Store data
- Store status
- Coming soon
- Scheduled release
- 1 November 2026
- Positive reviews
- —
- Total reviews
- —
- Release date
- 1 November 2026
24-hour and 7-day views use hourly peaks from ten-minute samples. Longer views use retained daily peaks. Up to 24 recent event markers are shown per layer.
Recent views use Steam's daily review activity. Longer views use weekly totals, retained by SteamWatch.
In year 2058, Earth received a large number of mysterious symbols from space. Who are they? Where are they from? And more importantly, what are they talking about?
Message From Aliens is a sci-fi puzzle game about decoding an alien language.
The entire game interface is written in mysterious symbols, and the only human language you can see in this game is your own notes.
Features:
1. An alien logographic writing system with over 1,000 characters, and more than 20,000 characters of game text.
You don't need to translate everything if you want to reach the game's ending. And there is plenty of content and secret if you want to explore more.
2. Don't be scared by the number of characters. The alien logograms are designed to be more logical and less complex than human logograms.
3. The first chapter of this game introduces alien number system. Most of the alien texts are just equations. (Alien Carl Sagan also believes math is the universal common knowledge.)
And the last chapter includes alien peotry and alien joke.
4. In-game alien-alien dictionary.
5. This game is inspired by the novels Stories of Your Life and Contact.
In fact, you are playing both protagonist's role, interpreting alien signals and deciphering an alien writing system.
Don't worry. Playing game will not teleport you to light-years away, or turn your understanding of time non-linear.
6. Some scientific concepts are involved, such as gravity and water electrolysis.
This game is not recommended for players under 15 years old.
7. Mini-games (in alien language)
Demo:When mouse hovers over a hyperlink, that hyperlink is displayed by human text. (For those concerned about cybersecurity, the previous link was a jump scare. I'm sorry I underestimated this issue.)A few typo fixed.A few glyphs reworked."Annotation text stacking in the same cell" should be really fixed this time.In small game 1, win condition is written below card row.More names have been added to the credits. Please contact me if your name is missing.Full game:One more message in chapter 5.Replaced 8 th message in epilogue.Removed some text that simply describes a detailed and unnecessary scientific concept.Alien notepad now has a cursor.Another thing I'd like to mention is:Someone is developing font and input method for this.Maybe we really can have an alien language community.Even if not, it is really encouraging my game had an input method before release. I think I might be pro...
Read full update on Steam ↗Reduced unnecessary screen redrawsDemo dictionary complete rate now only counts accessible words in demo.Full game (playtest build): Third message in epilogue rewritten.
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed a bug that prevented the dictionary from turning page.Fixed a bug that incorrectly highlighting dictionary categories with unrecognized words containing the marked word.Fixed a bug where automatically generated annotations weren't hidden when a player clicked an input field. At least I think I fixed it. But I am not really sure becuase I already thought I fixed it. Please tell me if this still occurs.
Read full update on Steam ↗Dictionary is now unlocked in demo.Progress tracking.Ported the game to Unity 6 and turned down the unity logo.Reworked trailer and store assets, as many glyphs are outdated.
Read full update on Steam ↗This is an internal test update.(Sorry, it is impossible to publish a tester-only patch note)Lots of typo fix and wording improvement.A qol feature in 5th small game.Player now bookmark specific page instead of entire article.I will update the demo on Oct 18th.This update will unlock a restricted dictionary in the game demo. Stay tuned!
Read full update on Steam ↗Today's update is only for full game's playtesting.Chapter 4 reworked. Players will begin learning about aliens one chapter earlier.Old chapter 4 moved to bonus chapter.Several adjustments to make the alien's world more scientific / sci-fi.A new feature for tracking completion rate.Sorry, there is no demo update today.I am planning to add more features to the demo during steam next fest (oct 19).
