Ctrl Alt Ego is the Best Immersive Sim in YEARS 

If you ended up buying and enjoying Ctrl Alt Ego, please considering taking the time to leave a review for it on the steam store page. It helps indies like Mindthunk get their game out there!

This entire game feels like one of those bizarre dreams you have as a kid that imprints itself into your memory

"We've made waves and we can't go back" is a great line

People are usually expecting new immsims from the same couple of developers, and here we are completely caught by surprise, with a really independent studio creating their own, and not only that: it's a full game, no early access gimmick, it's cheap, it has a good length (16 hours is really my cup of tea, by the way), it's practically bug free, and even so, PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING ON THIS!!!! Impressive!

Sounds like this game was inspired by the Spacestation Silicon Valley game on N64 where you are a tiny "bug" computer chip that hijacks robotic animals to puzzle your way through levels.

Within 3 days, we've had new videos by CW and Mandalore, and if it wasn't because we got three short videos by Grim Beard instead of a hour long one, I'd have to commission a monument to this glorious weekend.

This channel is drastically underrated. Big ups charl. You really carved out an identity that is unique on this hellscape of a site. Thats rare and hard to do.

I love that the big crates have health bars and are called "big fat crate." It's just humor like that that tickles me.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="189">3:09</a> The concept of possessing doors reminded me of that Dishonored commentary video, where the developers talked about "a small percentage of players doing a door playthrough". No longer a joke, it seems. The video in question is called "Dishonored - April Fools Commentary Gameplay HD", if anyone's interested.

**Spoilers** From how I understood... Dr. Everyman, is literally, every robot. I read a piece of note that says they experimented on many versions of Everyman, implying theres many versions of him in potentially everything. Hence why they chose his name to be "Everyman". He is every robot, lol. It fits with the humour of the game and having played SOMA, its essentially the same concept but exaggerated and everywhere.

When you started talking about looping infinitely I was like "oh great we're back in the cycles of guilt again" and we were on the same wavelength and I love it. Great video as always

@Charlatan Wonder I'm glad you're mental health is improving. I know that video creation is either a large or your entire income, but please take a step back if you're not doing so hot. I'm positive your community would understand if videos end up delayed. Keep on, keeping on! Much love, Tyler ❤️

I dunno if you take suggestions at all Charlatan but Heat Signature is a pretty cool game that gives me immersive sim vibes. It's got a really cool sandbox where things can occasionally interact in cool and unexpected ways and even as someone who doesn't normally explore the great wealth of options a good immersive sim provides, I had a fair amount of "Hey, can I do this? Yes I can, that's pretty cool!" moments

Why does all things come back to eye? I haven't played the game in years and still sometimes think about the cycles of guild.

I beat this game a couple days ago and I ended up really enjoying it. I had bought it after watching just a couple of minutes of this video. It had a slow start and took until about 4-5 hours of gameplay to get really fun. There's a point where you begin really understanding how to manipulate the environment and use your abilities effectively. With the right combination of abilities, you can kill/neutralize anything in your path. The maximum ego I had at one time was nearly 250 due to trying to get as much as possible, and perhaps being a little stingy on using it at times. Also, I ended up being as many bombs and pups with me between areas as possible. At one point, I ended up with 5 PUPs at the end of a level. I only brought one with me at that point because carrying all of them would be tedious. There are many times when the bombs I brought would be the perfect solution to one of my problems. One of my preferred methods of deploying those bombs was to push them around with the PUPs, preparing a trap for an enemy that is none the wiser.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="352">5:52</a> I've gained Brozouf

Due to this video, I bought Ctrl Alt Ego. I do not regret it. It's like a slightly jankier Prey, slightly modern Deus Ex, and while it's thematic to see a fully working mirror at the beginning where you can look at yourself (ego), I'm fairly certain a part of it is a nod to mirrors being called Looking Glass. I even discovered there's a pacifist mode, and ghost run challenges. The devs are very clearly fans of the genre.

that fact that you haven't mentioned that many bugs or glitches is the most impressive thing about that game, a game like this with how complex it's mechanics are sounds like the kind of software the blows up your computer if you try to run it, good job to these 2 devs honestly.

hell yeah! that game was awesame. tried it on day 1. the devs are still active on the game

It's just E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy all the way down.

