OBSERVATION
This space thriller is one HAL of a good idea
“GET TOO MANY PUZZLES WRONG AND FISHER WILL NATURALLY BE SUSPICIOUS.”
Something’s gone horribly wrong aboard the LOSS (Low Orbit Space Station), and doctor Emma Fisher, the only remaining crew member, is trapped inside an airlock. But you’re not the good doc, you’re the station’s AI observing her struggle.
Playing on the ‘crazy AI’ trope made famous by 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL, Observation starts with an unsettling realisation you may be the game’s big bad, and runs with it. As SAM (Systems Administration and Maintenance), your first ‘puzzle’ is to free Fisher from the airlock by manipulating the nearest onboard camera and then hacking into the control panel. This kind of voyeuristic guidance, as you follow and help your solitary crew member, forms the basis of a game that flirts with being a thriller but has the potential to be one of PS4’s best new horrors.
It helps that the station – modelled on the reallife International Space Station – is a cluster of cramped corridors and cluttered panels, its functional design removing any sense of comfort. When something goes bump in these dimly lit modules you’ll jump out of your circuitry. There’s some comfort to be had in wrapping yourself in the core loop of searching the LOSS for clues or repairing damage (by highlighting areas of a module and pressing p), and helping the good doctor get closer to resolving her sticky situation.
ARE WE THE BADDIES?
It’s a uniquely distant approach, but you’re often brought down to earth, so to speak, when Fisher remarks on your behaviour. Get too many puzzles wrong, and it can result in the destruction of areas of the station, and Fisher will naturally become suspicious that you’re the real problem. For help solving some of the puzzles, or aid in gaining access to new areas of the maze-like station without blowing bits up, you can read computer entries or scan and access the data logs the crew left lying around the station – these also fill in more of the story
Feeling fresh and looking stunning, Observation is shaping into one of the year’s more unique narrative adventures. It’s one you should keep a close eye on.