Unending Self-Discovery in Alter Ego

Alter Ego
By Caramel Column Inc.

"Who am I?"

This game is for those who want to analyze their personality, those with an interest in literature, philosophy, or psychology, and those who are continuously searching for themselves.

Tap whispers to gather EGO. Use the EGO you have gathered to progress in the story and take personality tests. Use what you learn in the game to see yourself in a new light.
There are multiple endings based on the choices you make. Your interpretation changes the nature of the in-game world.

"This is our story: yours, and mine."

A clicker game combined with philosophical and psychological quandaries. Who knew?

Since the game's official description doesn't offer much, here's what you need to know about the story of the game. You find yourself wandering through a dark, empty corridor when suddenly this wall, the Façade, appears before you. It tells you it's been waiting for you, introduces itself as Ego Rex, the administer of rules, and that you are here to find yourself. It tells you to clear your mind and contemplate, then disappears. The corridor now shows little thought/speech bubbles that you slowly approach. Tapping these bubbles grants you EGO, which is the currency of this game.

Below the corridor you can see bars marked with pictures, titles and open books. These are used to passively acquire EGO. Once you've obtained enough EGO to open a book, or progress another page in the book, it will increase your EGO a set amount each second, itself increasing as you progress through the book. There are 15 books total, all of which pertaining to psychology or philosophy in some way, and which you can read in real life (but not in the app).

Once you've obtained enough EGO, you should notice another set of buttons below the books: Inquiry (which is currently highlighted), Es, Goals, and Records. If it is interactable, a bright blue butterfly will have appeared on the button. Most likely, you will now be able to talk to Es.

Es is the main draw of this game beyond the clicker component. She feeds you personality/psychology tests and analyzes them to help you discover more about yourself. However, through helping you discover yourself, she also begins questioning herself. As you give her advice, you begin to change the game and her, eventually leading you down through 1 of 3 possible endings.

The third button, Goals, should also show a butterfly now and again, which means you've reached an achievement in the game. Through tapping, reading, watching ads, logging in, or reaching endings, you earn either EGO deposits, or permanent EGO acquisition multipliers. These are not only essential for completing the game without clicking non-stop for days, but especially speed up repeat play-throughs if you're aiming for a different ending.

As far as monetization goes, ads are fairly prevalent. Every so often a blue butterfly appears in the corridor, which you can tap and watch an ad for a 3x multiplier on EGO acquisition for 10 minutes. Es also has a butterfly appear in her room which offers an ad for a lump sum of EGO. If you don't want any ads, you can remove them for $2.99 in the store (the book in the upper right corner has an In-Game Purchases sub menu). You can also purchase tapping or reading multipliers, also $2.99 a piece. They also have supplementary content for post-game scenarios (after the True Ending) for $2.99, $5.49, and $9.49, if you want to "show the developers your support." I don't mind watching a few ads, especially with the sound off, so I found the free-to-play model was perfectly fine. I don't know about paying almost $20 for endings, though if you really liked it it doesn't seem too much to ask.

On repeat play-throughs, the game really is streamlined quite well. Not only are you allowed to skip the personality tests, since they don't actually influence the story with Es, but your EGO multipliers for tapping and reading also carry over. Yes, you have the acquire and read the books from the beginning, but you should be able to flip through those first few in no time after just a few whisper taps. (Pro-tip: you can just hold down on the book you want to read instead of tapping it incessantly—just make sure you keep an eye on the Rewards button to know when you've reached the next multiplier.) Time-wise, I think the 3rd and 4th play-throughs only took a couple hours to complete, though I'm still on endgame content with Es and trying to finish that last book in the corridor, Dogra Magra by Yumeno Kyusaku.

Overall, if you're looking for a time-killer with some fantastic ambiance, definitely check out Alter Ego. The music is ethereal, the character design is simple yet emotive, and the content is surprisingly complex for a free-to-play clicker. I love the literature element, which persists into the endgame, and talking with Es reminds me a lot of Monica from Doki Doki Literature Club...though less murder-y (mostly). I'll probably be coming back to this app for a while, both for the clicker component and the philosophical and literature-centered conversations.