Square Enix has had a strange time lately, often finding itself under scrutiny due to its development troubles over on the Japanese side, and some equally weird stuff happening with its western properties. That said, it?s easy to forget Square Enix has a long history of experimentation, although its smaller fare used to quietly slide in-between more frequent, AAA-level content. Now, Left Alive, a strange, stealth/survival action game set in the Front Mission universe, is dropping at a time when Square Enix doesn?t really have anything else going on, landing directly under the spotlight. While it?s obviously a lower-budget game from the moment you boot it up, this title has a lot of things going for it under the surface. It?s a brass tacks, trial and error stealth game that isn?t afraid to punish you severely for messing up, and doesn?t bother with much of the annoying, fluffy babysitting so many other survival games do. Despite all the jank, Left Alive is a fascinating experience you won?t find anywhere else. As far as the story is concerned, Left Alive immediately reminded me of another strange but notable Japanese military action series, Ace Combat. Here we have fictional representations of real life territories, molded from what we?re familiar with in the real world and explained via drastic socio-economic shifts. There?s a lot of mumbo jumbo about proxy wars and shaky global alliances, strained to the tipping point by the emergence of Wanzers, the mobile suit weapons Fr...