I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is an interesting game. Not quite an adventure title, not quite a life simulator, not really a deck-building card game, Exocolonist falls somewhere in the venn diagram of all three, occupying a gentile space where conversations are important and making choices on how to spend your day has a lasting impact on the rest of the game.
The titular exocolony arrives on a new planet at the beginning of the game, and it is entirely up to the player how they want to spend their time. Do you want to pursue farming and follow your mother into the difficult field of agriculture on an alien planet? Or do you want to go to school to study the biology of alien creatures? Or maybe you just want to lounge in your bedroom all day, hiding from your responsibility to help push the colony forward. Whatever you choose, your selections will help shape your life and the future of the colony.
I played the opening half hour of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, and found it to be a pretty charming, low-key experience. Of course, this is just the opening of the game. Things could get much more dire in the future, depending on how I decide to spend my time (and who I choose to spend it with). Take a look at my session here:
A playthrough of one life is expected to take around seven hours. I doubt I will record all of that, but I do think I will be dipping back in to follow my little heroine as she starts to feel out her priorities and shape her own future.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is now available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, as well as PC, Mac & Linux on Steam, Humble, Epic and itch.io storefronts.
