Observation (Xbox One)
After playing Tacoma and Deliver Us the Moon, two games about astronauts where the wonders of moving around in space contrast with its inherent isolation, Observation seemed like it would be cut from a very similar cloth. It even continued this unusual trend of setting a mystery up above and beyond Earth’s atmosphere, all three games utilizing a space station setting to ratchet up the tension as the characters feel trapped in a place where their continued existence hangs on a tiny thread. However, while Tacoma and Deliver Us the Moon used their outer space settings as an excuse to create many new science fiction concepts for humanity’s future, Observation sets itself apart as it takes a much more mundane approach to how space is explored and what systems are used to interact with it. There are still some overt science fiction elements that crop up in the plot, but the mechanics of the space station and how people live in this near future feel surprisingly grounded for a game that takes us so far away from Earth.
In Observation you aren’t actually one of the humans who find themselves aboard the space station Observation where most of the game happens, but instead you play as an AI known as S.A.M. who feels like a step up from the digital assistant types like Alexa we find in modern day life already. S.A.M. does not have any personality and gives rigid responses since his role as a scientific AI necessitates a good degree of precise detail. He performs background maintenance tasks to keep the station functional and can perform commands issued to him by the crew, and while this wouldn’t make for a particularly compelling character in a narrative, since the player is assuming this role in the story, being devoid of any character traits makes it actually feel like you’re manipulating the inner workings of a computer system rather than guiding a sentient character.
S.A.M. being a mild advancement to programs we have in the here and now isn’t the only way Observation manages to bring in some reality to its world. S.A.M. views the space station and action through cameras that are imperfect in their displays. On rare occasions we do get a look outside his perspective which feels like it sort of breaks the immersion, but the cameras themselves are often imperfect viewing devices with mild image distortion or brief lines of static to give the impression that this technology is closer to a security camera than some pixel perfect viewing screen that a human would prefer. There are key moments in this plot that S.A.M.’s own perspective on is limited, the opening of the game even made more effective as the AI has just rebooted after some catastrophic event on the space station and not much can be made out about the immediate area. This also means S.A.M.’s systems take a while to repair as S.A.M. must wait for the one human he has immediate contact with, Dr. Emma Fisher, to figure things out herself, so the game further limits your ability to investigate the story until it’s able to lay down vital dramatic beats.
Observation’s graphics and approach to area design also continue to bring it to life, to the point I initially wondered if certain aspects of it were filmed in live action. The space station’s rooms are all well realized and the camera’s low quality means any imperfections are covered up, and while the character models give away that this is all in-game graphics once they show their faces, even the astronaut suits feel like they could have come together to form a very convincing simulacrum of reality. Space stations interfaces humans rely on are touch screens and laptops, objects are properly bound to the walls to help counteract the lack of gravity, the people who do move through the space station need to account for the weightlessness and have moments of momentum drift or instances where they need to orient themselves properly since it’s not a totally natural setting for them. The utilitarian design of the space ship can make looking for areas disorienting as some spaces struggle to be distinct, but once you do start connecting to areas like the Chinese or Russian modules, you find a reasonably different approach to design that keeps the general realism but helps these areas feel a bit more distinct as countries would have their own approaches to designing for this international space station.
Unfortunately, “mundane” is not a word I picked for the game’s approach to its astronaut story simply to contrast it from games where energy is beamed through space and colorful holograms can reenact recorded scenes perfectly. Since S.A.M.’s capabilities are rooted in believable systems for a space station to have, you’ll often find yourself rubbing up against bothersome limitations or dull tasks. Moving your cameras around is slow and finicky and when you need to scan an object of importance, you need to slowly zoom in and potentially perform a mindless button sequence to pair your systems with it. Your camera angles are certainly an intentional limitation but they don’t make exploring the space station any richer for it and instead looking around for a certain document you might need might leave you hopping around cameras with little guidance, especially with all the notes and laptops around the station that contain nothing worth scanning to throw you off the trail. It’s not really an interesting hunt so much as something that will get done eventually, and then the ways you do activate important computer systems are also fairly dry. This roots things in realism technically; a computer system shouldn’t be playing difficult minigames or solving complex puzzles to perform vital tasks like unlocking hatches, coupling space station modules, or analyzing data. However, because the minigames are so basic or more about lining up a set of information that’s all on hand, these interactive portions can’t help but be a little tedious.
You do, at times, get access to a sphere that can navigate the space station or even exterior areas more freely, so you aren’t always trapped within the restrictive camera system. This doesn’t make the gameplay any more robust though as you’ll still be linking the sphere up to areas like the airlock, and again, flipping switches or pressing the right buttons might be angling for immersion, but the disorienting navigation and dullness of how you personally interact in the unfolding mystery really detracts from continued interest in the plot. Observation ends segments with large reveals and then you need to spend the next stretch of time hunting down schematics so you can reactivate coolant systems or something similarly plain by comparison, and while having time to decompress or consider the implications of the latest reveal is vital to a thriller, peppering in chores between each story beat doesn’t make getting to the next one particularly compelling.
