Sci-fi space thriller Observation has now landed, and the critics have plenty to say about it already. It’s time to scope out the key things you need to know and get a roundup of the verdicts.
In our preview we anticipated that the game, the newest offering from Stories Untold developer No Code, would turn “humanity’s relationship with artificial intelligence on its head”. Ali highlighted the game’s interesting camera-centric mechanics and unnerving feel, with the story based on the relationship between space station crew member Dr Emma Fisher and its AI system, SAM, in the wake of an accident.
The game looked set to offer a trickily tactile, psychologically daunting, and story rich experience – and it looks like the critics’ reviews mostly seem to agree.
If these are the kind of things you’re after, you could be onto a winner. Observation has earned itself a not-too-shabby 81 on Metacritic, a decent 77 on Opencritic, and an even higher score from IGN, who highlighted its “novel approach to puzzle design and gripping plot”, as below. There was, however, one big outlier in the major outlets mix, as below.
Check out the critics’ verdicts below:
IGN: 9/10
Eurogamer: Recommended
PC Gamer: 82/100
VideoGamer: 8/10
Destructoid: 9/10
Metro: 3/10
Gameinformer: 9/10
It looks like Observation did pretty well overall, then. Common hiccups seemed to be puzzles sometimes straying into obtuse territory, and a somewhat slow story pace at times. Critics did largely seem to lap up the game’s stunning graphics and strong narrative – maybe you will too.
Related: Check out the best space games on PC
If you’re keen to launch into Observation, head over to the Epic Games Store, where you can pick it up for $25 (£19.99), though there’s currently an Epic Store discount on offer that will let you grab it for a lot less (£7.99).