I Am Alive

About I Am Alive

I Am Alive dropped in March 2012 from Ubisoft Shanghai for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. It is a single-player adventure platformer set one year after a global cataclysm wiped out most of humanity. You play as a lone survivor wandering through a desolate city to find your wife and daughter. The premise feels grounded in a dark and insecure world rather than the usual superhero or sci-fi tropes found elsewhere. The game attempts to make survival feel gritty by focusing on scavenging and movement across crumbling urban landscapes. Despite the heavy setting, the development team faced significant hurdles during production that would later show in the final product's technical performance.

Gameplay

You spend most of your time climbing, jumping, and crawling through ruined buildings while managing a dwindling supply of food and water. The controls feel clunky at times as you navigate narrow ledges or pull yourself up walls. You have to constantly watch your hunger meter and keep an eye out for hostile scavengers who will attack if they spot you. Combat is not the main focus but involves using whatever makeshift weapons you can find like pipes or knives. Exploration drives the experience as you search for supplies needed to keep moving forward. Sessions often involve getting stuck on a platforming section or running from enemies with poor collision detection, which breaks the flow of movement significantly.

What Players Think

The data shows a split in opinion that matches the game's reputation. OpenCritic gave it a weak 38 out of 100 score where only 1.82% of critics recommended it. IGN listed it at 68.1 based on 96 ratings, which is slightly higher but still mediocre. Players often cite the broken fundamentals as a major issue despite the engaging core concept. Eurogamer noted that occasional charm cannot fix the serious technical flaws present in the code. Some users mention enjoying the gritty atmosphere even when the gameplay mechanics fail them repeatedly. The community mood suggests frustration with the controls outweighs the desire to see the story through to the end.

PlayPile's Take

This title is only for players who want to see what a survival game looked like before the genre took over the market. It costs standard pricing on most platforms but feels unfinished compared to modern standards. You will earn achievements for completing chapters, though many require retrying sections due to poor collision handling. The story about reuniting with family offers some emotional weight, but technical issues often ruin the immersion. If you can tolerate clunky controls and bugs, the narrative might keep you going. Otherwise, skip this one and wait for a better survival title from Ubisoft.

Storyline

One year after the Event, a worldwide cataclysmic event that wiped most of the human race, a man struggles for survival in a desolate city as he tries to reunite with his long lost wife and daughter.