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In a world where AAA developers are pumping out titles that are fundamentally the same but with a new splash of paint, there seems to be a drought in the passion and creativity department of the gaming industry. And in these dire times, some people still work day and night to put out a product that supports the notion that: Yes! Videogames can be considred art.
These aren’t mere cash grabs and don’t have millions of dollars of investments behind them. Instead, they are small passion projects with small budgets. Still, sometimes the accomplishments of these small teams can overtake those of big juggernauts of the industry.
A Space for the Unbound is one of these titles. It is a piece of media that is only able to be made when creativity meets passion. And although it released smack in the middle of some highly anticipated AAA titles, this is an experience you do not want to miss out on. Why is that? Well, let’s explore the answer to this question in our A Space for the Unbound Review.
Story And Setting
The game takes us all the way to South-East Asia in a small 2-D version of a backwater town in Indonesia. What could befall this small peaceful town you may ask? Well, it has something to do with two high school lovers whose lives get spiraled with the supernatural world and…..cats, a lot of them.
The story follows Atma, a young high school boy, and his girlfriend Raya of the same age. The duo is about to graduate high school and is making a list of plans for their summer break, but most of those plans would see fruition very late as both Atma and Raya realize that they have supernatural abilities that are shaking up the peaceful town they are living in.
Atma has a red magic book that allows him to enter another person’s mind and solve their mental problems. Whether it concerns regaining the memory of a loved one or helping someone decide between two difficult choices, Atma undertakes a journey of people’s minds to help them, while simultaneously discovering their cheerful or sometimes traumatic past. Raya on the other hand has more reality-bending powers that can alter space and time itself. However, there is a catch. Each time Raya uses her powers, a number of supernatural phenomena start to occur in this small town. These problems get worse and, as Atma realizes, have the potential to destroy the world itself.
Thus begins the journey of Atma who moves around town, helping people here and there, to piece together the mystery that is plaguing this small municipality. The mind-entering or shall I say “space-diving” is an essential power that helps him figure out whatever is plaguing the world. We stop here with the discussion of the story as adding anything further about it in our A Space for the Unbound Review will only spoil the experience. This is something have to experience yourself to appreciate it.
This title is pretty narrative heavy and while the start might seem slow for some, the stakes get higher as the story progresses. The dialogue is also well-written most of the time making the interactions with NPCs engaging and fun. This is further elevated by the intriguing backstories some of them possess, which can be experienced firsthand by diving into their minds.
Gameplay
Since the main focus of this game is the narrative and the meaningful interactions with other people, the gameplay here is minimalistic. The majority of it is centered around exploring this beautiful town, solving puzzles, and a little bit of combat. The world has more incentives to explore apart from its beautiful art style. Talking to NPCs can give you hints about different items that may be used to solve the puzzles in this game. These puzzles are accessed by space-diving into a person’s mind and looking for ways to help that person. The puzzles themselves are varied and very fun. I would wish they were more challenging but their easy difficulty does not take away from the fun of the game.
A handful of NPCs, however, give you fetch quests which can get cumbersome and boring. There is also some back-tracking involved in these quests which can make the experience unpleasant for some. A major problem plaguing this game is the hand-holding in all of the quests. When people ask you to fetch an item, they indirectly also tell you where you might find them which completely removes the depth from some of these quests. Looking for items is fun when you have to use your mind and make a logical guess about where they might be, not when the game spells it out for you.
This puzzle-solving is broken up by combat sequences. The combat is simple as it only revolves around pressing specific buttons in a specified time window to execute some combos, but its simplicity does not hamper the overall experience because the major focus of this title is the narrative, as mentioned before in our A Space for the Unbound Review. There are also some quick time events present here that further complement the experience. Overall, despite its simplicity, the gameplay succeeds in making the experience more enjoyable. And for those cat lovers out there: Yes, You can pet every cat in the game!
Visuals And Performance
The best part of A Space for the Unbound and the one which will cause many people to flock towards it is the visually appealing art style. It articulately blends the 90s jagged-edged style with modern anime visuals and style. Combining that with the unique Indonesian setting, and we have a style that is a pleasure to look at and which will certainly keep me coming back for more. The beautiful art style also made the backtracking somewhat bearable. Not just in the actual game world, but the environments present in the minds of other people are also beautifully designed and tell their own stories.
The characters are also exceptionally well designed, with varied facial expressions which clearly convey what they are thinking or how they feel when you perform a certain task. This helps breathe life into the world and makes the town even more interesting to explore.
The soundtrack nicely fits this beautiful world too. There is just some warm feeling to strolling around the streets of Indonesia on a sunny day with a slow and chill soundtrack in the background. That’s not to say that the soundtrack is always like this, in certain sequences it really amps up, further elevating the stakes of those sequences. This game has perhaps the most beautiful art style and the most beautiful soundtrack any game has to offer, but words can’t do this justice in our A Space for the Unbound Review. You’ll have to experience it to fully appreciate it.
The beauty of this art style is that it is not even demanding, This is a tile that can run at its fullest potential on even low-end PCs. I, however, tested it on a GTX 1060 6GB with a Core i7 6700 which is a fairly mid-range PC but showing its age, but did not run into performance problems. The game also is free from any game-breaking bugs or performance hiccups, or at least I did not run into any of them.
Verdict
This title has a deep and interesting story that is delivered in a beautiful way. The puzzles are interesting, and the gameplay is simple but nicely adds to the story, and while some quests can involve back-tracking, the overall experience is alleviated due to the gorgeous art style and the interesting environments.
The only gripe I have with the game is that it assists the players too much when looking for specific items to solve a puzzle or deliver them somewhere, by indirectly mentioning how to obtain it and removing the critical thinking on the player’s part.
A Space for the Unbound is one of the best Indie Games to grace us these past few years, and it is not something you would want to sleep on. It is a Labor of Love and one that comes to fruition when passion and creative ideas are allowed to flourish.
This has been our A Space for the Unbound Review. While you’re here, consider checking out some of our other articles.
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A Space for the Unbound Review
- Story And Setting
- Gameplay
- Visuals And Performance
Verdict
A Space for the Unbound is one of the best Indie Games to grace us these past few years, and it is not something you would want to sleep on. It is a Labor of Love and one that comes to fruition when passion and creative ideas are allowed to flourish.
Pros
- Beautiful And intriguing story
- Gorgeous Art style
- Melodious Soundtrack
- Interesting puzzles
Cons
- Backtracking
- Too much Handholding
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