LEFT ALIVE - yes it’s really supposed to be in all-caps like that - is such a tragic game, not only in themes but the fate that befell it. Back during Square Enix’s most recent experimental period that saw such oddities atThe Quiet Man,Fear Effect: Sedna, andBalan Wonderworld, there was at least one game produced that managed to deliver something worthwhile. Well, it didaftera substantial post-launch update, but sadly by that point the damage was done.
A single-player PlayStation game with mechs, melodrama, and high replay value should’ve been a slam dunk, but instead Left Alive is primarily remembered for flaws that have long since been fixed. What were these egregious issues? The balancing was a bit masochistic, like a Japanese twist on the dystopianPathologicseries, and the game engine struggled in performance. These were genuine problems, but for the most part (the PC port is still a bit unpredictable) it’s been fixed.
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Left Alive is the passion project of Toshifumi Nabeshima fromArmored Core, paired with the skills of the artistic genius of Yoji Shinkawa from Kojima Productions, and mech maestro Takayuki Yanase. And boy, can you tellMetal Gear Solidhad an influence on Nabeshima-san’s ambitions. In a number of ways, Left Alive truly delivers on the initial promise of Metal Gear Solid 4.
You’re caught in the middle of a warzone, with limited supplies, struggling to scavenge what you need as you navigate the wide-linear sandboxes full of world superpowers beating the crap out of each other in mechs that dwarf you. You’re an ant caught in the crossfire of titans, and reinforcementsaren’tcoming. When a Wanzer walks by a street near you, the camera shakes as though Godzilla himself has entered the stage.
This is part of what will divide players - Left Alive isn’t a story of empowerment. You are fully intended to play on the easiest settings and still fail at accomplishing several objectives thrown at you, with the game progressing regardless. A number of objectives are even timed, like inDead Rising, while you’re still learning to navigate each map across the war-torn city of Novo Slava. Oh, and in some cases, there are dialogue trees you can fail, potentially resulting in characters doing things like staying delusional or committing suicide.
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It’s honestly incredible just how much you’re able to succeed or fail at while the plot rolls on in Left Alive. Normally you’d need to be playing something like Dishonored to have this much reactivity, especially in a game with this much mocap and voice actingspread across three protagonists!
Yep, you heard me right. Three different leads, all with unique skillsets, gear, boss fights, and storylines. It’s likeResident Evil 2’s A & B playthroughs taken to the logical extreme. The Resident Evil inspirations are rather obvious beyond that, as starting protagonist Mikhail, a young but talented mech pilot, is clearly based on Leon Kennedy.
Meanwhile, Olga is a mixture of Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine - pairing a background as a cop with a tragic backstory as a grieving mother who tries to save a young girl not unlike Sherry Birkin. Finally, you have Leonid, who’s basically Chris Redfield and Albert Wesker as one gruff revolutionary broken out of prison to get revenge on the man he thought was his best friend among the revolutionary front. Of the three, you’ve got a wide-eyed youth, a refreshingly complex female lead, and a grizzled soldier for those who can’t get enough of Marcus Fenix-alikes.
The trio interweave between one another’s stories, with the ability to leave each other loot on maps in secure crates. If you know another protagonist is going to travel through the same area, you’re able to leave them behind vital supplies they might not have received otherwise. Even when going in blind though, Left Alive has a brilliant trick up its sleeve - the failures of others rewards you.
Every time a player dies while connected to the internet, the game logs their position and drops a dead Ruthenian soldier body in their place. Each body can be looted, with the value of what they drop increasing the more players have died in that particular spot. Maybe it’s just ammo or a grenade, but it’s possible to find permanent stat health boosts. You’re all but literally climbing over the corpses of your fellow players to survive, each failure unwittingly giving other players a fighting chance.
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As if the story and quests weren’t reactive enough on their own, the sheer flexibility of your approach as a player is staggering. You can improvise mines, turrets, decoys, and more. Practically every crafting element has at least three uses, and unlike so many games that give you these kinds of traps, they’re actually useful here. The opposing enemy force are a bunch of cocky, heavily-armored pricks who think they can do whatever they want. They’re the perfect stormtroopers to bring down with ingenuity. And when you finally get to pilot a Wanzer mech? It is the perfect moment of catharsis.
Each Wanzer is fragile, given they’re already battle-weary due to the ongoing siege, but if you may dodge incoming attacks fast enough, you can be a downright terrifying force to be reckoned with. No matter if on-foot or in a towering mech, you’re always on the backfoot in therightway. There’s a real sense of vulnerability and risk that most AAA games wouldn’t dare incorporate these days.
This is why, if you pick up Left Alive - which you should, it’s criminally underrated - you absolutely need to start on one of the lowest difficulty settings. I don’t care if you’re like “I always play on the Hardest Setting!” because Left Alive isn’t playing by the traditional rules. On the lightest difficulty setting, Left Alive is a Metal Gear game on Medium. Everything up from there is Hard or worse. There’s a legitimate chance you might not see the end credits if you try to rush through on the hardest setting in your first playthrough. A meaningful New Game Plus option is included for a reason.
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Still, if you can bear with that initial learning curve and start off humbly, Left Alive is by far one of the best PlayStation exclusives that sadly too few have experienced, especially after it was patched. It’s not a coincidence the game’s Metacritic user score rebounded after the developers patched things up. It’s like an open secret that not even Square Enix wants to capitalize on. For all the effort put into Left Alive, it’s effectively been buried into a cult classic you only hear in whispers.
It goes on sale for dirt cheap these days - even the collector’s edition - and is remarkably relevant with its anti-war themes, emphasis on player agency, and nostalgic fondness for PS2-era sensibilities. There’s nothing else quite like it.
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