ARORA
You're alone in deep space. Your ship, the ARORA, picks up alien signals. Transmissions from civilizations you've never heard of. So you do what anyone would do: you try to talk to them.
The problem is, you don't speak their language. Not yet. But the more you listen, the more you start to understand. Words begin to make sense. Patterns emerge. And slowly, you piece together what happened to these civilizations, and what's still out there, waiting.
Every word you decode brings it closer.
You receive signals from ten different alien sources. Each one has something to tell you, but their messages are written in a language you can't read. At first. As you interact with them and cross-reference what they're saying, familiar words start appearing. The more you understand, the more you wish you didn't.
There's no combat. No jumpscares. Just you, a terminal, and the growing realization that something is very wrong.
Best played in fullscreen for the full effect.
Tips
Don't hesitate to visit other signal nodes if you get stuck. The HELP command can nudge towards what to say, but sometimes you might not have the complete information to ask the correct questions!
Made for Brackeys Game Jam 2026.1.
A downloadable Windows version is available below. It includes better shader effects (CRT scanlines, phosphor glow) that don't translate fully to the web build. The gameplay is identical, the desktop version just looks nicer.
Download
Install instructions
Web version: Just hit play. Works in most modern browsers.
Windows version: Download the zip, extract it, and run the .exe. No installation needed.
Comments
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nice narration and the ambience is really nice with the sound part!
This is a really really really cool game!!! Love the whole concept. It's very eerie, I love how the story slowly unfolds, I knew something was gonna be wrong but not what, turned out way spookier than I imagined :D I also really enjoy the decoding aspect, it makes it fun :D
I will say the dialogue options are inconsistent, for example, spoilers:
With the child, it responds to "consuming" but not "consume", whereas in one of the previous areas it was the opposite. Things like that make progressing the dialogue somewhat difficult, as you have to not only find the right words but the right variation of them. Speaking of the child, I am completely stuck on it, I can't think of anything more to ask.
One thing that would help is the 'help' bit being more specific. The wording tends to be vague and not really helpful, it suggests I ask questions that the signal does not know how to respond to, e.g. for the child, "ask if they're okay." It doesn't understand that >.< But it does understand "are you safe/in danger". It also says to ask them "what's happening", but it doesn't respond to that, instead responding to "what happened" past tense (despite still being alive). (And also neither of these things have helped me figure out what to ask to progress >.<)
It genuinely is very much fun to figure out what questions to ask, it really adds to the gameplay and the aspect of discovering what happened via verbal breadcrumbs, just not to the point where I'm putting in any word I can think of hoping it'll trigger something ^^;
It is a truly fascinating story, which has left me very very intrigued, I love the whole setup. I think adding more alternative ways to ask questions + more direct prodding in terms of hints, would help make the gameplay smoother and less frustrating, letting us focus more on the story! Because it is a very good story, the creepy aspect of it really works, the way my heart DROPPED when the warning said to stop responding to the signal, to go quiet o_o And the entire concept of the nothingness, and how it's not some cosmic lovecraftian entity like I initially presumed, but a genuine absense of anything and everything, not thinking or having any mind but being drawn to the presence of things, especially towards beauty?? And the way that the greeting realised the deaths of the stars weren't natural because stars don't die in a pattern, that was really creepy :D So much hinting towards Something Being Out There, that no one realises until it's too late, and even just trying to communicate about it marks you as a target, that's really scary I love it :DDDDDD Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to get past this blockade cuz I GOTTA know more :DDDDD
Excellent work, you have a very creative mind and understand perfectly about how to lay the crumbs for a horrible realisation without giving too much away, you let it sink in with clever words and warnings that only really make sense when put together <3 Love this!!
Thank you. Your words really do mean a lot.
We made this game for a game jam, so unfortunately we had to limit the scope to make it to the deadline. However, doing updates and expanding the story is something we're definitely open to!
The Child is a part of the content that we had to limit, and right now only serves as a bit of a lore extra, and doesn't serve an objective to finishing the game.
That being said, we just finished up some remaining bugs and some of the things you mentioned are actually addressed in this version!
It also includes a wonderful dynamic soundtrack that goes along with the game. If you're keen to trying the game one more time, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Thank you!
So far really cool