The story of Observation is definitely handled much better when it’s allowed to continue progressing. There is a captivating mystery at the heart of this all as awaking on the damaged space station raises so many immediate questions. Where is the rest of the crew besides Emma Fisher? What happened to Observation? And more importantly, what is this strange black hexagon appearing to you that seems to draw you in towards it? That black hexagon is one of the areas the game leans into science fiction for its core mystery, and you soon find other strange disruptions to the realistic space setting that are more effective because they break away from something that wasn’t including such advanced concepts prior to their intersection with the story. The game definitely seem to be evoking 2001: A Space Odyssey with its grand mysteries and humanity intercepting with a strange object of unknown origin, but while Stanley Kubrick’s artistic film definitely puttered along at parts for effect, you also never saw anyone needing to repeat back symbols to the monolith every time it appeared on screen in a shallow minigame.
The game does conclude with a lot of unexplained ideas up in the air for interpretation even though some more direct information in the climax would have certainly made things a bit more satisfying, but the path there has many surprise reveals and elements that begin intentionally confusing but wrap up tightly once more details become clear. However, it also handles some of its reveals in an odd manner. Notes left for S.A.M. by the crew seem to almost attempt foreshadowing in reverse, where you’ll already have learned a big detail about certain characters or aspects of the Observation space station as part of the narrative and then find messages from the past of people being suspicious or hinting at these things you already know. This dramatic irony doesn’t add too much depth to things and the game does lay down some proper foreshadowing at parts to prime you for interesting developments, but a lot of the little breadcrumbs leading up to those moments should naturally have been placed before to get you thinking rather than coming after where such details don’t seem to strengthen things.
Observation definitely leans more towards and adventure game than a narrative-focused exploration game because of the degree of interactivity and how much of the playtime leans on your direct input. However, Observation might have worked better if it leaned more towards a story focused on observation. S.A.M.’s systems could have been made more reasonably simple to interact with so you’re still getting the immersive tactile input of activating systems on the space station, but the weak obstruction towards forward progress wouldn’t have the potential to grow tedious or leave the player lost because scanning objects isn’t as clean and clear as it should be. Condensing the moments where you are doing menial tasks or futzing with computer systems would lead to something that could streamline how the game’s story unfolds, and it wouldn’t need to necessarily sacrifice those looming moments of uncertainty and dread since it already keeps the control out of the player’s hands for extended period when it feels those moments need to linger for a while before you get back to your boring duties.
THE VERDICT: Observation has a compelling mystery set in space that manages to bring an unexpected layer of realism to its sci-fi tale that makes the breaks away from it more effective, and while the climax may not bring everything together perfectly, it is still a thrilling story if you only look at the narrative through-line rather than the interactive portions. Playing as the space station’s on-board AI provides a unique look at the action and again helps roots elements as plausible rather than outlandish fiction, but S.A.M.’s activities being turned into exceptionally weak challenges or dry tasks really drags down the pace and distracts from the game’s successes elsewhere. If uncoupled from S.A.M.’s chore list, Observation has a lot going for it when it comes to a thrilling story that contains many revelations that could have reeled you in. When you get back to S.A.M. and need to perform a disorienting search for a certain piece of paper so you can complete a hatch unlocking interaction that barely qualifies as a puzzle though, those irritating distractions lead to Observation feeling like you’re watching an exciting film that you need to keep pausing to go do work around the house.
And so, I give Observation for Xbox One…
An OKAY rating. When Observation is progressing at a good clip it reels you in with well placed bits of information, narrative twists, and additions to an ever-growing mystery that doesn’t overwhelm with how much it has up in the air to consider. Unfortunately, a lot of those moments will be broken up by S.A.M. heading off to find and press the right buttons in the right order so he can then go elsewhere and pull the right switches. Your interactions are likely to ground you in the role as an AI that’s not all powerful and takes some time to complete tasks, but even though his connections were severed to many systems, it still doesn’t feel like he should be playing minigames when he starts regaining control. Mild interaction with clear objectives rather than hopping around cameras in the hopes of finding what you need to move onto something interesting would definitely be preferable even if it would remove the illusion that this game has puzzles. Besides perhaps putting some build-up before events rather than after them and maybe adding a few more concrete elements to latch onto in interpreting the climax, Observation’s plot really wouldn’t need too much adjustment to stand tall as a captivating mystery to pull the player in, but it’s hard to recommend the tale fully when you keep having gates placed in your path to obstruct engaging with it. Observation’s plot is the kind that could have immersed you with the strength of its story beats, but the attempt to immerse you with tedious tasks ends up pulling the player back and undermining elements like pacing and the desire to learn what’s ahead.
Observation is a game with suspense, horror, and anxiety that build on the events you witness to make for a good mystery set in space. It has its own ideas on where to go with its unique ideas so it doesn’t feel too close to 2001: A Space Odyssey or the other astronaut games that preceded it as well. It does a fine job establishing and effective universe that is not too far off from our own, but then S.A.M. is given tasks that draw the player out of the experience as they are reminded this is a game where someone felt bland activities with little substance was worth the break away from a compelling story.