Observation Reviews
Observation's novel approach to puzzle design and gripping plot combine to create a unique science-fiction experience.
Observation is a fantastic horror game thanks to its twisting plot, well-realized setting, and challenging puzzles
Observation is grander than Stories Untold, more ambitious by half, but equally fascinating and inventive.
While it could have done more with its central concept, Observation is a terrific, thrilling adventure game and a superb follow-up for No Code. The blend of the realistic workings of space exploration along with more bizarre elements is perfectly executed and creates an engrossing story with a haunting atmosphere that you'll want to see through.
Observation does a lot of things correctly. Honing in on the isolation of space generates a wonderful tension on its own. Some pacing issues keep it from excellence, but there is plenty of appeal here for many different gaming preferences.
The key to crafting an effective user interface, via video game or otherwise, is a careful balancing act of priorities both aesthetic and utilitarian. The location of the interface, how it functions, who is the user, and how is the interface meant to be seen are all questions and considerations that inform the shape and presentation of a plausible, functional user interface.
Observation uses the unfathomable vastness of space to wonderful effect, conjuring a palpable sense of both isolation and dread that rarely falters across the six or seven hours it'll take for you to see it though. Minor quibbles with some aspects of the storytelling and a couple of quality of life issues don't detract from what is an engrossing adventure that thrills far more frequently than it frustrates.
If you’re after an experience like no other, that will challenge your problem-solving skills in logical and believable ways, you absolutely need to play Observation. It’s one of the most compelling and surprising games I’ve played in recent years. Its biggest achievement, though, is that it didn’t make me feel like I was playing a game; it made me feel like I was genuinely assisting a crew member in distress.
The setting of the game is the familiar stuff of science fiction, but the lens through which it's viewed is not.
An amazing, unique and genuinely mind-bending entry into the science-fiction genre, Observation draws on its distinct set-up to pull you into a mystery set deep in space. It's existential dread condensed into roughly six to eight hours of gameplay. Discounting the sometimes buggy levels, it has everything you could ever ask for in an original sci-fi title: an intriguing premise, a foreboding theme, and an AI player character, whose motive eludes even yourself.
Observation is a chilling and enthralling space-bound horror game, allowing players to act out their best HAL 9000 impressions through a great story.
The gameplay in Observation might be a bit of a slow boil, but it's unusual enough to be engaging in between its fascinating narrative moments.
Observation is a good sci-fi thriller, a step-by-step story made of puzzles and mistery.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Overall, Observation has a handful of issues but is still an enjoyable game if you're a fan of the puzzle and sci-fi genre. It takes around 8-10 hours to play through, which I believe is enough content to justify the $25 price tag. Despite only having one centralized location and some confusing puzzles along the way, the overall player controls and narrative of the story are intriguing enough to draw you in for the journey through space.
No Code presents another story that catches us from the first moment in which they have taken much care of both the atmosphere and the ambience. A thriller that we will want to play without stopping to solve all the mysteries that it contains.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
She never seems to give any hints or suggestions and it was frustrating to get stuck on a puzzle because I didn’t have any idea of what to do or because SAM’s cursor had just missed a crucial puzzle object I needed so I didn’t realize that I could even interact with it.
Observation is clever, but it’s also astoundingly dumb.
For whatever visual blemishes show up, or for however far the third act strays, Observation remains a deeply fascinating experience.
Despite those occasionals falter — and a somewhat polarising, disappointing ending — I was desperate to complete Observation to get to the bottom of its mystery.