A cinematic sci-fi thriller that puts you in the role of the ship's computer rather than the human survivors. This makes for a compelling shift in perspective as you and your crewmate try to understand what has gone wrong after a mysterious incident has badly damaged the ship, caused crew to go missing, and leaves you unsure where you are.

Since the ship is heavily automated you have control over the inner workings and the characters need you to open doors, set off fire suppression systems, perform scans etc. so they can progress in the story. Since the incident reset your system you have to go about puzzling how to reconnect to the various doors and ship systems so you can assist them. It makes for fresh and alienating gameplay as you can't even talk in anything other than pre-recorded responses and can only modify the environment around the actors - though you do get a little floating camera through which you can feel like part of the crew and expand your vision/control to places your static cameras can't see.

The story too leaves you feeling somewhat helpless as you can only passively observe events and use your limited control over the ship to assist or impede the characters. The game still hinges on you exploring the tense and spooky environments to solve problems, but in doing so you also become uniquely aware of disturbing events unfolding around the crew with no way to communicate it to them, making things extra tense.

The overall experience was fantastic, there's a bunch of wild twists that make the story fascinating from start to finish. Having to deal with genuinely new and strange scenarios from this weird vantage point made the whole game very memorable, though there are a couple of moments that are made a bit silly by the premise. Still, this game is solid, well written, beautifully presented, and makes for a genuinely fresh experience if you're comfortable with more of a focus on story than gameplay.

Reviewed on Aug 13, 2023


Comments