Many games these days have predictable and cliched plots. It’s becoming increasingly complex to find a unique and well-told story, but Sunset Visitor took on the challenge and fired on all cylinders with its debut title1000xRESISTANCE.
On the surface, 1000xRESISTANCE is a story about surviving an apocalyptic alien invasion. But in unraveling its roughly 1,000-year timeline, 1000xRESISTANCE delves into a number of significant themes, including family, human nature, and the adaptability of the mind. I even learned a few things about myself along the way. It’s still a science fiction story, but it’s not afraid to delve into detail as the story progresses.
Those looking for intense or challenging gameplay in any form won’t find it here. In fact, for the most part, 1000xRESISTANCE is primarily an adventure game with a few featherlight gameplay elements woven into the mix. But those elements serve exactly the purpose you’d expect from an experience like 1000xRESIST: to flesh out the narrative. After experiencing this roughly 15-hour journey, I don’t think I’d want it any other way.
Clone Game
The story of 1000xRESIST begins over 1000 years after an alien species known as The Occupants visits Earth, bringing with them a weapon; a disease that leads to the near extinction of the human race. The disease is brutal. People start crying before all their bodily fluids are finally forcibly removed from their bodies. It is certainly not a pleasant end for humanity.
A group of six sister clones, all named after their purpose – Principal, Knower, Fixer, Healer, Bang Bang Fire and Watcher – live in an underground bunker, serving their creator, ALLMOTHER. We play as the Watcher, who has a unique role in that we can observe the memories of ALLMOTHER through a process called Communion. We can observe the memories and learn more about life before the arrival of the Occupants, as well as the last 1,000 years since their arrival on Earth.
At the time of the Occupiers’ invasion, ALLMOTHER – whose given name was Iris – was in high school. During her first communion as a Watcher, you experience the trials and tribulations of Iris as she lives her high school life. The Occupiers appear, and a disease begins to infect everyone at her school, except her. But before you can finish your first communion, Fixer finds a way to distort your memory; to warn you that things in the bunker, and more specifically ALLMOTHER, may not be as they seem.
When it comes to a narrative-driven experience like 1000xRESISTANCEthe story is the most significant part. And luckily the story doesn’t disappoint here. 1000xRESISTANCE uses a variety of forms throughout the story, mixing laughter, crying, fear, and confusion. The early chapters drip-feed you to satisfy your appetite for answers while also provoking more questions about what’s going on in this world. By the end, you get most of your questions answered, and the unanswered parts seem designed for the player to fill in the gaps with their own theories.
Cloning pigeon
I usually have trouble getting through games with a lot of dialogue. It’s not that I don’t like them. Who doesn’t like a good story? But whether I want to or not, I eventually start to wander a bit. 1000xRESISTANCE finds many ways to prevent this.
From a story perspective, there are plenty of comical laughs and subtle third-wall breaking segments that keep it fresh. Sunset Visitor’s writing style really made me look forward to every line of text. What’s more, every line of dialogue from every character is fully voiced by a great cast of voice actors whose excellent performances make the narrative all the more surreal.
Then there’s the gameplay. For most of the game, each chapter follows a similar rhythm. It starts in an underground bunker in the present. You’ll walk around and talk to other sisters, then perform Communion, where you’ll experience a flashback to Iris. During Communion, you’ll walk around and solve very featherlight puzzles using a handy piece of technology that lets you jump back and forth through different times on demand. For example, you might want to enter a room that’s locked in your current time. You can simply go to another time where the door is open, enter, and then return to your current time.
None of the puzzles are complex by any means and for the most part they just serve as a fun little gameplay element in between the storytelling. There are also a few Seriousness Haste-style segments where you have to look around you and right-click on specific highlighted points of the area you’re in, jumping from one point to another to quickly climb to higher areas or cover greater distances quickly.
The gameplay here is a complement to the actual drive to progress the story and explore the narrative in detail. You can’t fail or get a game over screen, and you probably won’t find yourself searching for a complex solution to a puzzle on your phone or anything like that. But it offers a nice change of pace from the game’s sometimes-hard narrative.
Clones rolling
At the end of each chapter you will be taken back to the underground bunker where you can run around and explore the bunker, called the “Guarden”, and interact with the other sisters to get even more information about what is going on, as well as their opinions on your observations. The character design of all the sisters is really well done. Each sister’s namesake describes their purpose in Guarden, which also shapes their personality based on what they have to do in the bunker.
At first, you’ll just scratch the surface. Each sister will start to open up and show you more of her personality as you progress. 1000xRESISTANCE. Even though the sisters are clones, they all have their own personalities. It’s a group of characters I didn’t expect to care about much when I first met them, but by the end I came to appreciate each one of them for different reasons.
Sword in the maple
Update: I’ve reached out to the developer Sunset Visitor regarding the save issues I’ve encountered below. The current save system has some areas where the game won’t save, such as the beginning of a chapter, which apparently happened to me. Most of the game can still be saved and loaded correctly, but there are parts where saving will cause the save to simply load the beginning of the chapter.
Although it’s a minor issue overall, I had a few minor issues 1000xRESISTANCE. First, how the save system works. At the end of each chapter, you’ll see the option to save. However, you can also save while you’re in the middle of a chapter, for example, as long as you’re not currently in a dialogue segment. Simply open the menu and click Save Game. However, this save doesn’t seem to save the actual point you’re at. Instead, it simply creates a save point at the beginning of that chapter.
The first time I experienced this, I had no idea. I was a few hours into a chapter, nearing the end, when something came up and I had to step away for a moment. I went into the menu and saved my game, only to come back later, and after loading the save I had to start from the beginning of the chapter. I tried this a few more times to see if it was a coincidence, but every save loaded at the beginning of the appropriate chapter. It’s a confusing option that can cause some irritation for players taking a break.
I also had some frustration trying to navigate Guarden, which is where you spend a lot of time. It’s pretty massive, which is significant considering it’s the last bastion of the apocalypse. But all you get is a straightforward compass-style indicator at the top of the map to find specific characters to interact with. Even after exploring the corridors and multiple levels of Guarden during my 15 hour playthrough, I still found myself running around confused, trying to figure out how to get somewhere because of the somewhat labyrinthine flow. It’s a frigid environment, and I can certainly appreciate the detail that went into it, but traversing it (which you’ll be doing a lot) can be a bit of a chore at times.
Twilight Maple
1000xRESISTANCE is a narrative masterpiece. It is proof that games can be featherlight on gameplay but still tell a story that is on par with any other type of media when done right. This is Of course that Sunset Visitor drew inspiration from other titles based on science fiction history, such as NieR: Automata. Narratively, 1000xRESISTANCE stands out and tells an engaging, intriguing, and thought-provoking story by paying homage to the titles that inspired it rather than relying on them.
If you like a good story that can make you laugh one moment, hold back tears the next, and then loudly mutter “WTF?” the next, do yourself a favor and check out1000xRESISTANCE. I am incredibly impressed with Sunset Visitor’s ability to tell a story with their debut title. This is something that will stay with me for a long time, and I already find myself thinking about it even after finishing it a few days ago. I can’t wait to see what Sunset Visitor does next. Hekki ALLMO.
