame is a free and open source C# framework used by game developers to make games for multiple platforms and other systems. It is also used to make Windows and Windows Phone games run on other systems. It supports iOS, iPadOS, Android, m ...

framework brought the game to

OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

on 8 January 2015,

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

on 28 May 2015 and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

on 10 October 2017. After Vagabond Dog acquired the publishing rights to the game, a port to the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

were released. The game puts players in the role of an author who receives notice that the love of their life is marrying someone else across the country within a month. After being evicted from their apartment on the east coast, players then head to the west coast in order to intercept the wedding and win back the love they lost.

Gameplay

As the game starts, players are introduced to their character through a narrative sequence that allows the selection of their character and love interest. The player's relationship with their love interest can be both straight or gay, depending on their choice. From there, the game begins its narrative, told through text windows supported by character portraits. Players make choices in dialogue and in action to alter the course of the story and change the fate of their protagonist. Players can walk around to explore city environments, interact with NPCs, and find the means to earn money so they may progress to the next location. This often means taking repetitive odd jobs for low pay, or compromising a concept of morality. The game plays out over a span of 30 in-game days, with time progressing through morning, day, and night as activities and events are completed. Choosing how to spend time during the journey is a key component of the game, as some options disable others.

Reception

The PlayStation 4 version received "favourable" reviews, while the PC and iOS versions received "mixed or average reviews" according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

Sequel

A sequel, '' Sometimes Always Monsters'', was announced on 13 August 2015. Although announced for 2016, it was eventually released on 2 April 2020 for Windows.

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, Video games 2014 video games Android (operating system) games Devolver Digital games Indie games IOS games LGBTQ-related video games Linux games MacOS games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Role-playing video games RPG Maker games Single-player video games Video games about homelessness Video games developed in Canada Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Windows games