- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Find a way to survive. That's been your only choice from the start.
Left Alive is an upcoming game published by Square Enix. When I say upcoming, I mean it releases tomorrow.
I want to preface this post by saying straight up that this game is pretty rough looking. Though it is in the style of Metal Gear Solid 5, it clearly does not have the same degree of polish in terms of visuals or animations and, reportedly, controls. The game has had a bad launch in Japan, is almost half off on JP Amazon and streaming is restricted. It's said to be genuinely very difficult, with even the lowest difficulty setting being pretty punishing due to a low numbers of save points and enemies having wide detection radii. It's also releasing in the same week as Devil May Cry V.
Even so, I feel a really strong interest in Left Alive and so I'm making a thread on it.
Left Alive is set in the universe of Front Mission, the well regarded TRPG. In the late 21st century, the world has been split into a number of supranational blocs, preventing major war from breaking out. However, small scale conflicts and proxy wars are rife, facilitated by the giant robot weapons known as 'wanzers.' Left Alive is set a few years after the events of Front Mission 5, but is stand alone. It is set during the 'One Day Incident,' where the Garmoniyan army invades the border city Novo Slava, the territory of its neighbour Ruthvenia.
The game follows three characters who are trapped in Novo Slava. The first is Leonid, formerly a high ranking member of an independence group, who was supposedly executed a year previously. He is in Novo Slava in search of his former commander, who he suspects betrayed him. The second is Olga, a former soldier turned police officer, who is investigating a number of disappearances in Novo Slava when the invasion begins. The third in Mikhail, a rookie wanzer pilot who becomes isolated from his unit when the Ruthvenian army is caught off-guard by the Garmoniyans. Each has their own story, but they are tasked with finding a way to survive, and perhaps help others survive, too.
In terms of gameplay, Left Alive somewhat resembles Metal Gear Solid V, a feeling emnhanced by having Shinkawa Yoji as the character designer, as well as some design elements like the Koshka AI that the characters use. Simply put, Left Alive is a stealth action game with an emphasis on tool use. You can craft a number of different gadgets, from molotovs to sonar beacons to trip-wire explosives. You can also engage in open combat but you'll probably die, apparently. In certain circumstances it is possible to steal or otherwise acquire a wanzer, allowing you to turn the tables on the Garmoniyans. In addition to this gameplay loop, you will encounter various NPCs and be able to interact with a basic dialogue system, which can result in various consequences.
Even though it looks a bit rough, there seems to be a fair amount of flexibility in how you can approach various challenges, and I think that's pretty cool. I'm reminded, in some ways, of Alpha Protocol. I think that a lot of the game's premises are really interesting and even if it probably won't all work perfectly, and even if some elements of the storytelling will definitely be kind of cheesy, there could be some good experiences in there if you're willing to sink your teeth into it. It's not going to change the landscape of gaming, but maybe it's worth a shot.
