
A masterclass in rpg design, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist delivers an unforgettable experience from start to finish.
95
Verdict
96%
Steam
โ
IGDB
Verdict score based on confidence-adjusted Steam reviews?
Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (96% positive from 4.5K reviews)
Compelling narrative and story
Standout indie gem
Limited professional critic coverage
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a 2022 role-playing video game developed by Northway Games and published by Finji. The player starts the game as a ten-year-old, going through events that affect the colony until the game ends when they turn twenty. The game was released on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 in August 2022.

Runs well on modern hardware.
Last updated 1d ago
In the past year real world, my mom died and my dad shunned me for not wanting to befriend his new wife. I picked this game up finally as a "comfort game" a couple weeks ago when my cat died. And it DELIVERED. Yes, it's dark topics and heavy moral reflections and hard choices and impossible situations. Yes, people and aliens die, and people fight, and people grow into people you don't get along with as well. Yes, life can be hard, and this game really confronts that reality esp on a planet that was existing just fine before humans crashed the party. But this game is also hopeful and thoughtful and... yea for me, comforting. It's incredibly replayable; unlike real life, when I am grieving the loss of my parent, I can decide to save them in my next playthru, or even reload a previous save and try to find a way to change this playthru. And unlike real life, when I am accepting the loss of a friend, I can go get a hug from my dad. 10/10 you can bond with pets and hug your dad and change at least some of the stuff you don't want to accept about your life. It's not some blank slate - sometimes you hope you can change stuff in certain ways and you just.... cant. (or cant yet, I havent even gotten enough endings to need to count on both hands yet) But you get to explore which choices and skills let you reach which places in your life, and how things play out when you make different choices. And if you want to, you can build relationships with all kinds of people+. You can have romances or play as ace. You can be whatever gender or none, and neither sex is an option too! And the others characters are just.... chill about it. While being complex characters in their own rights. It's a good game. It confronts a lot of heavy stuff. Like... be warned. But it is SUCH a good game. Highly recommend :)
Very interesting game. I got a pretty good ending on my second try. Moreover my second walkthrough was way more enjoyable than first one. ๐นThis game is a text quest with a really beautiful art. Adventures were made in 3D tho. I love those, so I enjoyed the gameplay a lot. ๐นI guess it's kinda like a Stardew Valley regarding relationships. But that's it, regarding similarities. I think characters are written as realistically as it's possible to write in a game. Moreover this game "hit close to home" more than I would have expected. Some characters reminded me about my mom and other acquaintances, which helped me to see them in a bit of a different light. ๐นYou can choose many different jobs and skills. It's hard to manage them all tho. I want to have them all on max which is impossible(at least I didn't find a way for now). ๐นWorld politics are also written in a very interesting way. ๐นMy genius ass deleted all saves from my first walkthrough which delayed my game experience, so to say. After each replay the game gets more and more interesting. On my third replay I got way more invested than on my first one. ๐ธThe only thing I didn't like (which is subjective) is that you can't save any skill progress from previous games, like it was accomplished in "Undyng". You do learn faster and get better cards (because you play better) but you still need to learn skills all over again. I just wanted to experience a bit different approach with a replay part (regarding skills and loot). โ๏ธ100/10
It was alright. I don't regret my time with it, but I also don't feel motivated enough to do a second run of things (I know that's a major point). I feel like there are games out there with much better stories, and also games that do a better job of conveying them through gameplay. I did enjoy the card battling aspects, though it became kind of irrelevant about halfway through. Dunno - I'd give it a neutral if I could, but I read so many glowing reviews etc. convincing me to buy it that I feel like I have to land on the negative side.
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