A Space for the Pleasant Surprise.
I'm a little bit apprehensive about pixel games, because there's a lot of titles out there with charming visuals and music to match but no bite to meet their bark. Couple that with a developer I'm not familiar with (though I do know the producer Toge,) and A Space for the Unbound by all means should have been a game that escaped my radar. The reception to this title is what set it apart for me, it seems like everywhere I looked be it Steam, Backloggd, or my insular JRPG Youtube space that this game had been getting rave reviews. A consumer none the wiser I jumped in... and honestly I'm glad I did.
Since it's practically a VN, I can't speak too much about the story but to say that it is touching, however missed the mark in its early-mid game delivery to me. When I got to the end, I felt the emotional spark the game set out to hit, though I personally wasn't as Affected as I was in games like the To the Moon franchise of which Space for the Unbound reminded me quite a bit of. A Space for the Unbound touches on depression, anxiety, and familial abuse and the way it affects those around us, and to that I think the team did a very good job from not shying away from said actions while also not making the story too dark.
Gameplay here was a bigger part of the miss for me, and that feels a bit unfair in a game as story heavy as this is, but I came away with the conclusion as I was playing that each elementary puzzle was taking my enjoyment away more and more as I played. None of them are particularly difficult, just tedious and plentiful. The Spacedive mechanic is alright, however it didn't captivate me as a primary gameplay loop since you're using it over and over to do these light puzzles. Whether its making cakes or hiding from wolves... I could have done without the attempted intricacy.
Visuals are beautiful and the music is quite nice. Writing is also well done in making these characters feel like actual friends in a real place. Speaking of the setting, it's absolutely awesome that I got to play a title based in 1990's Indonesia, a country and time that are woefully under-represented in media. I spent some time this weekend at a museum learning about the instruments of Southeast Asia and Indonesia specifically... it's pretty neat to play a game set in that location by an Indonesian team as well!
Overall I had a good time... some nitpicks and this game is definitely not perfect, however I'd recommend this to people looking for a neat medium length pixel adventure that deals with heavy topics.
I'm a little bit apprehensive about pixel games, because there's a lot of titles out there with charming visuals and music to match but no bite to meet their bark. Couple that with a developer I'm not familiar with (though I do know the producer Toge,) and A Space for the Unbound by all means should have been a game that escaped my radar. The reception to this title is what set it apart for me, it seems like everywhere I looked be it Steam, Backloggd, or my insular JRPG Youtube space that this game had been getting rave reviews. A consumer none the wiser I jumped in... and honestly I'm glad I did.
Since it's practically a VN, I can't speak too much about the story but to say that it is touching, however missed the mark in its early-mid game delivery to me. When I got to the end, I felt the emotional spark the game set out to hit, though I personally wasn't as Affected as I was in games like the To the Moon franchise of which Space for the Unbound reminded me quite a bit of. A Space for the Unbound touches on depression, anxiety, and familial abuse and the way it affects those around us, and to that I think the team did a very good job from not shying away from said actions while also not making the story too dark.
Gameplay here was a bigger part of the miss for me, and that feels a bit unfair in a game as story heavy as this is, but I came away with the conclusion as I was playing that each elementary puzzle was taking my enjoyment away more and more as I played. None of them are particularly difficult, just tedious and plentiful. The Spacedive mechanic is alright, however it didn't captivate me as a primary gameplay loop since you're using it over and over to do these light puzzles. Whether its making cakes or hiding from wolves... I could have done without the attempted intricacy.
Visuals are beautiful and the music is quite nice. Writing is also well done in making these characters feel like actual friends in a real place. Speaking of the setting, it's absolutely awesome that I got to play a title based in 1990's Indonesia, a country and time that are woefully under-represented in media. I spent some time this weekend at a museum learning about the instruments of Southeast Asia and Indonesia specifically... it's pretty neat to play a game set in that location by an Indonesian team as well!
Overall I had a good time... some nitpicks and this game is definitely not perfect, however I'd recommend this to people looking for a neat medium length pixel adventure that deals with heavy topics.