Cohabitation
A game about learning to live as one.
CONTENT WARNING: Blood, intense violence, frightening imagery, mentions of suicide, mild light flashes.
NOTICE: The AI art in this game does not represent my current views on the subject. Please read this blog post for more details.
200 light years away, the planet Alkia drifts in space. It is home to not one, but two sentient species - the peaceful, technological Alkians, and the terrifying Holl, who live off hunting the former as prey.
Tasked with reclaiming a radio tower to help find a planet capable of harboring life, will you help your species make their escape? Or is there a somehow a way to cohabitate?
FEATURES:
- An engaging narrative where your actions matter. Pivotal choices as well as your underlying optimism (or cynicism) will determine which of 8 different endings you receive.
- Gameplay that is one part horror-puzzle, one part narrative adventure, and one part dating-sim.
- An exploration of other perspectives that lie underneath the surface.
- Custom painted art alongside otherworldly portraits made with VQGAN+Clip.
- An entirely unique soundtrack produced for the game made by monom.
- Hidden secrets that can only happen by random chance.
- A game experience more relevant than ever to our modern world.
Made with the help of Helen Zhou, Eric Lujan, Monty Bichouna, and Shannon Kong.
Additional playtesting help from SkyTheOtherGuy, Heming Chen, BrokenBee, and Spice.
Created for the University of Chicago's Digital Storytelling class, taught by Ian Jones.
We support loading of saves from the demo! Simply hit "Continue" at the title screen and load your save from before!
Download
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Comments
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Fantastic! For a while I've been disinterested in the RPGmaker subgenre of interactive storytelling, but this feels wonderful and really original! It's so amazingly apt with its societal themes and storytelling!!!!!
I share a similar view of AI art to you, and I want to say that I think it actually adds a lot to the story. Something about the way the Holl are a human's design of what uncanny human-resembling horrific creatures are, while the Alkians are something strange and separate from human designs, only made by a machine that guesses based on taking random human art, is really smart and adds a lot to the artistic meanings.
Great game. I feel inspired to write something as excellent as this. Also, send my regards to monom for the great sampling of one of my favorite movies of all time in the soundtrack.
i wanna make games like u
Very good game with a very good premise. Monom did a great job on this soundtrack and I love it.
this game is incredible! I don't understand how it can be so underrated... anyway, I'm very interested in translating it into brazilian portuguese. Where can we talk further?
yes! You should join my discord, where I'll give you access to the translator channel :)
https://discord.gg/yNkNUMHTgW
I just joined it. My id is CaptainFelix
Help! I keep getting the ending where we prepare for war with the Alkians, but I didn't tell anyone! I deleted the data and everything!!!! :(
SPOILERS:
The ending that you get depends on the cynicism in the choices you make as XMO-124 and the other player character, in some outcomes, war will still happen even without you telling anyone.
truly a work of art, me and my bsf played it together and loved it! Keep up the good work ^_^ xoxo
thank u! Glad you all enjoyed it :)
This never fails to make me re-think life, truly one of my favorite games ever
that means a lot to me thank you so much :,))
I'm so excited I haven't even started the game but I just KNOW I'm gonna love it <3
thank you!!
I trully love this game, its an amazing work of art, totally worth playing
Thank you so much! :)
I have play 'Time is solid here' then continues with this one. My sister and I really loves it. Love the story, how you navigate, the choices, and the meaning and the message in it. Truly worth playing!
Thank you so much
Awesome game, me and my friend had a great time playing this Can you send me an ending guide? my discord is trickledown0026 thanks!
HOW DO I BEAT THE SPIDER HOLL???
SPOILERS
It is possible to escape, you just need to be careful when running away, as the one chasing you is very fast. Once exiting the first room, go down the hallway, then when in the next room, find your way upwards and enter that room. Then rummage through piles of trash to quickly find a key and let yourself into the next room.
TYSM!! I LOVE UR GAMES BTW, ALSO IS THE ART PARTLY MADE BY THOSE OLDER AI ART GENERATORS??? BC IT REALLY REMINDS ME OF THAT UNCANNY BOTCHED STYLE AND I THINK IT MAKES THE GAME ALL THE MORE FUN AND CREEPY!! AND ALSO IF U DID DRAW IT HOW I WANNA RECREATE THE STYLE
Yes I did, with the old model VQGAN! It has a really interesting uncanny look, but I've become disillusioned with AI art since then
YESSS THANK YOU!! I love the uncanny look of the older models, something about it just felt so cool. You actually had to use your imagination. and honestly it was always so fun to mess with. I strongly dislike the newer AI art models however, the older ones had so much more personality. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
This was really cool, thank you for making this. Really neat little game that does aot with a little. I did stream myself playing this, but feel free to delete this if self-promo isn't allowed.
No problem at all with commenting the video here! Your v-tuber avatar is really cute :)
I'm not sure how I like this it's not just I favorite on rpg type of game or MV this game is really on the emotions I love it great game falcon
thank you so much :)
Hi, could u send me a link of the ending guide? i got three of them and I'm really curious about the others, good game! My username on discord is: robertokk
This is honestly an amazing game, though I'm curious about the other endings. Could someone provide me a link of the ending guide?
