John on the other hand is a tall thin rectangle armed with an ego and a need to entertain. Chris is a cynical and strong-minded small square, while Claire is a significantly larger square with a caring heart and the burden of self-doubt. They each have fascinatingly different personalities, but despite being two-dimensional shapes, their hopes and worries can be relatable to people we perhaps know ourselves, or even a reflection of our own selves.Īs each character is introduced, they are added to the tally of blocks that the player has to move to the exit portals. Are the portals leading him anywhere of importance? Has this world been designed just for him? Is he being tested? His lonely journey becomes more interesting for him, and indeed the player, as the game progresses, and new sentient blocks are introduced. Only Claire (the large blue square) can touch the toxic water, making her ideal as a platform for the others.Įven in those first levels, Thomas questions his environment. He can move left and right and jump, and this is the sum total of Thomas’ skills (actually, he is “absolutely fantastic at falling” too, as the humorously dry commentary explains). Levels are numbered in batches of ten, and the first batch teaches the basics for movement. In essence, Thomas Was Alone is a puzzle platformer, with the aim being to navigate Thomas through each level and reach the portal, a white rectangle shaped to his proportions. He is perhaps as perplexed by his own self-awareness as the player is, but the in-game narration acts as a guide to push Thomas on, and to find out what purpose he has in his unfamiliar surroundings. Thomas is a sentient block in a 2D world, with no obvious initial objective other than to move. He has a level of self-awareness that the tetrominoes in Tetris never achieved. It’s intriguing that he is even aware of his isolation. Thomas is a rectangle and, as the opening commentary in the game explains, he is alone.
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