They're Alive!

About

They're Alive! is a single player action adventure game. It was developed by Orion Games and was released on November 19, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

In "They're Alive!" you play as a provincial engineer seeking a fresh start in chaotic Moscow, a city rife with debauchery and unexpected challenges. Armed with magical goggles and a mix of humor and patriotism, navigate bizarre encounters, confront aliens, and use unconventional weapons to survive. This satirical adventure blends absurdity with sharp social commentary.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

67%

Audience ScoreBased on 21 reviews

humor5 positive mentions

story2 negative mentions

The game features a unique premise and dark humor that some players find charming and engaging.
The special glasses mechanic adds an interesting layer to gameplay, allowing players to see hidden truths and enemies.
Despite its flaws, the game showcases creative level design and a certain level of care in its execution, making it a memorable experience for fans of quirky indie titles.

The game suffers from technical issues, including frequent crashes and inconsistent performance, which can disrupt gameplay.
Combat mechanics are unrefined and lack depth, leading to chaotic encounters that feel more like endurance tests than strategic challenges.
The overall execution is rough, with dated visuals and awkward writing that can detract from the narrative and thematic impact.

gameplay
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The gameplay is characterized by a blend of low-budget shooter mechanics and satirical elements, but suffers from inconsistent implementation and technical limitations, leading to a clunky experience. While the unique mechanic of special glasses offers thematic potential, it rarely contributes to meaningful challenges, resulting in a straightforward and often frustrating linear shooter structure. Overall, the game is seen as an ambitious but ultimately flawed attempt, with many players finding it dated and lacking the polish expected from even modest indie titles.
- “A signature mechanic involves special glasses that allow the protagonist to see hidden truths, revealing enemies, secret messages, or concealed pathways that are otherwise invisible.”
- “Overall, actually not bad despite various mechanical quirks.”
- “The premise and pithy commentary is very funny and the gameplay, while not too enthusing, is fine for the 1-2 hour runtime.”
- “While this idea has clear thematic potential, its implementation is inconsistent, often feeling more symbolic than mechanically essential, as the game rarely builds meaningful challenges around its use.”
- “These technical limitations compound the already clumsy mechanics, making the experience feel more like a preserved artifact than a game smoothly adapted for contemporary play.”
- “Short even by Orion game standards, incredibly buggy (loading a save game after closing is a crapshoot) and rather tedious gameplay means it's not really worth your time.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is characterized by a blend of heavy-handed satire, dark comedy, and an Eastern European sensibility, effectively using exaggerated caricatures and social commentary to create a funny experience. While the gameplay may be simplistic, the surprisingly good voice acting and cute humor provide a refreshing balance, making it an enjoyable low-budget shooter with a comedic twist. Overall, the humor is well-received, adding charm to the game's short runtime.
- “Developed by Orion Games and published by Strategy First, the title blends low-budget shooter mechanics with heavy-handed satire, science-fiction paranoia, and an unmistakably Eastern European sense of humor.”
- “The game leans heavily into satire, conspiracy tropes, and social commentary, blending dark humor with exaggerated caricatures of authority and everyday life.”
- “The voice acting is surprisingly good and the humor is surprisingly cute, which is refreshing since some Russian games try too hard to be edgy, but I think this had a nice balance.”
graphics
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The graphics of the game are generally considered dated, with stiff animations and underwhelming environmental detail reminiscent of late-2000s shooters. However, there are standout elements, such as creative architecture and engaging visual details, particularly in the final level, which showcase a level of charm and creativity that elevates the overall experience.
- “There's some cool architecture and really creative layouts and visuals.”
- “The final level in particular has some really cool visuals and there are a lot of fun details and flourishes, like car alarms going off when you shoot a car.”
- “Great graphics for the time and a touch of soul.”
- “Visuals are dated, animations are stiff, and environments lack detail, even by the standards of late-2000s shooters.”
story
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The story features a mix of grim seriousness and absurdity, with abrupt transitions that may confuse players. It revolves around a protagonist who discovers sunglasses that reveal aliens among humans, serving as a homage to the film "They Live." Overall, the narrative includes engaging details and significant plot twists.
- “A very nice game with great details and a turning point in the story.”
- “Dialogue and story beats swing wildly between grim seriousness and absurdity, often without clear transitions.”
- “Anyway, the gist is you play as a guy who finds a pair of sunglasses that lets you see who's secretly an alien, which sounds a lot like the plot of the movie 'They Live'... oh hang on a second, it's an homage.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game's optimization is inconsistent on modern systems, often necessitating manual adjustments for stable performance. Additionally, players have reported issues with audio, including repetitive sound clip stuttering.
- “The game runs smoothly on my high-end system after I made a few adjustments to the settings.”
- “I appreciate the ability to customize graphics options, which allows for a tailored experience on different hardware.”
- “The developers have done a great job optimizing the game for various platforms, making it accessible to a wider audience.”
- “Performance on modern systems can be inconsistent, sometimes requiring manual tweaks to achieve stability.”
- “The sound kept stuttering the same sound clip over and over again.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and short, even by genre standards, with significant bugs affecting save game functionality, leading to a frustrating experience that detracts from overall enjoyment.
- “Short even by Orion game standards, incredibly buggy (loading a save game after closing is a crapshoot), and rather tedious gameplay means it's not really worth your time.”
- “The grinding feels endless and repetitive, making it hard to stay engaged with the game.”
- “I found myself doing the same tasks over and over again just to progress, which quickly became frustrating.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is criticized for being highly unreliable, with frequent bugs and issues when loading save games, leading to a frustrating experience that detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- “Short even by Orion game standards, incredibly buggy (loading a save game after closing is a crapshoot), and rather tedious gameplay means it's not really worth your time.”