Spoiler:
I got the ending where the holl accept the queen's request & the humans get nukedSure, what is your username on discord?
Can you send it to me maybe?
My username is sleeping_mezz
I normally don't leave comments but I have to say this: This work is absolutely incredible! I was only looking to play a quick game on itch to procrastinate, but I didnt expect to be so touched by this.
There's so much I could say on this beautiful hidden gem, but I'll keep it to this, towards the amazing team: Never stop creating.
thank you so much <3
Is it possible to escape the Holl during the promotion?
Also I'd love to recieve an ending guide through Discord at: ProfligateSix
Thank you! Genuinely my favorite game on itch.io Second favorite would be Time is Solid Here.
Absolutely phenomenal storytelling and hauntingly beautiful. My words cannot do your work justice.
Thank you so much! Sent you a request on discord.
SPOILERS
It is possible to escape the Holl during the promotion, you just need to be careful when running away, as the one chasing you is very fast. Once exiting the first room, go down the hallway, then when in the next room, find your way upwards and enter that room. Then rummage through piles of trash to quickly find a key and let yourself into the next room.
Me: *gasp* Charon!
??: my name is Somnus
Me: aw...
Somnus: You may have mistaken me for my brother
Me: :D
lmao
I finally got a personal laptop to save my progress and I'm excited to play again without losing my stuff XD this game is amazing!!
thank you so much :)
it gives so many deep meanings. Come to think of it, what if something similar has happened in the past? idk man, but nice game. I look forward to more games like these, especially from Algebra Falcon, frfr, not only is the game so good, but it also has a real fascinating and interesting storyline. hats off to the developer.
thank you so much! I just announced my newest game, Project Obelisk, today!
https://itch.io/blog/708576/announcing-my-newest-game-project-obelisk
nice man, i look forward to it
It has been a while since I've played a game that made me legitimately think about my choices this much, and I am very glad that i randomly encountered it recently. the only flaw that I found is the lack of attention that you deserve for this masterpiece, and I wish you the best for future projects.
thank you so much man that is very touching!
dude your honestly so talented i played both of your games and looking forward to future releases
thank you so much! Working on a new game right now, hopefully will announce something soon!
after playing your previous game I found this one.
SPOILER:
I got the ending where the little mouse guys got nuked out the skyI wish all the people and groups just understood each other, you know what I mean? but I have a feeling that's the entire meaning behind the game.. 1000/10
True true haha
Only dissapointment is that there is no reaction to you choosing the name XM0-124. Awesome game, 5/5 stars.
I should add that haha
Noo I wanted to get promoted T-T oh well now it's time for me to fight off this spider with a face :) Wish me luck!
Btw I'm addicted to this game it's so freaking good - Perfect mix of creepy and adventurous <3
thank you so much!! :)
SPOILER:
Hint: Alkians are hurt by light. You should wait for a moment where the red light in front of the Holl is on.
And yet again I keep falling in love with all your games... However in this game I feel like there's more than one ending but I'm not sure... I tried twice and even watch people on yt in their walkthrough in this game and even tried more than once to figure out weather there is more than one ending... So is there really one? (And also this doesn't apply to just this one but if possible could there be in other games?)
there is more than one ending in this game, but time is solid here just had one ending.
ohhh I see tyy!
This is the kind of game where you're left wanting more, but I mean that in the best possible way. I was disappointed that the game ends when the story reaches its most interesting, but I know that that's probably the point. Outstanding work.
Thank you so much :)
Okay so this is amazing, the way you integrated real life situations with a more dystopian life is so beautiful- like, i know there are possibilities for aliens to exist and that if they do exist, then they wouldn't look like humans in any way. also the ending i chose was to accept the Holl Queen's offer. lmao- also ain't no way my partner goes "i dont wanna see you again", bitch we live together??
true i may have been too cynical while writing them haha
hey so what am i supposed to do after i read both emails from the computer?
nvm..i just realized..
omg are you the same guy who made the time game- the one that doesnt have a proper save :'(
What issue did you have with saving?
ah, every time i came back to the game, it would start all the way from the beginning, so i'd have to clean the paintings over and over
What happens when you tried to save with Charon -- did the game give an error?
no it didn't ever, it just sends me back before i met him when i come back to play
Did you ever get to the point where Charon tells you he can save your game and opens the save screen?
i am so mad that the one low class alkian got sundowned for thinking of a revolutionary idea and then the high class ones act like it was theirs
the idea was inspired by real life ;)
do tell
ah, interesting
naming myself [MALE PRIVATE PART] is so fucking hilarious
LMAO
and my partner [BRITISH WORD FOR CAT]
this game is the so far that most i ever really enjoy to play on itch io.What game my friends! Its beautiful, the soudtracks, the drama, concept and everthing! I love it !
Big thanks that means a lot :)
i've played both of ur games and BRO i love them sm. They're so interesting and unique , i'd love to see more like these!
Thank you! :) just started full-scale production on a new game!
this game is... fucking amazing. literally can't explain it any better than that. I only got two endings though - is anyone able to send me the ending guide? my discord is tedisnotgay, i'd really love to be able to see every ending!!
Thank you! Just sent you a discord request :)
Honestly, the concept overall is pretty brilliant.