But what’s interesting about
Observation is that you don’t play as
Fisher, but SAM. The station is an
extension of you, and its cameras are
your eyes and ears. You can, when
asked, open doors, cycle airlocks,
assess damage, and all manner of
functional duties. But
something seems to
have awoken in you. A
flicker of self-
awareness, perhaps.
And an ominous
command from an
unknown party has
infiltrated your code:
BRING HER.
The Observation is reminiscent of
the International Space Station—a
strangely low-tech warren of
claustrophobic corridors with no up
or down, littered with laptops,
science equipment, and the personal
effects of the crew. Who, by the way,
are also missing. There’s a powerful
sense throughout that, until very
recently, this place was bustling with
life. Fisher is alone, but as she floatsthrough the station in zero gravity
there are echoes of the vanished crew
all around her.
Fisher is justifiably distressed by
the discovery that she has somehow,
inexplicably, ended up almost 900
million miles from where she’s
supposed to be. But
she’s also a trained
astronaut, and
immediately sets to
work repairing the
stricken station—with
your help. At any time
you can pull up a
schematic of the
Observation and jump
between stationary cameras, panning
and zooming and scanning for objects
of interest. The game is largely silent
except for the ambient rumble of the
station and the whirring and clicking
of these cameras, which is
enormously atmospheric.GRAIN STATION
Observation also makes subtle use of
video effects, with simulatedinterference, grain, and distortion
giving the image a tactile, analogue
quality. This along with the grounded
realism of the station, as well as some
beautifully natural lighting, makes for
a remarkable looking videogame. It
also reinforces the idea that you’re
playing as a machine, viewing the
world through a lens, and that the
technology wired through the
wounded station is as fallible as
anything else. This feeling of being at
the mercy of technology, with only a
thin layer of aluminium between you
and an endless cosmic void, makes
for a palpably tense game.
When you’ve located something
Fisher is looking for with one of your
cameras—a damaged module,
perhaps, or the source of a fire—you
can respond to her request. SAM will
answer in the kind of calm,
reassuring, but also slightly unsettling
voice so beloved by sci-fi AI. She will
also ask you to unlock jammed doors,
recover data from laptops, and reboot
systems, including re-establishing
communications with Earth and
activating a tracker that will, in
theory, locate the missing crew.
SAM isn’t always confined to the
Observation’s network of cameras. In
some parts of the game you can
possess guidance spheres—little
orb-shaped drones that allow you to
fly freely around the station,
interacting with things the same way
you can with the cameras. Flying
takes a bit of getting used to,
particularly when it comes to
orienting yourself in a place where
up and down is an outdated concept.
But the spheres are the best way to
explore the station, poking around
for hidden documents and audio logs
that will help fill in some of the
blanks of the game’s enigmatic story.
And it’s a place worth exploring.
The Observation is made up of four
sections: Salyut 10, the Russian arm;
Horizon, the European and American
arm; Shenzhou XII, the Chinese arm;
and Universal, a central hub shared
by the entire crew. Each section of
the station has its own distinctiveNEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A sci-fi thriller set
aboard a damaged
space station
EXPECT TO PAY
$30
DEVELOPER
No Code
PUBLISHER
Devolver Digital
REVIEWED ON
GTX 1080, Intel
i5-6600K, 16GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
None
LINK
http://www.nocode
studio.comIt also
reinforces the
idea that you’re
playing as a
machineT
he space station Observation has broken away from its Earth
orbit, and is drifting somewhere near Saturn. Its systems are
malfunctioning, a fire has broken out, and the on-board
artificial intelligence, SAM, is acting strangely. Things are not
looking good for Dr Emma Fisher, the reluctant hero of this
sci-fi thriller from the studio behind Stories Untold.SYSTEM CRITICAL
An astronaut and a self-aware artificial intelligence form
an uneasy alliance in OBSERVATION. By Andy Kelly
SPACE JOCKEYS Key members of the Observation crew
JIM ELIAS
Born: October 30, 1971
Birthplace:
Glasgow, Scotland
The captain of the
Observation is a veteran
astronaut who served
aboard the ISS. Yet,
despite his experience,
something about this
mission is unsettling him.AILSA YANG
Born: June 23, 1998
Birthplace:
Hangzhou, China
In this vision of the near
future, climate change is
worse than ever. Yang has
been assigned to the
Observation to study
Earth and track changes
in the atmosphere.STANISLAV LEONOV
Born: December 12, 1970
Birthplace:
Vladivostok, Russia
The Observation’s
technical officer is
increasingly concerned
about the functionality of
the station, and seems to
think corners have been
cut in its construction.EMMA FISHER
Born: March 3, 1992
Birthplace: Cardiff, Wales
A resourceful scientist
who develops and
maintains the
Observation’s guidance
spheres: camera-
equipped drones SAM
can use to move around
the station.REVIEW