The previous project of the No Code studio, horror/adventure Stories Untold , clearly inspired by the Stranger Things series and the classic The Twilight Zone, caused a mixed reaction from the public – someone was delighted with the authors’ unusual approach to storytelling, someone considered themselves deceived. It looks like a similar fate awaits the studio’s new interactive story, the sci-fi adventure Observation.

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We have seen all this many times before. A space station, a strange occurrence, the only survivor who must figure out what is happening on board and try to survive. However, this time the survivor is not completely alone, Dr. Emma Fisher has a partner, SAM, the artificial intelligence of the Observation orbital station. It is SAM who will become Emma’s eyes and hands and help her put the station in order as much as possible and appropriate.

Let’s face it, the unusual angle of the narrative looks really very fresh, at least at first. It seems that you are playing as HAL 9000 and one way or another you will be forced to harm the only surviving crew member. In general, there are so many analogies between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Observation that you will get tired of counting them. And not only visual, but sometimes sound and even plot.

The Observation station itself is shown in the game very realistically. With different computer interfaces in different country segments; with inscriptions in the languages of the hosts of the sections; with fasteners for tools and laptops, as on the modern ISS; with outdated operating systems and UI for life. Why, those Autonomous Spheres that SAM can connect to are nothing more than the next iteration of Astrobee being tested on the ISS right now.

In terms of gameplay, Observation is either an easy adventure or an interactive story. You, in the role of SAM, must follow Dr. Fisher’s commands, switching between cameras in different compartments, interacting with the station’s subsystems, “moving” if necessary, into Autonomous Spheres, and even going into outer space. You will fight for the survivability of the station, simultaneously restoring your own memory and trying to figure out what really happened here and what is your primary mission as a station computer.

There are no extra-hard puzzles in the game, all tasks in Observation are not very fast QTEs. From time to time, you only have to look for access codes or wiring diagrams hidden nearby. Navigating the station itself brings more problems, especially when the Observation map is not available. Here it is easy to panic and earn nausea.

However, there is practically no horror component in the game. No one will rush at you from the darkness and scare you with a loud cry. Observation rather puts pressure on you with an oppressive atmosphere and uncertainty, and also … wildly annoying with a lack of logic. Based on the current level of development of space technology and on the realism in the use of numerous instruments and systems of the station, the authors completely ignore several things that break the entire logic of the narrative and completely undermine faith in it.

Observation is a low-Earth scientific station of complex configuration. She could not get where she got in the story, under no circumstances. Never. But Emma, a supposedly trained astronaut, seems to completely ignore this fact. The construction of such a station or its twin requires such powerful financial investments and cooperation of various states and services that it is simply impossible to carry out it secretly. Emma ignores this as well, giving the impression that she just doesn’t want to see some obvious things. However, further our brave doctor will ignore a lot of strange things happening around, as well as going into outer space in a spacesuit for takeoff / landing, which is not equipped with an autonomous life support system at all. What is it all about, gentlemen from No Code? Why all this beautiful story, if it is literally falling apart before our eyes?

It seems that No Code decided to make their own mix of the classic 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, but the talents of Sir Arthur Clarke and Pan Stanislav Lem were clearly not enough for the authors. On the one hand, some events in the game are calculated too simply, on the other hand, some of Emma’s decisions and reactions are completely meaningless.

Yes, Emma and SAM try to explain at the very end why they did what they did, but it sounds so unconvincing that Observation leaves behind a really gaping feeling of emptiness and regret for completely wasted 4 hours. And even the dense sci-fi atmosphere of the game does not allow you to come to terms with such a helpless finale.

Interestingly, the game seems to have some plot forks. So, for example, I made a gross mistake at the very beginning of working with Emma, moreover, this mistake led to a violation of the integrity of the station and, according to the doctor, will have to come back to haunt us in the future, but … I never found out if he influenced fail at something. Moreover, SAM may refuse to cooperate with Emma at the very beginning, literally in the first five minutes of the game, there are prerequisites for this. Whether this will lead to a plot twist, I don’t know either. And, to be honest, I’m not eager to check, because, even despite the possible forks, the replay value of this adventure tends to zero – you already know how it will end, playing a second time is not interesting. Perhaps this game would have been more comfortable in the format of a budget indie film than an interactive story.

Undoubtedly, the ending of Observation, as well as some of the events in the middle of it, will cause a lot of fan interpretation. Undoubtedly, there are those whom the game will conquer with its atmosphere and unusual look at history. But, as for me, Observation is not much different from another sci-fi project of its kind, The Station adventure. It seems like a good idea, but something went wrong with the implementation. Rather than spend four hours on this game, I think it’s better to revisit the original 2001: A Space Odyssey. Especially since it’s also shorter.