Indie · November 12, 2012

Thomas Was Alone (2012)

trophy35 achievementsgroup1M–10M ownersrecommend4.1k recommendations
Thomas Was Alone. And then, well, he Wasn't. Thomas Was Alone is an indie minimalist 2D platformer about friendship and jumping and floating and anti-gravity. Starting with Thomas, become acquainted with a group of rectangles-slash-sentient-AIs, learn their individual abilities, and navigate them through 120 levels of obstacles. Listen to a critically acclaimed score by David Housden. Jump over blocks and barriers meticulously placed by Mike Bithell. Listen to a voiceover read wistfully, a bit amusingly, and BAFTA-winningly by Danny Wallace. Thomas Was Alone tells the story of the world's first sentient artificial intelligences, and how they worked together to, well, not escape: Escape is a strong word. 'Emerge' might be better. 'Emerge' has an air of importance about it, while keeping the myriad plot twists and superhero origin stories you'll discover under wraps. We didn't even mention the bouncing. That'd be overkill. Key Features Utilize the unique skills of 10+ characters to beat 120 levels. Uncover the story of AIs becoming unexpectedly sentient. Immerse yourself in David Housden's critically acclaimed procedural score. Chuckle along to Danny Wallace's narration.

Peer Indie titles

Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.

Community Tag Signals

Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.

  • Platformer · 561
  • Narration · 504
  • Side Scroller · 500
  • Sci-fi · 497
  • Precision Platformer · 491
  • 2D Platformer · 491
  • Puzzle-Platformer · 486
  • 2D · 478
  • Atmospheric · 471
  • Story Rich · 469
  • Singleplayer · 463
  • Linear · 460
  • Philosophical · 457
  • Indie · 453
  • Casual · 385

Position in Indie

MetricThis titleGenre position
Review volume9.3k Steam reviewsTop 28% in Indie
Positive rating94% positiveGenre average: 87% — this title sits in top 30%
Metacritic77/100Genre average 77 — top 53% of Indie titles
Engagement hours2 h averageTop 96% for session depth among Indie

Reception Metrics

Steam community

94%Very Positive · 9.3k reviews

8.7k positive · 556 negative

Metacritic

77/100 critic aggregate

Open Metacritic page

Metacritic user score

6.9/10

Curator recommendations

4.1k

Press Quotes

“For all its charm, Thomas is more than just the super-minimalist-yet-incredibly-engaging tales of a few plucky AIs. It's the story of games. Of how they get made and played, of the joys and frustrations they bring and of the thousands of tiny iterative processes that go into evolving single titles and the entire medium into their best forms.” – Evan Narcisse, Kotaku “It proves that you don't need tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of staff to make a…

Indie releases from 2012

8 Indie titles launched in 2012 — top 6 by review volume.

Engagement Profile

All-time avg

2h

brief (under 5 hours)

Median

2h

Typical completion time

Achievements

35

Steam unlocks available

Release & Availability

Release dateNov 12, 2012
DeveloperBithell Games
Base price$4.99
PlatformsWindows, macOS
Estimated owners1M–10M
External linksOfficial site · Metacritic page · Support · [email protected]

Features & Capabilities

Community

  • Steam Achievements
  • Remote Play on TV

Input & Comfort

  • Full controller support

Other

  • Single-player
  • Family Sharing

Editions & Packages

  • Buy Thomas Was Alone