10 Incredible Video Games That Should've NEVER Worked
3. Thomas Was Alone
The pitch meeting for this one must have been a daunting one for Mike Bithell. Imagine trying to pitch a platform game with a geometric, four-sided shape as a protagonist.
Better yet, the whole cavalcade of player characters are all square/rectangular shapes. It must have felt like a hell of a gamble.
But then you play it, and you see the genius behind it. You are no ordinary cube. You are part of an AI programme, one that's experiencing self-awareness and some kind of existential crisis.
It's like if Tron had been written by Jean-Paul Satre.
On the surface it's just another platformer with some character swapping puzzle elements to it. And that's not a bad thing, really.
Yet what makes it more than that is the level of attention in the world and narration. Danny Wallace laying out Thomas and crew's progression is great to see, as is the fluidity and variation if you deviate from time to time.
Much like The Stanley Parable, the effort gone in to monitor the player's progression is staggering attention to detail. One that everyone should invest in when they play it.