In this Thomas Was Alone level pack, discover the tale of Benjamin and his father's incredible invention. Meet a new companion and a familiar face in the events leading up to Thomas' emergence.
Very Positive
9,347 Steam reviews
I remember watching Zackscott play this years ago when I was in elementry school and finally decided to play it. Admittedly it's not a great platformer, not much challenge at all really, but it does have very good narration. The ending cutscene was a bit underwhelming and the cut to credits after is kinda jarring. I think this game would benefit from a level editer, there's some potential here. Since its fairly cheap, I don't think there's any harm in trying it if you're going in mostly blind.
I enjoyed it! It's not too challenging, I'm not particularly good at platformers, a couple levels took me a bit more to get through, so I really enjoyed the moderate challenge, the story and the characters.
A really decent puzzle platformer with an excellent musical score and a wonderful narrative. It isn't very long, but what is there is absolutely substantial. Highly recommended even at its base price!
10/10
played it for the first time when i was in highschool, and just finished it for the first time today, almost a decade later. It's very very good.
Great minimalistic puzzle platformer with a nice narrative. Really enjoyed this game. Had just enough difficulty to make you think, but not so much that it was overly frustrating.
I liked the atmosphere and storytelling in this game. I think the minimalistic art style suits the game and is soothing to look at
.
Great little story game I got in a Humble bundle forever ago. I still visit it every once in a while, just because the story and the platforming is nice and satisfying :) Recommend for a nice casual platformer with a story strong enough to make you care about rectangles
Great game, amazing story
Восстание ИИ, заточенные души, глубокий сюжет, лор, убийства, конфликты, побои...
Жалко что из всего этого мне понятны только крутой саундтрек и персонажи, которые являются одноцветными прямоугольниками и квадратиками.
Как мало нужно для счастья!
This is a cool puzzle game with a surprisingly good story.
Simple perfection.
2026: the year of Backlog cleaning part 2
Me: These rectangles won't make me cry!
The rectangles:
You ever want to have a cry over jumping colored shapes? Cuz this game will make you cry over jumping colored shapes.
If I ever need to make a point of why good writing matters, I try to point out Thomas Was Alone. It's incredible what can be done with a solid VA and solid writing. Play this game and cry over jumping colored shapes with me.
Up & To the Right
Would you recommend this game to other players? Yes. Wonderful, short little game that only me took 11 years to complete.
good
absolute cinema
bad
Thomas Was Alone is one I have slept on for a while. Seemingly the indie poster child of 2012, this short puzzle platformer holds up all these years later, even with the handful of dated references to 'The Cake is a Lie', 'Nathan Fillion' and 'arrow to the knee'.
While the game's writing is strong, it's impressive the level of characterisation that the narration gives to these simplistic shapes. Chris' short temper is reflected through his limited jump height, Sarah's bouncy energy comes through in her double jump, and Claire embodies her self-proclaimed superhero status with her ability to float. These characterisations are implied by narration but cemented via gameplay. These characterisations stay with you because of this simple effective trick, impressive again since none of the characters directly speak.
At one point I wondered if these shapes in fact had any true character, or if it's just the narrator imposing their view or being plain untrustworthy. Either way, it's a really effective trick that elevates a simple presentation with genuine character.
The puzzles themselves offer a decent set of challenges, with some frustrations. For example, one late game mechanic feels like an unintentional side-effect from misusing the jumping mechanics, but it works brilliantly as an 'ah ha' moment. However, switching between characters can get tedious. It's hard to line up tricky multi-character jumps when you're trying to remember the order of characters in the hotswap bar, especially in later levels. I love the entire Jumping Team more than most, but it wasn't fun to manage all of them.
It's trodden ground at this point to sing its praises, however, Thomas Was Alone deserves its praise. If you've been sleeping on this, it's worth the time.
Nice little puzzle game with narrative.
I can see why this game became so popular when it came out in 2012, but it does show its age now.
The difficulty curve is well crafted and there are some levels that were really fun.
Though I disliked the that some of the levels you literally just had to do 5 times over, made it very tedious.
