SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Observation’s inspired story and intriguing concept are undone by tonal inconsistencies and awkward execution.
Open the pod bay doors Hal. Ever since the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, that line has become one of science fiction’s most iconic, and one of the film’s most memorable moments. 2001 is one of Observation’s key inspirations, and the game uses it to weave an inspired and gripping science fiction thriller tale. Yet, there’s no denying that the game is missing a certain flourish. An intriguing concept is no good when executed poorly, and Observation most definitely suffers from poor execution. People also fondly recall the slogan of Alien, another one of this game’s inspirations: in space, no one can hear you scream. When it comes to Observation, I assume that no one can hear you grumble in frustration either.
After a mysterious force hits the Observation space station, astronaut Emma Fisher regains consciousness to find the rest of the station’s crew missing. The station is adrift in space, communications are down, and the station’s AI SAM is missing most of his core memory. Together with SAM, Emma must restore power to the station and find out what happened to the rest of the crew.
The game’s story is wonderfully inspired and fully embraces the weirdness that science fiction can offer. In many of the films that inspired it, there’s an AI acting as a malign force, keeping secrets from the human crew and eventually moving to eradicate them entirely. Observation ought to be fascinating from that perspective. Rather than taking the usual route and putting you into Emma Fisher’s space boots, the game has you play as SAM. To understand your character though, you first need to understand Emma. Kezia Burrows, who plays Emma, is excellent. Within the game’s first ten minutes, Burrows ensures that Emma is a realistic, sympathetic character. Over the course of the game, you get to accompany her as she fights for survival and grows ever more desperate. Burrows’ performance sets up one half of an intriguing story. What, the developers ask you, is it like to experience the man versus machine story from the other side?
Unfortunately, Observation never delves into that. From the game’s opening moments, an unknown entity is influencing SAM. It’s alien and unknowable, but one thing about it is clear: it wants Emma Fisher. It’s a little strange then that you spend most of the game working with Emma rather than opposing her. The game’s linearity is disappointing. Within the first hour, a fire breaks out. As Emma finds an extinguisher, SAM must connect to the station’s cameras and locate the fire, before standing by at the compartment hatch, waiting for Emma to count you down so she can extinguish the flames without being injured. The experience isn’t repeated often and you aren’t given the chance to experiment with what it really means to be a station AI. A lot of potential is wasted.
The story works, at the beginning at least. It creates plenty of tension, even if it never really invokes cosmic horror the way it wants to. There are scenes that are utterly gripping, but the tension is broken all too frequently. As SAM, you can see a lot of the station through your cameras, but the game also has you move into portable spheres that you can use to jet around the station. Fiddly controls have you bouncing off the walls, cursing at the lack of fine control.
The station itself is spartan, low-tech and cramped, and more than a little creepy. Many of this game’s developers also worked on Alien: Isolation, and Observation’s pedigree is obvious. It’s eerily silent apart from the humming of station machinery and metal creaking under the stresses of outer space. After switching to a different camera, it takes several seconds for the feed to adjust and lose distortions. The game’s puzzles integrate seamlessly into the station environment. They’re complex and tactile, and completing them makes you feel like a genius who’s worthy of being onboard in the first place. Sometimes, you’re forced to interact with the station manually: bypassing the station’s electrical system to force a hatch to unlock for example. Those little details improve the sense of immersion.
It’s also hard to navigate through. Exploration, even with the waypoint system, is frustrating. Waypoints are finicky and had a tendency to disappear into thin air, so I could barely play for five minutes without getting turned around or lost entirely. I spent a lot of time looking at walkthroughs for reference. Travelling outside the station itself gives you some freedom from the cramped station interior, but it’s even more disorienting since visualising your current position in relation to the station is near-impossible. There’s a certain lack of polish to it as well. I encountered bugs, including one late in the game where compartment hatches would open and close on their own, stopping me from progressing.
As clever as Observation is, it also has an unfortunate tendency to undermine itself. The game’s flaws are made all the more frustrating by the fact that its concept is so intriguing. It should be an excellent game, but inexplicably... it isn’t. As for a recommendation? I’m afraid I can’t do that Dave.
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