Alt+Escape: ImmorTall

Welcome to Alt+Escape, our weekly pick of browser-based games to help you start your weekend a little early. Check back each Friday for a new game!

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ImmorTall

ImmorTall is in the same vein as previous Alt+Escape classics like Every Day the Same Dream and Today I Die: It isn’t so much a game played for fun, as it is something to be experienced – and to maybe make you think a little bit.

In ImmorTall, you take on the role of an alien who has crashlanded on earth, and must defend one family of civilians as they get caught up in the middle of warfare. But while other games might have you protect the family by leaping on the soldiers who come near them to tear their spines out, or crushing tanks with your might alien combat prowess, there’s none of that in ImmorTall. You have no offense, only defense: The only thing you can do is use your own body as a shield against their bullets and bombs.

It’s surprisingly powerful, and its poignancy is only helped by the stark aesthetic. There are very few colors used beyond black and white, and there are no traditional sound effects – the weaponry blends in with the background soundtrack, adding dissonant chords to the haunting music. It’s remarkably effective, too.

I won’t give away the ending, and I suggest you play the short little game before coming to discuss it in our forums. I will say, though, that it made me stare at the screen for a good minute or so just thinking, so then, uh… I guess the game did what it set out to do.