Always Sometimes Monsters

Just how vital is writing, the actual crafting of words, when it comes to presenting a great story and motivating listeners to keep watching? That’s a question Always Sometimes Monsters distills back to its core, with a 16-bit era roleplaying game (RPG) seen through text boxes, no voice acting and a pace dictated by hundreds of conversations. It’s thanks to consistently interesting characters entering the stage and down to earth yet surreal moments that this adventure manages to captivate all the way to its end. Having a say in a lot of the direction in which the tale unfolds just makes it that much greater, even if it’s not ideal.

This journey starts off with two randomly chosen characters, picked from a representative group that houses any race, gender and creed. It’s the start of decisions that can bare a range of different outcomes, depending on the varying personalities of the world. This universe is seen from a top view, just like the RPGs of old, blocky houses and rolling text blocks included. Music is a bit more contemporary, but usually tries to stay in the background lounge range. Events will be crazy enough as it is.

The entire premise for Always Sometimes Monsters is already bizarre. An ex is getting married across the US and a failing writer needs to get their act together and travel to their final destination, in hopes of winning them back. On their trail, they’ll need to find a way to move closer to their goal, find funds to do so and even just scrape food together to survive. Getting caught sleeping outside for the night or going through the trash could well become routine. If that’s not romantic, then it’s hard to imagine what is.

Since the protagonist in the adventure has nothing to lose, situations will reflect this careless nature. Various shady characters may need a patsy for a certain task, but benevolent souls may offer aid as well. It’s up to the player to decide how it all plays out. It’s fully possible to screw over people being kind, rob Samaritans blind or perform illegal activities. Is that, however, a means to an end, if the objective is love? It’s something that will periodically pop up.

Another element in the game includes the personal career aspirations of the writer. It’s possible to reconnect with lost opportunities, again at other costs. Is writing more important than relations? Can an empire be built on lies? There are a ton of questions, but there are also no real answers, other than a playthrough carves around itself.

With all these factors in mind, Always Sometimes Monsters manages to form a truly genuine experience, one where decisions feel personal and actions have meaning. Ironically, a lot of interactions in the game are menial, filled with busywork and other mundane societal obligations. A slow pace reflects the sad reality of a boring life at the low end of the totem pole. Then, there’s the juxtaposition of situations where everything quickly gets out of hand. Sometimes that makes for hilarity, other times things get dark or inevitably violent. That’s also reality. There’s no filter on real life.

Still, few of these instances would pay off the way they do if Always Sometimes Monsters wasn’t populated with such rich characters. Each new face has an interesting new twist to throw out there, whether or not it’s a positive one. It’s rare that every person in the game feels so worthwhile, but these people are truly human. Some have their own agendas, others just want to get off; everyone is their own unique self. Every new contact becomes a memory to take on further into this story. These personalities are where the game is at its best. Certainly as some more eclectic personas can come up with even more surprises, the engagement with them stays at an all-time high. Unpredictability is always a good trick to hold in a game fully about choice. It’s never completely possible to rely on plans to settle into some sort of routine.

Still, as wonderful as the mixture is, there is a limitation to the roleplaying trait. In particular, the protagonist just can’t react as desired on all interactions. Sometimes, they’re predisposed to have a certain opinion or stance befitting the story, but since there’s so much freedom of choice, each scrap of rigid judgment comes off poorly. At best, it starts a new branch of damage control, where this fixed impulse needs to be molded back to the original idea. It’s nowhere damaging to the overall quest, but it’s just so painful to have to endure a loss of agency in those rare moments. It’s the only thing that periodically puts a pin in the immersion that does such a great job in displaying a truly gripping universe.

Luckily, indiscretions are rarer than exceptional moments and given a playthrough can obtain fully different scenes, it has replay value as well, to discover new people and go to new places. Staying fed is a rush in itself, as money dwindles and the stomach starts grumbling, which pushes the morality button to make stealing or other crime suddenly a lot more justifiable. Hell, there’s even some escapism in the form of mini-games, for when the weight of the task really becomes too much for a second.

For whatever it’s worth, Always Sometimes Monsters is as real as it gets, which is impressive for a traditional pixel RPG presentation. Many situational scenes can both be larger than life and still reflect it perfectly, all in an overall goal that can be befuddled by personal interests or sudden needs. Choices are plentiful and create even more unique circumstances. Even if some limitation here or there pulls back the veil sometimes, this adventure is still one of the most interesting worlds crafted in this style. How funny, that a game reflecting real life events can seem so enticing to get lost into. 

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed (@Daavpuke)