Square is one of gaming’s biggest brand names, with its Final Fantasy series among the most iconic franchises in the wider gamer culture. Now known as Square Enix following a merger in 2003, the company has largely been focused on a mix of new stories like The Adventures of Elliot or reimaginings of classic concepts like the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. The history of the company extends far beyond their most famous properties, however.
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Take Alpha, an early text-based sci-fi adventure from the company. Released 40 years ago this month in Japan only, the game was an early example of what modern gamers now recognize as the Visual Novel. Despite its age and history, the game’s twisty narrative, tricky morality, and embrace of erotic exploitation make it stand out from other games of the era. Alpha is one of the oddest titles that Square ever released — and it might be time for a modern reappraisal and even return to the property.
Alpha Is A Really Strange Sci-Fi That Remains Fascinating 40 Years Later
Released in Japan in the early days of July 1986, Alpha is one of the most curious entries in Square’s illustrious legacy — and could make for an interesting modern comeback. Released for commercially available PCs in Japan, Alpha is an early example of what would later come to be known as the Visual Novel genre. Following the success of Square’s first game The Death Trap, the developers on Alpha took cues from the game’s approach to plot progression.
The built-in text parser is still the primary game mechanic, with players making decisions for the game’s heroine, a young amnesic woman named Chris, but with more visual components. Instead of occasional still images, the screen was split in half — with the bottom half representing the dialogue and player commands, while the top half told the story through brief snippets of animation and music. The game also pushed boundaries with its content, starting out as a standard sci-fi adventure and gradually becoming a more ambiguous, cerebral story with a fair share of nudity.
There are certainly elements of the game that have not aged well, including scenes where Chris finds herself stripped down and chained up. However, other elements of the narrative are intriguing even years later, taking the kind of narrative cues that NieR: Automata would explore decades later. The blend of ambitious sci-fi and exploitation-style nudity is the sort of thing that would feel unique in today’s market but was a decidedly mature tale for the era in which it debuted. It also remains a fascinating part of gaming history, given the way it stands out in retrospect as an early example of the visual novel that has found renewed popularity in the 21st century thanks to franchises like Phoenix Wright and games like Doki Doki Literature Club.
Square Should Revisit One Of Their Oldest Titles
Alpha is the sort of game that feels long overdue for a modern reappraisal and revival. The game’s sci-fi setting, where a young woman finds herself caught between a collapsing society and a ruthless rebellion, could be an easy setup for an action-RPG. The narrative could take some modern inspirations and adjust accordingly, even while retaining that exploitative tone and that classic anime styling. The game could even still be a visual novel, putting emphasis on the game’s quiet connection to a genre that has only become more popular in the modern day.
A modern version of Alpha could benefit from the advances in game development techniques, as well as how the sci-fi genre has become more morally and creatively ambitious in recent years. The scale of Chris’ world could be more vivid through realistic graphics, even while retaining some of the stylistic touches that connected it with the early 1980s anime boom. The moral quandaries of the narrative, where the rebels and the authorities are both portrayed as dangerous forces that Chris has to maneuver around, could be a great setup for the kind of complex storytelling that Square Enix has really made a name for itself with in the modern day. A new version of Alpha could be challenging, tricky, and find a way to blend the oversexualized stylistic touches with a more well-rounded portrayal of characters.
Forty years on, Alpha serves as an early example of how gaming could be a compelling way of telling narratives, with a difficulty curve that even most modern Visual Novels wouldn’t try to tackle. Given the legacy of Square and their importance within the larger gaming culture, it would be fitting to see them pay tribute to their history by returning to some of their earlier titles. It would also be a fun excuse to revitalize a long dormant IP and give it a 21st-century update, all while potentially opening the door to an entire new franchise that further explores Chris’s adventures. Alpha is a weird little footnote in Square’s past that, with the right reimagining, could become a major player for the publisher’s future.
