Look, I didn’t hate I Am Alive. We as an outlet did not hate I Am Alive. Some dug its monochromatic world and impossibly stiff challenge while others wrote it off as a frustrating experience that was not worth the very long wait. After playing and mostly enjoying the game, I fully understand the feelings of both sides.
I Am Alive, one of the more polarizing releases of last year took seven years, more than 30 million dollars, and lots of hand changing to make. A great article over at The Game Effect details the very rough development process from beginning to end, with some of the story holes being filed in by an anonymous employee of one of the developers that worked on the project.
The story starts with French developer Darkworks and ends six years later with Ubisoft Shanghai, and it’s filled with head scratchers like this one, from the previously mentioned source:
“We went from a zombie survival game to a squad-based action game with rollercoaster rides to a single-avatar pseudo-stealth one (also with rollercoaster rides though).”
The full article is recommended for anyone that followed I Am Alive these past years.