Amazing, even heartwarming game.
Thu Jan 11 2018 iVitaeI’ve had this game on my devices since around 2011 and find myself still coming back to it seven years later, so it feels criminal to not leave a review. Basically, it’s a fantastic life sim with a *lot* of replayability, thanks to its RPG-like stats system and its huge branching stories. It’s almost entirely text-based, which is no problem at all since it’s so well written. The comedy scenes are hilariously cheesy (this is a port of a 1986 game, after all!), and it successfully builds on stories of relatable growing pains to deliver compelling scenarios for your alter ego to navigate. The childhood sections of the game feels bittersweet and nostalgic every time I go through them, and the older adult/elder sections hit hard and make me feel more empathy for real-life folks in their twilight years. Your character will face emotional yet realistic tribulations, like mental health crises and affairs and near-death experiences (or maybe just a horrible, crushing premature death). I could gush for ages about the unexpected engagement and entertainment this text-based adventure has given me all these years.
I seriously recommend Alter Ego to anyone who likes the idea of everything I’ve talked about and thinks it sounds even slightly fun. I guarantee you it’s even better than that once you dip below the surface. It is worth every penny you’ll spend on it.
LOVE this game, but...
Fri Feb 26 2021 ReggeggOkay, so I’ve played this game about a dozen times. I’d say it’s less “addictive” than well written enough to give you room to explore different lives while retaining its replay value. It’s a solid game and I personally love a good life simulator like this one.
One thing that stood out to me from the start was the lack of LGBT options. As a lesbian, this pulls me out of the gameplay experience every time. Do I choose an entire lifetime of male experiences in order to have a love life that includes women? Or do I choose a life of female experiences and accept that the entire romantic dimension of the game will center around men? More than once I’ve ended the game a spinster.
I don’t think the game needs a “modern LGBT twist”. I think it would be vastly improved even if it remained nearly the same, but with options down the road to choose partners of different genders, choose pronouns, come out as a specific sexuality, change names, and options to come out as transgender (with the gameplay literally switching from “Male script” to “Female script”, or vice versa), with specific characters responding accordingly.
Adding LGBT options just means more immersive gameplay for more people than you might think, and I feel it would vastly improve the game for players like me!
New Idea
Sat Nov 19 2022 Willwin23I really love your game! It was the first one ever of its kind back then! I think you can revive! People will 100% like it since BitLife is super popular and uses a similar growing up theme! But this game has so much potential!! You could redesign it and keep a lot of the same stuff but make it more inclusive with race, gender, and sexuality! You could have more choices added that lead to different life’s and careers! And when the player dies you can make the children continue the game similar to BitLife! You could add more pictures and graphics for events/life choices to make it more user friendly! You could add more customization for characters and abilities that can be purchased! You could add more control or not, over other characters in the players life! And after this one gets updated overtime you could even create a whole new game similar concept and mechanics but a different theme like in medieval times! Or in the future! There’s many things that can be done to improve it and make it popular! Meanwhile I’ll continue to play the game!
Best App I Have
Mon Dec 25 2017 YoFaceNoSpaceOk... I barely write reviews for apps because I feel like it is a waste of time. But this app is exceptional and though it is five dollars, it is worth the money. The gameplay is smooth and unlike much other apps, actually makes sense. Whatever you say or do will effect all your stats, changing everything about your “alter ego” you play as, including physical and emotional traits. Everything is factored in to make it a unique experience every time you play. This app, in my opinion actually is the best thing I have on my phone. And that means a lot because I have 13 whole pages of apps and games on my phone. Now I’m going to get to one piece of advice. Don’t get this for someone young, even if they are 12 unless they are mature and you think they can handle kinda... sexually explicit for someone normal that age.