"combat vacuum" aight I'm sold

Thanks for letting people know about this game !!! There are likely hundreds of indie game or AA games that just never see the light of day because know one knows they exist, stuff like lost in vivo, Lorns Lure when it comes out or games like Cry of Fear (Aka it all in le head pyro videos) , i dont know if people have realised but having youtubers talk about or reporting on games has given so many incredible stories and experiences life, thank you bro, truly.

Best immersive-sim i've played this year!

I just bought this game after seeing this video as well as another of your videos that featured it. I have yet to play it yet, I've got tons of games on backlog but I think once I have time for gaming, I'll get lost in it! I can tell just from the footage I'm going to love it. I also still need to complete cruelty squad, I'm stuck on the mall level lol. But without finding your channel recently I wouldn't have ever found this game, thank you! Also really enjoy your channel, don't stop what your doing man!

I've been so excited to see a game tackle indirect forms of combat like this it's fuckin awesome

Love your channel. Really glad you're in a better place mentally! Wishing you the best

If I ever start a RU-vid channel, charl is by far the person I’m the most inspired by. Not on a content level(even though it’s all sublime) but on a care level. So much time and effort bleeds through these vids that I have absolutely nothing but respect. I’m gonna need to join the discord

Hope you get through that rough patch! Good vid!

Haven't heard of this at all, looks pretty cool

You feel like my dad if he was slightly less angry. I love your content and you are the best!

I saw Dillon Rogers and someone else talking about this game yesterday then today I see your vid haha. I loved the video and definitely wanna see you new thoughts on gloomwood. Definitely wanna check this game out for sure.

This looks nice. It's cool how indie immersive sims is becoming a trend.

Finally, i've heard so many people praise this game but so little about why. And the trailer just irks me the wrong way. So I'm genuinely excited to see why I'm going to love this *Edit:* Nvm, the intro was enough to get me to try this without spoiling myself any further. Those were some big statements

Such a good game he’ll yeah thanks for letting people know about it!!!

So halfway through the video I went and picked the game up and instantly put 4 hours into it before returning to watch the rest of the video sans the spoiler part for obvious reasons. Loving it so far, the way I can tackle puzzles has been really fun and I can't wait to find even more discs to mess with all the different abilities (Currently just got the shotgun, the hover and the kinesis). Can easily see myself also replaying this a few times trying different upgrade paths like guns/drills blazing or trying for a full on stealth build using traps to take down hostiles if need be what I really enjoy from a conceptual level. Overall great game, can't wait to put more hours into it and experience it all for myself haha.

Hey man. Been here for a bit. Not a patreon yet. But love your vids and the heart you put into them. Especially with the cooking segments. (Really enjoy those). But glad to hear your mental state and living situation is getting better. Hope something big comes your way that boosts you and the channel up! 🙏

I'm short on cash right now but I will definitely check this game in social media seems really cool and I love that it doesn't rely too much in the combat aspect, also looking forward for your kenshi video If previous youtube gameplays I've seen are anything to go by I'm sure yours will be a good story to hear. Also also I love your cat is so cute

I'm happy you're doing a bit better mate

first video of yours i catched. quality content fpr sure

Finally found a video essay talking about this game, thank god

Hey man, just so you know I am a big fan of your work.

never stop being awsome my man

the algorithm is killer, every few weeks if I realize I haven't seen a video I go seek out your channel

thanks for recommending this game, i love it! and i only played the demo.

yielded for the game, stayed for the cat pictures.

Well done on finding this gem.

This game seems very fun and positive. We need games like this to brighten our lifes :D it really helps when you can get lost in a world :D thanks for making this video buddy! :)

Yo it's only 16 hours?? I'm sold! I've been looking for shorter games and have just gotten into immersive sims, thanks for the review 🙏🏻

You had me at VR cat pictures 🐈

Yooooo been waiting for this one

I didn't realize you could expel the DAD inventory by destroying it! So cool. I wouldn't have even thought to do it! I usually just use them to deserialize the enemies or drop heavy/explosive things on them, here I was missing out on the deep mechanics.

