Download or Play Online:
Steam.
App Store.
Google Play.
Read Designer Blog Notes.
Game Theory Podcast Interview.
IFWiki Entry.
IFDB Entry.
I can say confidently that Creatures Such As We is an elegant, intricate meta-narrative about player emotional investment and romancing non-player characters.
-Cara Ellison
[A]n incredibly engrossing tale of labour, life and loneliness in the future.
-Leigh Alexander, The Guardian
A wonderfully written, funny, truthful gem of a game, and a surprisingly lengthy one too.
-Tom Sykes
[T]here's just a lot of meaty interaction, together with a plot that keeps moving briskly along, some beautiful moonscape imagery, and a deft handling of inner and outer game plot.
-Emily Short
•Top 50 Interactive Fiction of All Time
•2nd Place (IFComp 2014)
•Best NPCs (XYZZY)
•6 Romancable Characters
•Interwoven Stories
The Connection
The guide lives an isolated life on the moon, a loneliness which is only compounded by having a career that demands near-constant guest contact and hospitality, and many of the moments of downtime focus on this uniquely framed sci-fi slice-of-life experience. However, when the newest guests happen to be the designers of the guide’s favorite game, it’s a rare chance to relax, to connect, and to learn firsthand how precious life and love can be when can both be so fragile.
Structured as a dating sim, the player has the option to get close to one of the designers (or to remain strictly platonic) with unique dialogue for each path. To avoid the feeling of gamified relationships, there is plenty of leeway in conversations, with affection only being tied to deliberate, high-level actions.
Diane finally speaks, "I just… I just wanted to get away from things. Sorry that I freaked out back there, and, I mean, I knew I was fine, I knew it would be okay, but I couldn't stop it; I couldn't get hold of myself."
She slumps down and collapses against the bulkhead, "It's just this place. It's so intimidating. I mean, being out on the edge is supposed to be fun and this amazing, lucky experience. Who doesn't want to go to the moon? But, it's scary. And of course, I can't admit that, because then I'd be the killjoy."
*choice
#What happened would have been frightening for anybody
#A lot of guests feel uncomfortable with some of our activities
#Everyone is afraid of something in their lives
#Well, I'm glad things turned out alright
The Game-Within-the-Game
#Life is loss.
The game-within-the-game mirrors and foreshadows many of the events that happen in the main game, creating and then echoing the desire for something better in the face of hopelessness. It also has a unique mechanic that'd honestly be a blast to build out: replayable gameplay loops that get progressively shorter on each iteration.
Creatures Such as We is unique in that it (spoilers!) ends with multiple unwinnable states, but it offers the players a meta-game layer of options to modify the endings. Players either reject the modifications and accept their loss or accept the modifications and wrestle with their dissatisfaction at a retconned ending.
But it's too late. Elegy turns momentarily solid, and mouths to you next time. The credits roll with an invitation to replay, to get it right.
*label ReplayStart
*choice
*hide_reuse #Replay, sending Elegy away more firmly
*hide_reuse #Replay, sending Elegy away more softly
*hide_reuse #Replay, focusing on improving your skill with ghost powers
*hide_reuse #Replay, focusing on improving your skill without Elegy
*if (ReplayCounter >= 4) #Continue retrying
#Give up. It's not winnable
You work on everything: skill with Elegy, skill without Elegy, saying different things to Elegy, any small detail that might help. But nothing works. Elegy still dies. Elegy always dies.
Inclusion
I went out of my way to offer multiple gender and racial options as a way to encourage a feeling of belonging, connection, and inclusion. As an added layer of commentary, I did contrast the number of options in the main game with how few options many mainstream games offer. I don't want any player to ever feel like an afterthought.
While Creatures Such as We offered inclusive genders and pronouns, check out how I perfected the system for handling those in The Sea Eternal.