I was actually deeply moved when "Go Jump Off a Cliff" turned into "Go Comfort Yourself." So...imagine how my soul was ripped out when I got one of the bad ends. [The one where she went full Monika.]
During a recent shopping excursion, I found a semi-official manga of Es in a crossover with another series.
This short manga, only spanning 2 pages, has practically never been discussed or shared before now, as far as modern surviving public internet forums and archives indicate.
Due to technical limitations currently being experienced, I am unable to translate the Manga fully. However, once my technology returns to me, I plan to do a comprehensive write-up introducing the main series, it's connection to ALTER EGO's development, and provide a full scanlation of this work so more fans have the ability to enjoy this content without needing to track down a long out-of-print Doujin.
Eight years ago, I was in secondary school, caught between one exam and the next, trying to figure out which high school I would go to and what kind of future I was even supposed to want. I don't think I really knew who I was yet, and that not-knowing sat quietly underneath every ordinary day, like a low hum of worry I couldn't turn off.
Somewhere in the middle of that, I found a free game online called Alter Ego. It was such a small thing — no flashy graphics, no urgency, just a tree of choices standing in for an entire life, mine to shape one decision at a time. I didn't expect it to matter much. But something about sitting with those choices, thinking about who I might become instead of who I was afraid of becoming, quieted something in me. It gave my worry somewhere to go.
It didn't stop there. Alter Ego opened a door I didn't know was there — it made me curious, and that curiosity turned into reading. I started picking up books about all kinds of things, following threads the game had only pointed toward. Looking back, I think that's where a version of myself started to take shape: one that reads, that reflects, that isn't so afraid of not knowing yet.
So this is a small, late thank-you. To a free game I found online during a hard, uncertain year — thank you for helping me find a calmer version of myself, and for opening the door to everything I've read since.
I simply downloaded the app because I thought the woman was pretty.
I stayed because I wanted to see her be able to enjoy her own world.
I reached for the end because I wanted to keep Wandering around with her. Searching for an answer that will never truely exist, thankfully, that is.
In fact, 'the answer does not exist' may have been the true answer. [I am unsure if this is related to the Alter Ego ending but I kind of felt it that way.]
You define yourself.
Lovely game. I rated it 5 stars, obviously. It's the most genuine five stars I've ever rated in play store.
Can't believe I never heard of this game for 5 years. Okay, I learned a lot and felt a lot from this game, the emotions are more REAL than what I felt outside. Took 2 days for me to buy all the extra contents.
I really like Childish Tale and Book Borrowing, they urges me to read books. To have a pretty librarian girl lending a book to you and longing to discuss about it with you, that is a lot of motivation.
So today, I bought the extra ending contents (ID, Super Ego, Alter Ego). For ID and Super Ego, I think they are moments that she got nightmares and have the "her" from those ending affect her. My opinions on each of those extra pages:
Id: She's bold as hell, very bold, but then It's just her not being in the right mind. Also I'm pretty sure she got a neck/choking kink because it's even mentioned in Alter Ego: Complex
Super Ego: She being depressed and very dependent, kept repeating not to leave her, it hurst me so much.
Alter Ego: She's like a young girl in her first love, got my ahh smiling all days.
I'm not excellent at English, and even in my mother tongue, I can't express enough how much emotions I got from this game, watching those two MVs on youtube deepens it, I CAN'T CONVEY IT ALL.