Never heard the term "Immersive Sim" before and still not entirely sure what defines a immersive sim. Stumbled over your video last night. Today I bought the game (because of your video) and played 5,5h so far. It's really good. Only thing I dislike a bit are the graphics, it's just a bit too shiny? Everything feels a bit like plastic at times. But you know, who cares about graphics if the game itself is fantastic. But I love the stripe effect when you press ctrl and go into ego mode. Good video, keep it up!

This still feels more like a puzzle game than an immersive sim to me.

honestly I probably wont ever play this, im actually not much of a video games guy, but i love your channel and i love watching this stuff, so thanks

Welcome back Charl.

I can't believe this is so slept on

Hey ..Also thanks for all the stuff you do Great Job thanks.

Saying hi in the comments? Oh heck yeah I can do that to show some appreciation for all you do

Love your stuff dude, can't wait till my finances are steady enough to toss some support your way.

Thank you for not being a sellout.

There is nothing more horrifying than the idea of a Robot using a hoover to fly at me at mach 5 with a shotgun in its spare hand.

woooohhhooo you back baby!!!!

gotta get this game. i wanna break it xD and i'm glad you're starting to feel better charl :)

figuring out Debuggery for the first time was fun, kind of a hard tutorial for the stealth mechanics. it’s funny how the game notifies you clear crates hide you from DADs but not Evil Eyes

Thank you for making me aware of this game

Well, at least as the BUG robot you don't have legs to break Interesting story and as alleays when things includ conciousness cloning things get confusing

I dipped at the spoiler warning. But wanted to leave a comment to say I'm defo checking this one out thanks to you. Love your vids, even if you are incorrect about where Thief ranks in the Im-Sim lineup.

Gotta say, of all the things I've seen in Tennessee the bass pro shop pyramid has been the coolest. Always look for it when I pass through Memphis.

The concept of this game kinda reminds me of Geist except you know.........actually good

The moment a loop was mentioned I waited for an EyE reference. Was not disappointed.

ahhh Samsara, never change /j it sounds really neat, and has added to some inspo for immersive sim design

You had me at "dad bomb"

Wait, HOW have I never heard of this!?

I put the bell on last year. I haven't ever seen a notif until your video got recommended again...

bass pro shop pyramids history is probably the funniest part about it.

love the legs reference

New video hype !!

Babe wake up new funny cat man video has been uploaded.

Thank you for recommending this game! It would have possibly gone under the radar for me if it weren't for your channel. This game is amazing and I rather enjoyed the story! P.S. It's a shame that only under 9% of all people who own Ctrl Alt Ego on Steam have actually finished it!! It's not that hard people...

