Imagine if I told you there was a new immersive simulator, think Prey, Dishonored, etc., but made by a team of just two people. And then, imagine I told you it was really good. And now stop imagining, because it’s real, obviously. It would be a strange introduction if it weren’t. Ctrl Alt Ego is a PC game about being an untethered ego, able to jump between various electronic items aboard a large space station, and it consumed my week.
I want the elephant in the room to be acknowledged ASAP, so we can get on with what’s important: No, this game doesn’t look pretty. Its art is functional, rarely attractive, and no amount of screenshots will sell the game. But that’s important for about thirteen seconds, and then you get on with the business of enjoying the game itself. And it’s quite a game.
You are, as I say, a kind of non-corporeal entity, able to jump between specific electronic elements of a space station. This includes a large number of stationary items, from communicative CAT cabinets and wall-mounted monitors, to security cameras and destructive monitoring DAD robots. But most importantly, there are also a bunch of mobile robots on board the ship, most importantly, one called Bug 22.
Bug 22 is your constant companion (well, vehicle, really) throughout the game, able to be “printed” at any number of printing stations and given an ever-increasing number of abilities as you progress. The range of these abilities is extraordinary, unlockable in any order you choose, and dramatically changes the way you approach challenges in the game. You could give Bug a gun right away and take a much more aggressive approach to getting past the angry station security. Or you could choose the ability to levitate and as such reach otherwise impossible passages and materials. Or you can choose Shift and have some kind of telekinetic ability to move objects. Or you can…
It’s absolutely amazing how differently almost every situation can be approached in Ctrl Alt Ego, based on the skills you’ve unlocked and really just your personal preferences. The game is designed to be experienced, and techniques that seem like they could break the game have probably been considered and taken into account. This means you have the freedom to improvise like a dam and the incredible satisfaction of discovering that your crazy approach can work!
Screenshot: MindThunk / Kotaku
This is even more interesting because of the way you’re not Bug 22. It’s just a useful vehicle, but it can also be completely abandoned for long stretches, as you jump between other mobile bots like PUPs like dogs, it spends a resource called L ‘ego takes over defensive robots like DADs, and later mobile killing machines called MUMs, and explores large areas just by jumping your consciousness.
There’s a lot of detail here, with each machine capable of possessing unique messages, all sorts of stories coming out of whoever talks you through the CAT cabinets, loads of objectives to complete in each of the game’s large sections in any order you choose , you improvise anyway, all with a phenomenal degree of freedom.
It’s puzzling that something so free, so open, is the work of two people, altogether. I’ve managed to crack it a couple of times, through some weird actions, but most of the time I’ve been excited to find that my cockamamy plan has worked. It also offers the most crucial immersive simulation elements: the part where a grand plan goes awry and you’re struggling to survive. It’s a joy that Ctrl Alt Ego rarely feels like reloading at these moments, but rather circling, trying to improvise his way out of a sudden, overwhelming jam.
There are so many elements I want to tell you about, little details that surprised me, discoveries about ways to overcome situations, even basic elements of the game, but I have to discover them all for myself, and you should too . This is a wonderful game to dive into, deliberately opaque at first, as you learn its systems for yourself.
Screenshot: MindThunk / Kotaku
It’s also a huge game, at least a solid 20 hours long, constantly expanding and getting more interesting along the way. I haven’t finished it yet and can’t wait to see what it has to offer in its final hours. That’s very good, and importantly, it would still be considered very good if it had come from a 30-person team. Honestly, if Arkane doesn’t immediately employ its creators, then I don’t understand how the universe works.
This is already on my GOTY list, and I desperately hope it can break through, gain wider attention, and not be unfairly held back by its more primitive graphics. You will be blown away. And for just twenty bucks, along with an hours demo, you can try it out too!
This article originally appeared on Buried Treasure, a site dedicated to highlighting great unknown games from great unknown indies, so please consider helping on Patreon here.