And towards the end, I felt like you had too many characters to keep track of. I also had a problem where the game would sometimes not recognise me jumping or using the number keys to swap between characters.
Today there are definitely platformers that feel better to play and is more worth your time.
Absolutely outstanding game. I remembered playing this when I was a kid and couldn't recall the name until I saw it during the summer sale. Very short playtime, but even if it is a rather small game even in scope the narrative is grand.
pretty nice, story driven indie platformer :)
Essenziale e profondo.
Breve ma "lungo".
Riflessivo e veloce.
Mettere assieme apparenti contraddizioni ha creato una piccola perla, riuscendo a comunicare sentimenti umani con semplici figure geometriche.
Intelligenza artificiale (nel gioco) che comunica e viene diretta dall'intelligenza naturale.
DA GIOCARE. Assolutamente.
Who knew a game about blocks would have one of the most heartfelt and heart-wrenching stories of all time?
Such an outstanding game! If you are looking for a platformer with a memorable and impactful story, this is a great choice
the stanley parable + 2d platformer = this great game
I recently played it again after not doing so for 10 years. Still a great puzzle platformer. Not insanely difficult, although I admittedly mess up some jumps royally. The story/narration is what is really great about the game. Been recommending this game for years entirely for that part.
Thomas Was Alone is a minimalist puzzle-platformer where you guide simple geometric shapes through levels, each one given a distinct personality through narration. The story is told almost entirely by the narrator, turning very basic visuals into something surprisingly emotional.
I love it because of the narration and the clever puzzle design. The way the story gives meaning and character to simple shapes is brilliant, and it really feels like LIMBO meeting The Stanley Parable. It’s smart, funny, and unexpectedly touching, proving that great storytelling doesn’t need complex graphics to be effective.
Thomas Was Alone è un brillante puzzle game con parti platform.
Il gioco, che si porta a termine in circa 4 ore, integra in maniera originale una narrazione all'interno dei suoi 100 livelli, anche se al di fuori di un ottimo doppiaggio del narratore non è poi così interessante e comunque non ha ovviamente la priorità sul gameplay.
Gameplay che è di buon livello sia per la parte puzzle che per quella platform, grazie a un level design generalmente riuscito e a una buona varietà di situazioni e di blocchi diversi (che narrativamente rappresentano i personaggi di questa storia), ognuno con forme e moveset unici.
Va sicuramente detto che il gioco non è particolarmente sfidante, e soprattutto in alcuni livelli si ha la sensazione di completarli un po' troppo in automatico.
Esteticamente, il gioco può vantare un elegante minimalismo, ma a mio avviso lo stile è un po' troppo semplicistico; bella invece la colonna sonora.
Thomas Was Alone resta quindi un gioco di buonissima qualità, e una gradita sorpresa indie dall'ormai lontano 2012.
PRO:
- Game design brillante nell'ideazione dei puzzle
- Buon level design
- Buona varietà di situazioni e di blocchi diversi (i personaggi)
- Bella colonna sonora
- Narrazione originale ma non particolarmente interessante, anche se impreziosita da un ottimo doppiaggio
CONTRO:
- Livello di sfida non particolarmente alto, specialmente in alcuni livelli
- Estetica minimale ma fin troppo semplicistica
VOTO: 7.7
still good.
Was on my play list forever. Wish I would have played it earlier. Nice logic puzzles that are simplistic yet challenging building within each level and across levels with a narrative that ties it all together and music that nicely fits the mood. Great unwinding game -- be ready to abuse that jump button though!
firewatch levels of good, maybe a tad overhyped and a little convoluted story wise, but extremely good. worth every penny<3
Bought this through Humble Bundle 12 years ago and unfortunately sat on it. Finally played it, enjoyed the puzzles and the fun narrative.
A fun little jaunt
Amazing and simple game
Awesome soundtrack
Awesome commentary
Not my kind of game, didnt like it.
nostalgia
Thomas Was Alone est un puzzle platformer qui intrigue par sa simplicité. De prime abord, il ne paye pas de mine : quelques formes géométriques colorées sur fond noir (ce qui d'ailleurs me rappelle Electronic Super Joy, platformer "hardcore" que je recommande également).