Amazing
Sat Aug 18 2018 LihhfI normally don’t write reviews but when I saw this only had 53 I knew had to write something. This game is soo much fun. You actually make choices that affect your character unlike in other games that claim to do the same. This game deserves so much more recognition. It would be awesome if it were updated a bit if you could be born into a single parent home or be born a gay character. But I realize that this is a script game and would require so much work. However, do know that many people would buy it if you were to do so. The alter ego forms where they suggest updates or changes have many people on them so I do believe you could make money if you did the new scripts for the changes you could make.
PLEASE ADD LGBT OPTIONS
Fri May 04 2018 JcidajhdjskxjdnkxmdsLove this game. It's hard to find a text based game and still get involved with it, but you managed to do it!! The only thing I want, and REALLY REALLY NEED is the choice of homosexually :) I understand that you want to keep it similar to the 1980 write of the game, and that LGBT+ wasn't a popular thing, but sometimes you need to change it up. I truly believe that this app will very quickly get forgotten and dated, even with how amazing it is. If people feel they don't have a true connection to the game, they will quickly loose it. Maybe add some same gender options to the datingenu. Add some interesting scenarios where you come out, deal with homophobic people, or simply adding an option to be gay/lesbian at the beginning of the title after your childhood. You don't even need any scenarios to reach an even wider LGBT+ audience :) I really hoped this helped, Pease consider!!
Heartwarming and Entertaining
Thu Apr 20 2023 BubbaFightsThe game has a few quirks. It was made in the 80s, so many situations haven’t aged perfectly. Some parts of the game, like relationships, seem odd or buggy (you might randomly break up with your partner without the game ever informing you if you date in adolesence).
However, playing to the end is a joy if you take it seriously. I shed a few tears the first time from the ending text, which is something I can’t say other life simulators can do. You feel more connected to these scenarios since they’re more detailed than is typical.
Good for a few playthroughs before you’ve seen most of the content. I’d say it’s worth the price.
Overall, worth it.
Fri Dec 21 2018 HflgdhlflutlhaPutsuptaThis game has so much potential and I love the messages the game gives throughout the game. It’s addicting, but also reminds you to leave your phone sometimes and enjoy life with your family. It’s probably the best game I’ve ever gotten. My only complaints are pretty minor. First of all, I think it’s really hard to have a child, harder than it is in real life. Also, the names of people can get mixed up kind of easily. My last complaint is that some of the experiences will say I need a wife or child and can’t do it even though I already have one. Again this game is fantabulous and I recommend everyone who enjoys life games to try it out.
Good game but no updates ever
Wed Oct 17 2018 Kayt110I’ve loved this game since I played it on big floppy discs on a Commodore 64 in the late 80s, I think it was. Good to have a phone version but I’d love it a lot more if it had EVER been updated since it was first written. Some scenarios still seem timeless, but some are dated...i.e., no references to cell phones or other modern trends. Names for who you meet and your kids need a lot more options! And no matter what you name your kids, the game gives them different names. For example, I named my daughter Olivia, but in every “have a family experience” scenario, it refers to her as “Kathy.” Some of the events are handled rather harshly, such as the abrupt death of parents. Overall though, pretty interesting game that can have a lot of twists and turns. One last word though...GRAPHICS? It’s about time.
A five star app that was not updated through numerous ports.
Sat Sep 25 2021 Drenster02eNormally I allow the gaming convention of ‘let it rest in the museum as created’ for most dated works, and appreciate them in accounting for time of their inception.
In this case though, as it is a text-based game, and more importantly is set as an ‘alter ego’ of what a modern child could be experiencing growing up, the choices are to note the actual dates or to modernize the material. I’ll drop a few suggestions below:
➡️A college degree can come from multiple disciplines and have multiple levels of mastery.
➡️Financial models need to be redone. (Eg you can bust your tail, become a doctor or lawyer before even reaching young adulthood, then be expected to pay your loan balances in full before hitting the next ‘stage’ of growth.
➡️No reason not to have full-spectrum personalities, preferences and identities here, seeing as how the game tries to flesh out exactly who you can become.
I hope someone can tackle this and either update or reboot this franchise, since it’s a cool and mostly unique idea. ✌🏻
