Message From Aliens Launches on Steam With Over 1,000 Invented Characters
Artless Games released the sci-fi language-deciphering puzzle game Message From Aliens for PC via Steam on November 2, 2026. Players work through unknown ideographic characters and in-game text that passes 20,000 characters, with the UI itself written in alien script.
1 source 1m ago
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Why it matters
The puzzle game asks players to learn a language the designers built rather than a substitution cipher, and its Very Positive demo reception suggests that construction held up before release.
Key Facts
- Artless Games released Message From Aliens for PC via Steam on November 2, 2026.
- The game contains over 1,000 original ideographic characters and more than 20,000 characters of in-game text.
- Message From Aliens was made under the influence of the novels Story of Your Life and Contact.
- The game is divided into chapters, with the final chapter featuring poems and jokes.
- A demo released in September 2026 has 203 Steam reviews and a Very Positive rating.
The game runs in chapters, starting with alien number systems and ending with poems and jokes. A September 2026 demo has 203 Steam reviews and a Very Positive rating.
Message From Aliens is built on more than 1,000 original ideographic characters, and Artless Games says the in-game text runs past 20,000 characters. The dictionary explains the alien language using the alien language. Chapters move from arithmetic to culture and thought, and the final chapter adds poems and jokes. Deciphering every sentence is not required to reach the ending. The game cites Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life and Contact as influences, and a demo version is still available.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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