Et pourtant, Bithell Games réussit ici à montrer comme le gameplay et la narration seuls suffisent à rendre un jeu plaisant, unique et même touchant. On s'attache à ces carrés et rectangles qui représentent en fait des I.A. hors de contrôle suite à un évenement imprévu. Elles ont chacune une personnalité étonnamment très humaine, mises en scène par le narrateur, Danny Wallace.
Les puzzles assez simples et intuitifs s'enchaînent, mais restent plaisant à réaliser, notamment par l'introduction régulière de nouvelles mécaniques.
Je recommande pour quelques heures de plaisir!
A charming little platformer with a warm message, [b]Thomas Was Alone[/b] is exactly what it wants to be, executed confidently, and nothing more. It has a solid difficulty curve, introducing one character at a time so you can learn their niche - strengths and weaknesses alike - in isolation before moving on to puzzles that use the full roster. It never demands tight timing windows or frame-perfect jumps, avoiding the kind of frustration usually associated with precision platformers. Hidden collectibles exist, and you’ll likely miss some, but replaying levels with late-game knowledge makes them feel pleasantly intentional rather than tedious. The game wants to be a part of your relaxing afternoon, and that’s exactly what it is.
An absolutely cute and clever jump-and-run game, where nobody runs and where I feel surprisingly emoptional attached to colorful rectangulars.
Short fun puzzle game with themes of identity.
The best part of the game is definitely the characters. It's incredible how quickly you get attached to a few colored blocks, which are brought to life through a beautiful narration. The actual gameplay is quite simplistic, with easy puzzles and platforming, so much so that I wished they had been explored more. Still, some levels are really clever and fun to complete.
somehow better than elden ring
Thomas was Alone started as a flash game, a small puzzle curiosity that just attracted enough attention to have a full game release.
It's still super simple and intriguing for the duration. You control a group of different colored blocks, each one having a different skill, color and size. Thomas, the red block is just average, but soon he will be joined by John the long who jumps really high, Claire who can move on water, James who is upside down, etc.
The main attraction is the narration, it creates a nice personality for each block and how they like or hate the other characters. The music accompanies the gameplay nicely, expect lo-fi songs similar to Bit Trip Runner melodies.
It's a really short game, expect 3 hours of gameplay if you are going for all the hidden collectibles, which are not much of a challenge. There are 10 worlds composed of 10 levels each, they range from absurdly simple to average difficulty reaching the end. Some levels can be frustrating because of precise jumps and fail states having to either restart a level or go back to the last checkpoint. Some of the physics, particularly when squished by moving platforms are not smooth and you have to get used to have no momentum at all in mid air if you release the direction button.
There's not really a lot more to the game, it's ok, it's not wonderful. Definitely worth a run.
Please more people play this game. Please know that you're here for a story, and take it slow.
[b]TLDR[/b] Minimalist puzzle-platformer with great aesthetics, simple and easy gameplay, but technical issues undermine the overall experience. [16/20⭐, 5h🏅, 2/5💡]
[b]Context[/b] Thomas Was Alone is a multi-character puzzle-platformer where you follow a group of AIs trying to reach a connection to the outside world. The mechanics are simple, and the game leans more on aesthetics and atmosphere than challenge. Unfortunately, it’s also affected by several technical issues.
[b]Writing[/b] You play as a handful of self-aware AIs searching for meaning while journeying… well, to the top and to the right. Each AI has a “personality” roughly tied to its unique mechanical traits. The plot is light and delivered through a narrator voicing the AIs’ thoughts, interspersed with quotes from the in-game developers who created them. The tones differ sharply — the AIs are naïve and curious, while the devs are analytical and dry — but the contrast works, giving context without becoming heavy-handed or forcing deeper plot questions.
