Ctrl Alt Ego - indie immersive sim where you play a disembodied consciousness who can possess robots

[Zombra]

It never occurred to me before udm mentioned influences in his review, but the visual design looks almost exactly like a Red Dwarf set.

 

[udm]

It never occurred to me before udm mentioned influences in his review, but the visual design looks almost exactly like a Red Dwarf set.

Yeah I find it all the more intriguing that the developers managed to straddle cheesy 80s and 90s aesthetics and a story that you could still take seriously enough. It takes skill to marry these two qualities.

 

[oasis789]

Thanks for the review, this wasn't even on my radar until now.

 

[fuzz]

I still can't get over the presentation of this.
Low fov combined with wobbly camera, fucking with zoom all the time; bright light sources with reflective surfaces. Can you fix any of these with in-game settings?

 

[HoboForEternity]

I still can't get over the presentation of this.
Low fov combined with wobbly camera, fucking with zoom all the time; bright light sources with reflective surfaces. Can you fix any of these with in-game settings?

There is crtl animation skip, fov setting, dunno about camera bobbing tho

 

[Beowulf]

I still can't get over the presentation of this.
Low fov combined with wobbly camera, fucking with zoom all the time; bright light sources with reflective surfaces. Can you fix any of these with in-game settings?

There is crtl animation skip, fov setting, dunno about camera bobbing tho

There is one - not sure if it disables it completely though. Iirc you should be able to disable the movement inertia as well.

 

[Anthedon]

Thanks for the review, this wasn't even on my radar until now.

Hear, hear. This review and the Caves of Lore review are stellar just for letting me find these games.

 

[Morgoth]

Man you guys got me excited with all these Shock and Prey comparisons. Guess I'll have to buy it.

 

[udm]

We did it guize! We got Morgoth to play it!

Just bear in mind that there's a fair bit of jank to get used to. I also wouldn't play on the hardest difficulty unless you're prepared to deal with some major imbalances in skills.

 

[HoboForEternity]

At least play on the 2nd hardest difficulty i think it's perfect for newcomer. The biggest difference is enemies regen if you dont deal with the swiftly and they are more difficult to ctrl with brute force (cost more ego). I think the biggest factor is the enemy regen. Without it, you can just deal random damage trough exploding canister, run, find another canister and repeat till they die. With regen you have to carefully place the canister with the right amount and place so they can kill the enemy with just one well placee hit. Seems simple but genius design imo to make players less reliant on kiting and guerrila scratch damage tactics.

 

[Morgoth]

We did it guize! We got Morgoth to play it!

Just bear in mind that there's a fair bit of jank to get used to. I also wouldn't play on the hardest difficulty unless you're prepared to deal with some major imbalances in skills.

I bought it, but won't play it until I finish some other shit.

 

[Zombra]

At least play on the 2nd hardest difficulty i think it's perfect for newcomer.

I don't even lift. I started on "above average" difficulty and felt very boxed in, wasted some resources and felt softlocked. Started again at Normal difficulty (didn't use Shotgun) and found it a lot more fun. Planning a cranked up replay someday but Normal is not a cakewalk.

 

[Jenkem]

Anyone try any of the challenges? I beat the game back in late Nov/early Dec but never tried any of the challenges.. Figured I'd just wait a bit and replay the main game to get some of the things I missed out on the first time or do a ghost run, etc. At that time most of the challenges seemed to just be individual levels from the campaign either lifted straight or slightly tweaked.

 

[HoboForEternity]

At least play on the 2nd hardest difficulty i think it's perfect for newcomer.

I don't even lift. I started on "above average" difficulty and felt very boxed in, wasted some resources and felt softlocked. Started again at Normal difficulty (didn't use Shotgun) and found it a lot more fun. Planning a cranked up replay someday but Normal is not a cakewalk.

it's definitely not a cakewalk esp. in the beginning, i just find figuting out a way to kill enemies in 1 go or outpacing their regen is a better and more thoughtful experience, but it's really up to the players. the difficulty settings are well adjusted, but i would like a custom diffilculty like setting custom aggro EGO multiplier or turn off/on without enabling the EGO multiplier, etc

 

[Spukrian]

I'm playing on Moderate/normal and I find it sufficiently challenging. So far there have been several times when I've made several mistakes in a row depleting my resources to near zero but persevering and bouncing back after considering my options.

