I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

9 / 10

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is an engrossing social sim that offers up deep roleplaying and a wonderfully-realized universe, with fun collectible card game mechanics as a bonus. Perhaps more importantly, it’s one of the best distillations of growing up I’ve ever encountered in a video game. It doesn’t matter if you’ve left the era long behind, don’t miss out on getting these teenage kicks.

I may have some complaints about the game’s overall design choices and gameplay mechanics, but I will certainly give it another playthrough or two and may well change my mind. If that ends up being the case, you’ll all be the first to know, as there’s a ton of potential here. And in the meantime, if you like what you’ve seen and heard so far, you’ll almost certainly find something of worth here — so I encourage you to check it out for yourself.

Teenage Exocolonist rounds out to a moving, challenging coming-of-age story with genuine stakes and exceptional replayability. If you don’t like the way things went — and in early playthroughs, you probably won’t — there’s always your next life. There are more friends to be made, more crises to avert. With 30 potential endings, the options abound.