Overall, I found the writing quite satisfying, and you find yourself assigning personality traits to colourful rectangles (I’d say this was surprising if it hadn’t already happened to me with [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/macwh/recommended/469790/]colorful lines[/url]). However, a late-game twist abruptly shifts the plot, and the final chapters feel more like an add-on than a natural conclusion. I understand this was tied to a major mechanical change, but it still felt rushed and reduced the impact of the ending.
[b]Aesthetics[/b] The visuals are entirely abstract and rectangular, which fits the narrative’s minimalist style. The narrator’s voice acting is excellent, with an upbeat tone that contrasts nicely with the stark visuals.
The electronic ambient soundtrack is outstanding — one of the best I’ve heard in a game of this kind — setting the mood of each chapter without ever becoming intrusive.
[b]Gameplay[/b] This is a fairly typical puzzle platformer in terms of mechanics. You control up to 6 characters per level, each with their own abilities (jumping higher, floating in water, acting as a spring, etc.), cooperating to navigate simple obstacles (moving platforms, spikes, water) and actuators (mostly buttons). The levels are mostly straightforward, with minimal logical or timing-based challenge, and they do start to feel a bit repetitive.
Surprisingly, for a game that looks so elegant and polished, I ran into both flimsy physics (getting stuck in walls, inputs not registering, sliding on flat platforms, etc.) and performance problems (frequent second-long freezes). That don’t make the game unplayable just because the difficulty is so low. But they considerably affect the overall experience.
Each character can die and is instantly respawned at the start of the level or at an intermediate checkpoint. It’s possible to hit dead ends, forcing a full restart. Progress within a level isn’t saved — only overall story progress through auto-saves.
[b]Value[/b] It took me under five hours to finish the 120 levels across 12 chapters (with the last two acting as post-ending bonuses). There’s only one save slot, but you can revisit earlier chapters freely. The game is fully linear, with each level unlocking after the previous one. Achievements are tied to progression and a few hidden collectibles, but these are trivial and don’t add meaningful challenge (they persist across replays, so no need for multiple playthroughs). This felt like it could, and should, have been a singular experience, but the technical issues ultimately soured it for me.
[quote][i]For more puzzle-game reviews and curated lists check out the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43326007-The-Clueless-Adventurer-Puzzle-Trove/]Puzzle Trove[/url].[/i][/quote]
How did they made a literal rectangle a compelling character?!
interesting game with nice art direction
Thomas was alone is an fun puzzler on the surface - it starts with Thomas, a simple rectangle with the ability to jump, and builds in complexity with more characters with different abilities and sizes, and builds the complexity of the puzzles steadily, and is fun to realise how to complete a challenge.
Beyond the puzzles themselves, Thomas was alone tells a gripping story that aligns with the puzzles deeply and builds a cast of engaging characters with nothing more than basic graphics and per mission narration, an impressive feat all by itself.
It's not alot of money, and you'll complete it inside of 10 hours from what I remember, but its an amazing experience that is an easy recommend.
completed in one sitting. thoroughly enjoyed. fun platform puzzle game with great commentary and a fun but deep story.
This game is just peak.
I never thought a simple game like this could give me such a great experience.
Simplemente me encanto
Somehow the game makes you empathize with geometric shapes.
Cuuuuuuute
Not enough people have played this little game! Great as a platformer, and great as a story. The narrator is so much fun, and I love how he gives so much life to these faceless little squares. It's not that long, but honestly, that just means it never overstays its welcome. This game is a classic example of reminding us you don't need expensive effects and spectacular complex visuals to make something great.
This is the best game I've played in a while.
Limbo with colorful boxes
Banger!
It's really hard to describe how creative a human can be. And it's even harder to describe how underrated this game is.
