This Cozy Majora’s Mask-Inspired Indie Has 29 Endings, Including a Dog-Boy Romance

There is an irresistible allure to a well-crafted temporal loop. Whether it is charting the cosmic collapse of Outer Wilds or resetting the impending catastrophe of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for the twentieth time, the appeal lies in the cycle itself: the freedom to test boundaries without permanent ruin, to orchestrate elaborate, layered strategies across iterations, and to retain hard-won wisdom while starting fresh. Blend that satisfying narrative architecture with expansive character romances, set it aboard a distant celestial frontier, and you get I Was a Teenage Exocolonist—a game that pairs grand sci-fi stakes with deeply intimate, eccentric relationships.

Developed by Northway Games, the title puts players in the shoes of Sol, one of the earliest human children born on an interstellar voyage bound for the uncharted planet Vertumna. Spanning an entire formative decade from ages 10 to 20, every triumph, trauma, and milestone—your first playground squabble, your initial romantic spark, your deepest tragedy—materializes as an illustrated memory card. When crises emerge, whether acing an academic symposium or enduring predatory alien fauna, survival is determined not through dice rolls or martial combat, but by constructing strategic poker-style hands formed from the fragments of your own past.

The philosophical weight of this mechanic becomes evident early on: you are quite literally the sum of your experiences. As Sol matures, deck-building evolves into an exercise in intentional forgetting. Players can permanently discard low-tier childhood memories like early childhood play to make space for more complex, emotionally charged adult events. Memory curation becomes an active, vulnerable process. Unlike cold stat sheets or standard skill trees, holding your character’s lived experiences in your hand renders personal growth tactile, poignant, and distinctly fragile.

On a macro level, each season challenges you to dedicate your time to specific pursuits: dissecting alien anatomy in the xenobiology lab, forging bonds across the settlement, venturing into untamed planetary frontiers, or burying your nose in academic texts. Because every activity consumes a limited temporal window, specialization becomes necessary. Triumphs feed into foundational attributes such as Rebellion, Empathy, or Bravery, unlocking fresh conversational paths, emergent hobbies, and new romantic suitors. Neglecting specific disciplines inevitably conceals entire relationship arcs and story branches, underscoring the impossibility of living every life path simultaneously.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist frequently circulates among cozy gaming recommendations, though it inevitably sparks debate due to its frank depictions of grief, existential danger, and colonial hardship. Yet these elements coexist harmoniously. The game is soothing in its pastel-toned watercolor aesthetic, melodic acoustic score, and unhurried day-to-day cadence, while remaining emotionally unflinching in its exploration of mortality and sacrifice.

The true brilliance of its loop surfaces in subsequent playthroughs. Embarking on New Game+ does not reset your awareness; instead, Sol retains inexplicable fragments of past lifetimes. Uncanny premonitions allow you to circumvent previous disasters, bypass early interpersonal friction, and avert tragedies you were powerless to stop before. It elevates the structure of classic time-loop narratives to an expansive ten-year journey, trading temporal instruments for an ever-evolving card deck.

While an initial timeline concludes within twelve to fifteen hours, the title’s branching possibilities routinely lure players into hundreds of hours of exploration. Across 29 divergent epilogues, Sol might ascend to political leadership, explore deep cosmic frontiers as an expedition pilot, or quietly cultivate planetary botanicals. Combined with richly drawn companions—including fan-favorite romance options like Rex, whose buoyant charm masks complex personal vulnerabilities—every destiny you carve out feels deeply considered and completely earned.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Source: Polygon