Donutal

Donutal is a narrative decision game set in 2206. You awaken from cold sleep to find that the International Space Station has become the International Space Port, a gateway for aliens arriving on Earth. Burdened by a massive, unexplained debt, you take a job as Chief Extraterrestrial Counselor, screening alien visitors and deciding whether to let them enter. Your judgments can determine whether Earth survives, and whether you can one day return there.

Earth in 2206

Problems left unresolved in the 21st century have grown beyond humanity’s control, leading Earth to seek help from technologically advanced aliens. Diplomatic relations with other planets officially begin on the day you awaken. Visitors arrive for reasons including tourism and study, but their stated purposes may conceal their real intentions.

Interview and decide

Each workday begins with the news. You then interview aliens, decide whether to grant or deny them entry, and work toward repaying your debt. You assess groups of up to eight aliens, looking for patterns, inconsistencies and warning signs in their shared information. You can bring up to two members of a group into the interview room at once, where their conversation may reveal things they would not tell you alone.

There is no paperwork: you make your decisions by listening to what applicants say, whom they suspect and whom they protect. Relationships affect their answers, so an alien may respond differently depending on who is beside them. The outcomes of your interviews can change Earth's future.

Alien visitors

You encounter several kinds of visitors, each with their own traits and relationships:

• DOLPHIN: An android assistant who gives operational briefings and supports your work, but cannot make final judgments. The identity of the human model used in its design is unknown.
• Martian: Martians lack social cues and cannot lie, though their blunt honesty can hurt other aliens’ feelings.
• Pictor: A technologically advanced species regarded as a potential source of help for Earth’s crises. Their knowledge is rumored to surpass that of other beings in the universe.
• Octo: Highly intelligent, honest, octopus-like aliens with a distinctive way of speaking. They share a genetic connection with the Takoo, another cephalopod species from their home planet, but the two are hostile toward each other. Octo say they do not know why they are being targeted.
• Other aliens: You meet visitors who challenge human understanding and common sense. They come for reasons that include tourism, migration, asylum, destruction or the search for comrades.