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed a few typosBased on information provided by a player, I modified some color scheme to better match the aliens' visual perception
Read full update on Steam ↗Many revisions to dictionary entriesGlyphs with poor layout proportions have been fine-tunedSome glyphs are replaced by more understandable glyphs (I hope so)Mouse color now changes when hovering over an interactive objectText highlighting now be background highlightingMouse cursor size now adjusts based on window sizeFuture PlansI plan to release the game some time after the Steam Next Fest in October 20-27The exact date will likely be in early NovemberMy main focus over next month will be revising texts, correct scientific inaccuracies, and various pre-release stuffThe full version of the game will include seven main chapters, seven bonus chapters, seven mini-games, and an epilogue: messages from fourteen alien individuals(These aliens really do love seven)The first three main chapters cover basic scienceStarting from chapter 4, more information about the alien homeworld will be rev...
Read full update on Steam ↗Option menu is now visible at the very startThe reason for hiding the options is, a playtester got stuck at options before solving their first puzzle for 1 hour. But now I think this might be a rare case. Lack of settings may cause more people to be confused.Improved color scheme (at least in my view)I renamed the themes based on front color instead of back color (which means current black and dark theme are swapped)Windowed mode now provides multiple resolution options.
Read full update on Steam ↗Redesigned a few glyphsChapter 1's most confusing article is broken down into several parts
Read full update on Steam ↗Demo:Fixed a bug causing a glyph and its radicials mismatch.A few glyphs reworked.Replaced chapter 1 quiz 11.Some new text at somewhere. Full game:Renamed an alien
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed a typo in last message of chapter 1Fixed a bug causing player pagedown to an empty pageMore setting options (I am not telling you what is new)A new page in the main menu (I forgot to add it to demo)Disable rich textHighlight button no longer highlight content you didn't unlock
Read full update on Steam ↗Demo onlineFixed a bug causing text incorrectly recognized as hyper linkFixed a bug in setting causing player to choose save slot - nullA few tweaks in small games
Read full update on Steam ↗new qol feature unlocked by chapter 2 (please tell me if you find it frustrating)replaced second puzzle in bonus chapter 6renamed the new mini game and replaced a rule set
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed a wrong value in chapter 3, 6th message, p1Fixed a wrong unit in chapter 4, 5th puzzleFixed a few typos in chapter 4Steam cloud support
Read full update on Steam ↗Save slot relocated to %USERPROFILE%/AppData/LocalLow/Artless Games/MessageFromAliensFixed a bug that prevented players from highlighting number glpyhs in the dictionary.Fixed a bug that caused players to select text other than the available options.A few text update.
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed the missing message in chapter 4A new small game (unlocked by chapter 7)
Read full update on Steam ↗chapter 4 reworkeda new feature in dictionaryunit conversions unlocked by completing chapters now also display the unitsfixed a bug that caused the game to use save slot 0 (progress in slot 0 should be auto converted to slot 1)please contact me and send me your savefile if you lost progress
Read full update on Steam ↗The first article in Chapter 3 has been split into four.Some minor tweaks.
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed a few typosRenamed two concepts to improve consistencyFixed a bug in mini game 2
Read full update on Steam ↗Second half of chapter 1 (after question 5) is reworked.Due to changes in question numbers, your current solution may be out of place.Some glyphs are also redesigned to be more pictograph. (still very abstract)Please tell me if the new articles are more readable.
Read full update on Steam ↗Steam currently lists 1 Nov 2026 as the release date.
Demo:When mouse hovers over a hyperlink, that hyperlink is displayed by human text. (For those concerned about cybersecurity, the previous link was a jump scare. I'm sorry I underestimated this issue.)A few typo fixed…
Reduced unnecessary screen redrawsDemo dictionary complete rate now only counts accessible words in demo.Full game (playtest build): Third message in epilogue rewritten.
Fixed a bug that prevented the dictionary from turning page.Fixed a bug that incorrectly highlighting dictionary categories with unrecognized words containing the marked word.Fixed a bug where automatically generated…
Dictionary is now unlocked in demo.Progress tracking.Ported the game to Unity 6 and turned down the unity logo.Reworked trailer and store assets, as many glyphs are outdated.
This is an internal test update.(Sorry, it is impossible to publish a tester-only patch note)Lots of typo fix and wording improvement.A qol feature in 5th small game.Player now bookmark specific page instead of entire…