"Life is special because of these ordinary things we see everyday"
Just like the fairy tale, this game has a north and a south star of its own,
The south being the game's gorgeous art direction, its beautiful story about acceptance, the soundtrack and more. The north on the other hand being the game's underwhelming and tedious gameplay.
One clearly shines brighter than the other, but when they come together, you get something truly beautiful.
A Space for the Unbound is a beautiful story about accepting yourself for who you are, and learning to move on. The game also tackles serious themes like the survivor's guilt, parental abuse and more, which might make you think you think like it's going for way too much, considering its runtime. But you'll come out surprised with the amount of care, innocence(especially innocence) and warmth it handles all these explicit themes with. The same can be said about the game's art style. The amount of detail in every single part of the beautiful Indonesia-based town is just mindblowing. All the characters in it have their own unique personalities, and even the less-important ones, and even the unimportant NPCs are just so lively, making the town it takes place in invite you to explore it. And last but not the least, the soundtrack and the occasionally-fun mini-games are always there to make you feel good.
But despite all of my praises, the game certainly isn't perfect. The "gameplay" is just a vehicle for its amazing story, and can be really frustrating at times. The slow walking-speed of the main character adds even more to that problem, and these problems might be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. This is an exploration game, but there's no sense of mystery at any point. Answers to all your riddles will be there somewhere nearby, which makes this feel very scripted. The same goes for the action sequences in it which are very underwhelming. The only gameplay mechanic I was fond of were when you're supposed to dodge the falling furniture, which wasn't even that complex of a mechanic.
If I had to nitpick, there are problems I can come up with for the story as well, but just like I said this before, the overall package is so heartwarming that the negatives just don't matter to me. This is easily one of the best video-game stories I've ever experienced, and the way the story is told is just wonderful, and will leave you with both tears and a big smile on your face by the end.
So yeah that's it. I'm gonna end this by saying that I was going to give it ★★★★, but there are a lot of cats in here, so.......
Just like the fairy tale, this game has a north and a south star of its own,
The south being the game's gorgeous art direction, its beautiful story about acceptance, the soundtrack and more. The north on the other hand being the game's underwhelming and tedious gameplay.
One clearly shines brighter than the other, but when they come together, you get something truly beautiful.
A Space for the Unbound is a beautiful story about accepting yourself for who you are, and learning to move on. The game also tackles serious themes like the survivor's guilt, parental abuse and more, which might make you think you think like it's going for way too much, considering its runtime. But you'll come out surprised with the amount of care, innocence(especially innocence) and warmth it handles all these explicit themes with. The same can be said about the game's art style. The amount of detail in every single part of the beautiful Indonesia-based town is just mindblowing. All the characters in it have their own unique personalities, and even the less-important ones, and even the unimportant NPCs are just so lively, making the town it takes place in invite you to explore it. And last but not the least, the soundtrack and the occasionally-fun mini-games are always there to make you feel good.
But despite all of my praises, the game certainly isn't perfect. The "gameplay" is just a vehicle for its amazing story, and can be really frustrating at times. The slow walking-speed of the main character adds even more to that problem, and these problems might be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. This is an exploration game, but there's no sense of mystery at any point. Answers to all your riddles will be there somewhere nearby, which makes this feel very scripted. The same goes for the action sequences in it which are very underwhelming. The only gameplay mechanic I was fond of were when you're supposed to dodge the falling furniture, which wasn't even that complex of a mechanic.
If I had to nitpick, there are problems I can come up with for the story as well, but just like I said this before, the overall package is so heartwarming that the negatives just don't matter to me. This is easily one of the best video-game stories I've ever experienced, and the way the story is told is just wonderful, and will leave you with both tears and a big smile on your face by the end.
So yeah that's it. I'm gonna end this by saying that I was going to give it ★★★★, but there are a lot of cats in here, so.......