Mike Bithell – the main developer of this independent platform/puzzle game – mainly programmed this game during his off-hours from work. Thomas is an AI within a computer who suddenly gains consciousness, and represents itself as a red rectangle in a two-dimensional world. Curious and eager to learn, he explores the surroundings and meets other AIs. Each AI has their own colour, skills and personality, and the interactions with Thomas and each other are their way of getting from one level to the next. There are ten stages, each subdivided into ten levels, with two extra stages added in the “Benjamin’s Flight” expansion. Each level has a separate end point for each AI that just needs to be touched; water, spikes, and platforms are typical obstacles the AIs need to overcome, and sometimes buttons need to be pressed to unlock doors or change the level’s morphology to the AIs favour. While “just rectangles”, the AIs have their own personalities, which are delivered by Danny Wallace’s amazing voice over work, which earned him and the game a BAFTA award in 2013. Thomas Was Alone quickly develops into a very emotional narrative about collaboration, friendship and the desire to reach freedom, and while the platforming and the level designs are both incredibly solid, they almost become 2nd nature to the story. The soundtrack also plays its part, with nice tunes that start simple and become more and more complex or emotional depending on the number of AIs in the levels and the several high-points of the story. While short, the game is incredibly well paced, and the expansion provides some great “more of the same” with the added bonus of some more background about one AI. Thomas Was Alone is a great experience, a strong argument for videogames as their own form of art, and an emotional journey following little AI rectangles with big dreams and memorable personalities.
Fun little game, ran well on steam deck. It needed custom key mapping though, check community layouts for it.
This game is alright, but the puzzles are barely puzzles--just repetitive tasks requiring to switch back and forth between squares. The fact that only 32 percent of users finished this easy game I think speaks volumes of its quality.
I have such a nostalgia for old school Steam... I dunno how special this game is considered 13 years later? But i still think about how it made me feel for simple geometrical shapes.
Block is love, block is life.
Eeeeeeh... esto es juego, y lo jugué. Si está chevre
basically, it's an empathy test with The Stanley Parable's level of narration
Excellent jeux de plateforme minimaliste avec une excellente narration sur l'IA.
A fun narrative adventure. Tells of some feelings through mechanics. Not too tough, pretty chill.
Pues oye al final me ha gustado, puzzles y plataformas pero para bien, me gusta la historia que va contando.
Quite cool short game!
I wish I enjoyed it more - the art is so unique and the story is very interesting, but the gameplay is a definite weak point. Several points within the story require fairly precise jumps and positioning which becomes very tedious after a while, especially with the platforming controls. I wish I could've experienced the whole thing but the levels eventually just got too frustrating for me.
[h1]🔰Игра концепция - Томас Был Одинок🔰[/h1]
- Причина, по которой я обратил внимание на эту игру, довольно интересная, как по мне. У каждого геймера наверняка был период, когда он грезил создать свою игру, лет в 12 и я фантазировал на эту тему, это был платформер про геометрические фигуры, при этом с точки зрения физики они вели себя максимально реалистично, а уровни состояли из искусственных препятствий, в которых фигуры могли застрять при неправильном прохождении, задача же была, как и везде, пройти из пункта А в пункт Б. Я даже пару уровней на бумаге (в прямом смысле) для игры набросал, но, учитывая, что реализацию подобной задумки что тогда, что сейчас я не потяну, идея наверняка останется идеей.
- И вот спустя столько лет Steam подкидывает мне игру с до боли похожей концепцией, даже внешний вид чем-то напоминает то, как я себе это представлял. Разумеется, я захотел пройти игру, и знаете... эта игра просто ужасна. Да, в ней есть интересный сюжет и элементы художественного оформления. Но, к сожалению, игровой процесс нивелирует все потенциальные достоинства. Основная механика строится на управлении различными версиями квадрата, каждый из них обладает уникальной особенностью. Их общая задача — пройти путь от точки А в пункт Б. На первых порах это может быть увлекательным, но после двух-трёх часов однообразного игрового процесса энтузиазм заметно угасает. Ситуация усугубляется тем, что количество фигур постоянно растёт, а это означает необходимость многократного прохождения уровня по довольно примитивным маршрутам.(Да,каждая фигура должна пройти этот путь.)