I'm in the last chapter now. I'll probably finish it tomorrow.

 

[Spukrian]

I finished it. Fantastic game. I'm definitely going to replay quite a few times, though I'll stick with Moderate difficulty untill I feel I've learned enough.

Is it just me or is Everyman actually the bad guy in this?I didn't want to help him in the end so I roamed around the last level for quite some time, trying to find an alternate ending but no luck. But after finishing the game, I guess it doesn't matter, 'cause it wasn't real?

The Ego Sucker skill is quite useless. Don't put worms into it.

Anyone try any of the challenges? I beat the game back in late Nov/early Dec but never tried any of the challenges.. Figured I'd just wait a bit and replay the main game to get some of the things I missed out on the first time or do a ghost run, etc. At that time most of the challenges seemed to just be individual levels from the campaign either lifted straight or slightly tweaked.

I tried some of the challenges, they're a bit too hard for me.

You should try the one with Four Crates, might be up your alley.

 

[udm]

It has been a long time since I finished it, but IIRC it was some wench called Nadie who betrayed Dr Everyman and caused the Executor branch of code to kill Dr Everyman so that she could take over everything. I'm pretty sure I got some of the details wrong but that's the general gist of it.

 

[Spukrian]

It has been a long time since I finished it, but IIRC it was some wench called Nadie who betrayed Dr Everyman and caused the Executor branch of code to kill Dr Everyman so that she could take over everything. I'm pretty sure I got some of the details wrong but that's the general gist of it.

Maybe I missed some eyepads. I remember reading about Nadie but my impression was that what Everyman was trying to do was downright harmful to the human consciounesses in the stream and the Executor was trying to stop him.

 

[Talby]

I put a couple of hours into this like a year ago and then just dropped it. It seemed good to start, but the game falls flat on its face when it comes to the "immersive" part of "immersive sim." I don't think it deserves to be called an imsim at all, this is just a first-person puzzle game with multiple solutions. There's no sense of what the space you're inhabiting is even meant to be other than "high tech station."

It reminds me more of playing Portal than any imsim I played, the game is just a series of puzzle rooms very obviously designed as challenges for the player to overcome. And fine, that's what all games are, but imsims are supposed to work harder to create the impression that you're inhabiting a realistic space where everything serves a logical purpose. It felt like I glitched my way past most of the 'puzzles' without ever really solving anything. It also has that cheap 'unity game' feel which doesn't help things.

 

[udm]

I put a couple of hours into this like a year ago and then just dropped it. It seemed good to start, but the game falls flat on its face when it comes to the "immersive" part of "immersive sim." I don't think it deserves to be called an imsim at all, this is just a first-person puzzle game with multiple solutions. There's no sense of what the space you're inhabiting is even meant to be other than "high tech station."

It reminds me more of playing Portal than any imsim I played, the game is just a series of puzzle rooms very obviously designed as challenges for the player to overcome. And fine, that's what all games are, but imsims are supposed to work harder to create the impression that you're inhabiting a realistic space where everything serves a logical purpose. It felt like I glitched my way past most of the 'puzzles' without ever really solving anything. It also has that cheap 'unity game' feel which doesn't help things.

Lol you pretty much paraphrased my review. Keep going though, you'll find there's more to things than meets the eye once you're around Chapter 5.

 

[Spukrian]

It's updated with a NG+ and a new ability (exclusive to NG+ I assume):



Hmm, maybe time to replay it...

 

[I eat frozen vegetables]

I'm getting Geist vibes. You know, the FPS on the GameCube where you possess various things.

 

[Zombra]

Hey you!

Out there! People who haven't played Ctrl Alt Ego! I see you out there reading the thread. Yes YOU. Some of you even have it sitting there in your backlog! What the fuck are you waiting for? This game is a masterpiece. Steam Summer Sale happening now, buy it and play it.


And if you have played it, it's probably time to play it again.

This has been an unpaid public service announcement.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Masterpiece? No way. Good game and worth $11.99 USD, absolutely!

 

[udm]

Heh funny you should mention it and bump this thread. I was just thinking about the game again two days ago. Really good fun.