Alien Squatter is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, humanity's continuous screw-ups have eradicated most of the terrestrial populace, and in order to keep the planet habitated the borders have been opened to extraterrestrials of all kinds, from entrepreneurs to asylum seekers. Now the Earth is split in two sections, the wealthy and fabulous Privilege where the haves live in exorbitant luxury and the slums, where the remainder lives in terrible living conditions and abject poverty.
You're not so lucky, so you live in the latter section of the world. You don't like that, so something's going to have to change. So what is your goal? You decide!
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| I know what my goal is. |
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| Alright guys, we gotta plan a movie night |
Every day your character starts with a certain amount of energy, which drains when walking around or when performing certain side jobs. Sleeping gives a certain baseline amount of energy each day, while any calories obtained in the field the day prior is added to the day's total energy. Getting sick cuts energy in half, so managing sickness also becomes important, as you need the energy to be able to stray far from home.
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| Fish are a surprisingly good source of calories. |
Gold can be used to buy items or given to certain NPCs and is instrumental to most of the game's endings. Gold can most easily be earned by finding spare change laying around or by expanding energy on side jobs, but the most lucrative source of money is trading items to the people who're willing to pay most for them.
The game's full of NPCs who can be interacted with, some just provide utilities, flavour or function as shopkeepers, but some NPCs have sidequests that let you gradually improve your friendship with them, mostly just for some extra flavour dialogue.
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| Very flavourful |
This whole song and dance of managing energy, gold, sickness and items basically constitutes the core gameplay. Running out of energy means you faint on the spot and are dragged to a clinic to sleep, which has a chance to lower your stats. It's very inadvisable, because the three stats (physical, mental and social) are all used for various skill checks and you'll want to keep them high to have a decent success rate.
The physical stat is mostly used for random encounters, which unlike Void Pyramid aren't turn based combat but just a simple stat check, every point of Physical gives you 5% chance to succeed, up to 90% if you reach the cap of 18 Physical. Mental checks are mostly used for hacking, fishing and pick-pocketing, making it a versatile source of money and calories. Finally, social checks aren't as common, mostly reserved to some specific NPCs, but every point of social gives a 2% discount for all purchases, meaning you'll need less money to beat the game.
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| Thankfully, there are several ways to raise your stats, such as this item. |
So, why did I actually play this game? I'll admit it here, the daily grind is fun at first when there's a feeling of tension and exploration, but near the end of the game when you're comfortably settled into a routine and just trying to finish some sidequests and get 100% of collectibles, it starts to feel a bit like busywork. No, the reason I did play this game is because I really love the tone, aesthetics and setting.
The game is filled with diverse bizarre alien NPCs, many of which have a few screws loose to say the least. Many of the sidequests wind up with raunchy sexual encounters. The world absolutely sucks and the narration makes this very evocative. The game's colour palette draw heavy inspiration from vaporwave of all things, which is wonderfully dissonant with the rest of the game.
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| Rooting-Tooting Randy Tandy |
But there's also something endearing about all of it. There isn't too much dialogue in the game, but the dialogue is very efficient at conveying a message, whether it is when talking to an NPC, engaging in an activity or examining an object. There aren't any long-winded dialogues, but characters still pop out because the game doesn't hold back an inch with anything. And I like it that way! It's what pulled me into Void Pyramid, and also what pulled me into this game. It may be crude, but it's unapologetically crude and isn't doing any of it in a tongue-in-cheek fashion because the setting is just that crazy, and I can admire that.
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| Bijschrift toevoegen |
Yes, around half of the sidequests do wind up with the protagonist having sex with an alien, but of course it would! The world sucks, everyone is sick and starving, life is short, and your character can still choose to make the world a better place for other people anyway, of course they would be having sex! Let them have sex, damnit! But also, when let them squish bats like stress relief toys and suck out their innards, or suplex unassuming backpackers and yakuza by their beards and hairdos, or have your pet robot fish invest your money in stocks overnight. And then ride off into the sunset with a mutant on his bike and kiss, because he'll probably be dead in a few weeks anyway. Beautiful.
And then top it all off by repairing a nuclear submarine, blowing up the entrance to Privilige, leading an armed insurrection, establishing a new nation of equality under threat of Mutually Assured Destruction. And top it off with a small blurb from all the NPCs whose quests you completed.
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| Privilege: Checked |
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