[h1]🔰Вывод:🔰[/h1]
- [u]Вот и получается, что, несмотря на интересную концепцию и сюжет, игровой процесс [b]Thomas Was Alone[/b] оказалась на редкость уныла и однообразна, что полностью убивает хоть какой-то смысл ИГРАТЬ в игру. Ей можно наслаждаться издалека или обсуждать как арт-объект, но на полном серьёзе её проходить я бы не решился, да и её художественная ценность, на мой взгляд, весьма преувеличена.[/u]
It's some rectangles that jump around innit.
please play this game i beg of you
shapes
An deep story with decent platform puzzle solving.
Did I mention the narrative? It works and brings the game together.
Oh and the music is just top notch.
When I was younger, I thought this game was pointless. But growing up gave me the perspective to finally appreciate its genius. A true masterpiece that was just waiting for me to be ready for it. It just needed time.
This was such an amazing experience. I have almost 100%ed the game, and for a game about platforming squares, it is so fantastic. I would absolutely recommend it to almost anyone.
Nice little platformer with some meta-humor. Simplistic but profound storyline that reminds us our we aren't defined by our nature or circumstances, but our relationships and actions. Much less infuriating than Celeste.
played this ages ago on the phone, very cute game.
not all that difficult, if you buy it full price its maybe a dollar per hour tops.
Once youre done youre not done, go to the level select to play Benjamin's Flight
AI will not become sentient.
saw nerd3 play this EONS ago and its charming and whatnot
Thomas Was Alone is a beautifully designed platformer that goes for impact over challenge. A fantastic platformer that is well worth checking out.
Even 10 years later this game is still cute and fun.
Cool game about squares
Frankly, one of the least inspired puzzle platformers of our age. The fact that it thinks so highly of itself and has a pretentious expository plot, despite no relation to the gameplay, is pathetic. At least Braid was stylistic and difficult.
being alone is much better than bad company.
This game is the proof that you still can make a decent product without any fancy graphics, the whole game is just bunch of squares and rectangles. The music and the narration was also decent but unfortunately this game has a big flaw which is it's gameplay. I'm by no means expert with platformers/puzzle games but after some point the whole game felt more annoying than fun due to amount of pixel perfect jumps you have to make, especially when the controls themselves don't feel that responsive. And the puzzles themselves aren't that engaging either, it gets quite repetitive quite fast. Even though I find the concept itself really cool I personally don't recommend it.
One of my all time favourite games. It holds up over time and has been loved by everyone I recommended it to.
It's a story platformer with some of the best voice acting I've seen in any game ever.
If you like story games, fun mechanics, good platformers, or great voiceacting, this is a game to check out!
best game ever
Cute little puzzle game, those rectangles have more personality than a lot of characters from AAA games.
Thomas was Alone is a really fun game. What you do is you start with the main character Thomas, then you work your way up to get to other characters like Chris. Chris is the second character you get after you complete the levels with only Thomas. Then after having some time with Thomas and Chris you get John. The really high jumper, after a bit of him you get Claire, Claire is the character that can swim in the unsafe acid water. Then you get Laura which characters can jump on her and bounce!!!! Higher they can jump, higher they can bounce, after Laura you get Thomas sucked into the weird black hole then Chris gets sucked in and then the rest of the story goes. Lovely game, highly recommend.
game runs like ♥♥♥♥ but it's peak
Recommended
Game was fun and engaging until about 5.4 and then just got annoying. I don't like having to make pixel perfect platform jumps, and I don't like having to make two characters jump at the exact same time to pass a stage.
Thomas Was Alone is an enjoyable simple platformer game, I beat the game and got all achievements in a little over 5 hours. I then didn't touch it for years but decided to replay it and I really enjoy the little story and the music for the game. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but I do remember it wasn't very expensive, and so long as you believe the price is fair for a little over 5 hours of content and you like platforming games I think you'd find it to be worth the price.
Thomas Was Alone doesn't do anything extraordinary. It is a simple, clean puzzle platformer where you swap between different colored blocks that have unique properties. One floats, one can barely jump, on jumps really high, etc. There is a story, and you know what? It's pretty good. Audio design is good as well, I don't know what there really is to [i] complain [/i] about with this game. Is it the best thing ever? No. But it doesn't have to be, it's just a short relaxing puzzle platformer that works well. And I'd say that's worth buying.
