Over three years after releasing on PC, Vagabond Dog is giving us their RPG to PS4. Is it worth picking up? Find out in our Always Sometimes Monsters review!
Always Sometimes Monsters – Trailer
As the game starts, you are in control of Larry, who’ll get to choose one of the oeople who is invited at his promotion/birthday party for an advance on the opportunity to write a book and get published. From the moment you’ve chosen the one, with no other information than their look and the drink they want to make a toast with, you’ll be in control of that character to go and get your love to present to Larry.
Fast forward one year, and you are now in control of the same person as before… except that your love has left you, you didn’t finish your book, you’re broke, and you get evicted from your apartment. And when you think things couldn’t get worse, you receive an invitation to your ex’s wedding, in a month, on the other side of the country.
From there, you’ll be on a mission to get to the love of your life, and everything you do to get there will all be about choices. The heart of the game is designed around making the right choices for pretty much everything while you go around town to find jobs or any possible way to make money. Will you find the money to be able to pay for your apartment or will you just sleep on a bed in the streets? Will you help an old woman or work in a nightclub? Will you take only one vintage baseball card like that woman told you, or steal them all to get more money from the pawn shop?
All those options will be presented to you in an old-school 16-bit style RPG game. While that might not be visually appealing to everyone, I think it was a perfect fit with how the game plays since its a narrative experience. But even with the 16-bit art style, there are still a lot of nice details in the town or in the different buildings you visit that make the game nice to look at
Did I mention this game is about making choices? I loved that aspect. Considering what you have to deal with, with no home, no money, and a possibly lost love, it really makes the game stand out. In my current playthrough, I decided to be the guy that mostly doesn’t care about moral choices, and I honestly have done a lot of bad things to be able to get some money to feed myself and to be able to get out of town. I can see myself doing another playthrough trying to go with all the honesty in the world to earn my money legitimately to see how the experience and the story change.
At first, I was a bit lost around town, but then I met someone talking about making video games, saying that a game shouldn’t have a tutorial level, since this is just not how it works in real life. That’s the moment it hit me: the depth they gave this game by putting you out on the street, clueless about what to do next, is a great representation of what life can be like during tough moments, and does a great job to get you in your character’s shoes.
Another aspect I love is that the trophies are all tied to the story. There’s no platinum, but it’s still an easy 100% that you can get just by playing the game. What I love about that is not the fact that it’s an easy 100%, i’s that I could focus on playing the game and how the choices I made impacted the story, appreaciating the story every step of the way. There is no need to make different saves, to take different paths and all the other stuff we’re used to doing for trophy runs. Just appreciate the game and its story on PlayStation 4.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve played Vagabond Dog’s hit on PC before, you won’t find any new material in this release of Always Sometimes Monsters, as it’s the exact same thing. But if you haven’t played it , or if you want to give it another shot with maybe another way of tackling your decisions, it’s the kind of game that gives a lot more to you than just “playing a game – it might even help someone if they’re going through a similar situation. One thing’s for sure, it’s a game that’s definitley worth playing.
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PSN Price (PlayStation 4): $9.99
Game Size: 431MB
Disclaimer
This Always Sometimes Monsters review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Vagabond Dog.