Ok so here's my theory as to what the hell's going on in the game So we have Dave Everyman working as the head of CRS, doing experiments and generally being renowned for being one of the greatest minds of a generation, when all of a sudden the executor walks into the picture. Now we don't know how the executor was created but assuming it was on purpose it would be the result of an experiment of an experiment, likely a test too determine if you could branch out ego dumps conducted by Dave himself. There is some evidence to suggest this did occur in the game since one not in the cloud states its illegal for an ego to access its own branches since it led to the virus being created though that could just be referring to the ego we're playing as who I will refer to as butt3rcup for ease of identification. Now the moment the executor is created things start to go south, for a pretty simple reason, the executor is generated from Everymans ego containing his memories and experiences, so from the executors perspective he woke up one day and all his possesions, his relationships , his reputation and his company have ended up in the hands of someone else. Making things worse is the fact that the executor knows he's essentially just a copy of Everyman meaning he's A: Just as skilled as Everyman but of lower stature likely fueling feelings of resentment and B: Suffering from one of the most literal cases of imposter syndrome since he's literally designed to be another person The executor ends up working his way up the company and moving the ranks since he's literally posesses the skills of one of the smartest men in the universe and starts making plans on committing a coup to steal Everymans spot. I'm assuming that the executor wasn't CEO when Everyman died because the museum states the executor took his place after Everymans removal as CEO. The executor manages to get Dave to commence work on project buttercup for a few potential reasons I will now outline. Option 1:The executor was trying to create a cover for the deletion of Daves memory dumps since the parasite could easily destroy them thus ridding the executor of all suspicion. To anyone question how this would result in humanities destruction I should note these options aren't mutually exclusive but there is one explanation for this alone being the motivation involving buttercup Option 2:The executor was trying to ruin Everymans reputation by associating his name with the event that wiped out humanity Option 3:The executor wanted to make humanity all use his ego based tech as in order to make all of humanities future form dictated directly by him and his company and be loved by the masses as a great innovator. Option 4: He wanted to take over the world. Option 5:He wanted to take out the virus as a form of engineered heroics So all's going well until DR Everyman leaks information about project buttercup to the press at which point the executor has him murdered to keep the secret the executor ends up merging with Daves ego for two potential reasons the first is simple: he wants his ego to look like Everymans in order to frame him. The second is a bit more obtuse so you remember the imposter syndrome the executor might have made the merge in order to become whole to become the real DR Everyman and solve his imposter syndrome. For whatever reason the merger happens it bites the executor in the ass, first because it unleashes butt3rcup into the wild, but second because it makes the executor more unstable. The part that experiences itself as DR Everyman has essentially become the thing it has sought to destroy and has become his own killer causing a great degree of self hatred as well as powerlessness since the only way to stop it now would be to kill itself and the part that sees itself as the executor because he has transformed into the man that took everything from him in mind, this is backed up on the telescreen that tells us the two merged it literally states the two merged entities are in conflict with one another. This likely plays a role in explaining why the executor is so psychotic because he is constantly at war with himself The Everyman we see in the terminals likely existed in the real world since the museum mentions the cat terminal Everyman first arrived in as real so we shall treat him as an active entity here. What happens from then on isn't clear but we have more than enough information to fill in the gaps. It's highly likely the terminal and buttercup took the executor down as seen in the game, though I would not remiss the possibility that buttercup took over a bunch of robots and went to war with the executor thus wiping out humanity. Whatever happens the Buttercup and the terminal win against the executor and manage to put him on trial after humanities been destroyed* but central ctrl in a twist of fate put them on trial too. Buttercup is essentially an upgraded version of the virus that doomed humanity which should be concerning for obvious reasons, but even the terminal could pretty easily be classed as a danger to humanity. Remember even if you thought DR Everyman was a perfectly decent guy he created two existential threats to humanity through sheer carelessness and the conflict that wipe out carbon based life was started by two copies of Everyman living in the same space and now we're stuck with one of them being an upgraded version of the virus that wiped out humanity. it's no wonder they where condemned to the simulation. So that's the story of Ctrl Alt Ego it's a tale of a man being doomed to suffer for his failures in perpetuity for his crime of presenting an existential threat to life through malice sheer negligence or both *I presume the executor was still alive at this time because he can be found within the simulation

Great video my friend!! Love your imsim content. Maybe try kingdom come deliverance while you’re at it? Would love to see your take on that

Watched video (skipped spoilers) bought and played game watched video again :D

i am craaaving for immersive sims since i played prey. soooo <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="101">01:41</a> you got me. thanks for the video. youve earned a new sub sir. edit: ill come back and report later :P

Knock knock, whos there?, *Runs away*

i really like your channel :)

"IT'S BROZEOUF ALL THE WAY DOWN!" The horror, the horror!

I agree that 2022 has been a good year for imsims.

Another game into my list (Cruelty Squad and Peripeteia are 1st though) Although, I'm kinda dumb since I didn't pick this detail in your video, is this game still an early access or is it complete?

I can't think of much specific to say right now, but I will buy this video game, and here is food for the algorithm. 👍👍👍

THIS IS BASICALLY GHOST TRICK 3D AND I AM SO PUMPED

With every recursion, it always returns to the Cycles of Guilt. I would say "in the end", but obviously there's no "ending" here.

I want all the cat photo's

wait, what, a bank was like "hey bro, take a 20k loan from us, just pay us back 500 a month frfr" like, whats the benefit for you? im so curious, i work in finance so this just blows my mind

My Legs are Okay. You Gain Brouzouf. You Gain Brouzouf. You Gain Brouzouf. You Gain Brouzouf. You Gain Brouzouf.

You are a solid dude

instagib is pronounced with a hard g. I know its strange bc the root words are instant giblets and giblets is pronounced with a soft g, but such is the way of tech slang

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1027">17:07</a> i feel you man saludos desde Venezuela

Hang in there, buddy

With all that brozouf I can finally fix my legs

Great awesome vid