Sometimes Always Monsters announced, due this year
The sequel to Always Sometimes Monsters.
Life-falling-apart sim Always Sometimes Monsters is getting a sequel with the confusingly titled Sometimes Always Monsters.
Announced today by developer Vegabond Dog and publisher Devolver Digital, this follow-up is due later this year on Steam.
The perplexing title is that way for a reason, as the developer described it as an inverse of its predecessor. Always Sometimes Monsters was a game about a character of your own creation whose life is crumbling after a breakup, eviction notice, and a dispiriting lack of commercial success as a writer. This sequel, however, is the opposite where your character has achieved their previous goals, but is still finding life trying.
"In this upcoming sequel, you've finally arrived: the love of your life is at your side, your book is on the best-seller's list and everything is as it should be: stable, comfortable and well-deserved. But success isn't all it's cracked up to be. Despite all of your achievements, whispers from the shadows grow, calling you a 'monster', 'manipulative', and 'unrepentant,'" Vegabond Dog said of this sequel's premise.
"Seeking inspiration, you join a cross-country bus tour with a band of like-minded authors as each stop presents a new city to explore. Fans and strangers alike invite you into their lives forever shaping their worlds for better or worse as you pass through town with a whirlwind of choice and consequence."
It's a unique premise that sounds a bit BoJack Horseman in its examination of the gulf between commercial and romantic success with actual happiness.
"These games are antithetical to one another, and so their naming must mirror that," explained creative director Justin Amirkhani. "We spent a long time considering alternatives, but this was the only thing that we felt truly fit. Adding a number to the end just didn't make sense because this game doesn't feel like a forward progression. It's more like an opposite, or a reflection of the first."
To commemorate Sometimes Always Monsters' announcement and PAX East premiere, Always Sometimes Monsters will be 90 per cent off on Steam this weekend. That hasn't started yet, but keep an eye out. It usually goes for £6.99, so snagging it for £0.69 is quite the bargain.
Eurogamer contributor Dan Starkey loved Always Sometimes Monsters. He said its "narrative is one of contradiction and hypocrisy, because that's what real people are about," in his glowing Always Sometimes Monsters review.
