I really don't know how to talk about this game without being absurdly biased because this is so My Thing on both an aesthetic and thematic level. It is definitely rough around the edges and there's a bluntness to the storytelling that renders its emotional beats a lot more inert than they should be but the payoff (specifically one of the two endings), is so genuinely beautiful that I can forgive a lot of it and I really really hope Out of the Blue gets to grow as a dev team and continues to make such wonderful, dreamy games moving forward.

After former creative director at Microsoft Adam Orth broke an NDA in spectacular fashion, accidentally corroborating a rumor reported by Kotaku with regards to the Xbox One's DRM while infamously telling gamers to "deal with it" and subsequently resigning, Orth started a dev team under the name Three Zero One with the team's first project being ADR1FT, a "First Person Experience" inspired by Orth's actions and strife.

Set in space after a disastrous explosion which has left Commander Alex Oshima adrift and her crew dead, she's left to do what little she can to put the pieces together and return home. The experience is a monotonous one driven by finagling repetition and lostness reflecting a narrative arc in turn driven by the rebuilding of self in the face of great guilt taking place over the course of the game.

You find that there is no fixing much of anything over time; what's to be repaired of the destroyed space modules is a small bandage upon a gaping wound. It's a game that feels like empty promises, like asking for forgiveness rather than permission. It is a game that feels impossible as it asks you repeat the same protracted cycles, endlessly reaching out for air, relentlessly working to repair what's been corrupted to no avail.

There's no victory. It's momentary survival, lost in a world that seems to expand beyond your reach with every moment played. It's driven by the feeling of consequence; what it means to find oneself stranded amidst the wreckage forged by one's actions. It's not flawless; its emotional beats often run flat and its rhythm is oft dry. Its score (composed by Wheezer?!) is repetitive and often emotionally incongruent.

But its truth; the genuine sense of guilt at the center of the game, is resonant and honest. It is a fascinating gameplay experiment, beautifully visually realized, and driven by a strong thematic clarity.