Observation

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 180 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 110 out of 180
  2. Mixed: 44 out of 180
  3. Negative: 26 out of 180

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  1. ayk8
    Dec 7, 2020
    4
    Boring. The story may be great, but that's not the point.. To unravel it, you do lots of mundane tasks like switching and rotating cameras and solving grade school pattern puzzles to open hatches, turn switches and fetch things... it gets old pretty fast, and absolutely kills the pacing of the story. I got bored with the gameplay after several hours and quit.
  2. a_wild_dandan
    May 15, 2020
    3
    Captivating story, stunning atmosphere, and aggressively awful gameplay & controls...

    Let's start with praise: the story's mystery sinks its claws in and holds you until the (admittedly disappointing) ending. It's reminiscent of the first few episodes of Lost. The characters are engaging and charismatic. The world is superbly crafted and oozes eeriness and atmosphere (sometimes    Captivating story, stunning atmosphere, and aggressively awful gameplay & controls...

    Let's start with praise: the story's mystery sinks its claws in and holds you until the (admittedly disappointing) ending. It's reminiscent of the first few episodes of Lost. The characters are engaging and charismatic. The world is superbly crafted and oozes eeriness and atmosphere (sometimes literally). It reminds one of *Alien: Isolation*.

    Unfortunately, the most important aspect of a game -- the gameplay -- is stunningly bad. Here's the game loop: you are tasked with traveling to a particular room in the space station; you must scrupulously hunt pixels in this room to find a puzzle device that progresses the story (usually a laptop or switch); you must fiddle with said device in some insultingly tedious, time consuming way ("press your W key for awhile", "look at these symbols and regurgitate them back"); you thus trigger a progression cutscene; you do it all over again. It is the worst gaming experience I've had in recent memory.

    A game consisting solely of tedious busywork would perhaps be bearable if not for the astonishingly terrible controls. They're so convoluted and bizarrely unintuitive that it borders on parody. To avoid a scathing diatribe of nearly every aspect of this senseless, clearly-ported-from-a-console control system, I will simply say this: It feels as if someone who has never used a computer before was told to design the game's controls, they did, and Observation was shipped with this system with nary a playtest for usability. From using WASD instead of a mouse to control excruciatingly slow cameras, to hacky junk like holding `RMB` & `W` to change drone elevation, Observation's controls are a special hell that can only be truly appreciated by playing it.

    Worse, various cutscenes and collisions needlessly cause your viewport to jolt/flicker nauseatingly. I had to put the game down twice to avoid being sick. That has never happened to me in any other game, ever. Kudos for that achievement. I simply refuse to believe that any playtester gritted their teeth through this kludge and said "yeah, this is fine."

    But worst of all? This game had so much potential. The story and art direction are world class. The game mechanics are there. As an omnipresent AI, you could've had a quest in which you must dance from room to room helping the protagonist escape an enemy. There could've been genuinely rewarding and clever puzzles instead of a string of inane "fiddle with MacGuffin #2 in Room #11" missions.

    As a 20 minute short film, Observation would've been enjoyable. As a game? A game needs serviceable gameplay. 3/10.    … Expand
  3. psylife
    May 29, 2019
    4
    You will be spending your time solving kindergarten level 'puzzles' served through an intentionally convoluted and obtuse interface as to create the illusion of challenge. That is if you consider challenging, the idea of bumping into every wall in search of some interactive pop-up. Tedious, boring, and repetitive, this is an experience that relies heavily on its audio-visual presentationYou will be spending your time solving kindergarten level 'puzzles' served through an intentionally convoluted and obtuse interface as to create the illusion of challenge. That is if you consider challenging, the idea of bumping into every wall in search of some interactive pop-up. Tedious, boring, and repetitive, this is an experience that relies heavily on its audio-visual presentation in order to entertain. Intriguing and immersive, the game is heavily inspired by classics such as 2001: A space odyssey and interstellar, while never succeeding in offering a respectable narrative pay off. Observation is a genuinely mediocre game and a concrete example of what happens when the artistic and directorial aspirations of a developer takes precedence over genuinely fun, clever, and engaging design and mechanics.… Expand
  4. dr_yev
    May 30, 2020
    3
    Boring, slow, uninspired story punctuated by completely unrealistic and unnecessary "puzzles" that involve slowly panning the camera around and having to remember patterns. Given that the protagonist is a an AI from a few years into the future, the slowdowns are silly and just serve to elongate the process. I probably got about half-way through and I do not know that I will be able toBoring, slow, uninspired story punctuated by completely unrealistic and unnecessary "puzzles" that involve slowly panning the camera around and having to remember patterns. Given that the protagonist is a an AI from a few years into the future, the slowdowns are silly and just serve to elongate the process. I probably got about half-way through and I do not know that I will be able to force myself to return.… Expand
  5. nullbs
    May 25, 2019
    3
    Poor UI/UX.
    Boring game play.

    It's better to do something different than play this game.
  6. DaveTheJackal
    Jun 8, 2020
    4
    Really tedious puzzles the most difficult part of which is working out the clunky controls, the solution often amounting to "oh, I didn't realise I could do that!".

    Clichéd but stylish story with lazy ending. Confusing references in the finalé which presumably copies both 2001 and Bioshock Infinite [no, not homages, it's called lazy copying, especially when you rely on the previous    Really tedious puzzles the most difficult part of which is working out the clunky controls, the solution often amounting to "oh, I didn't realise I could do that!".

    Clichéd but stylish story with lazy ending. Confusing references in the finalé which presumably copies both 2001 and Bioshock Infinite [no, not homages, it's called lazy copying, especially when you rely on the previous works to do the world building for you]

    Not a patch on Stories Untold.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

94
#94 Best PC Game of 2019
74
#74 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
41
#41 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. Adventure Gamers
    Jun 28, 2019
    80
    Once you have mastered the interface and navigation challenges, Observation will sweep you up in a compelling story of human and machine interaction that offers a refreshing spin on a familiar sci-fi formula.
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  2. GameCritics
    Jun 17, 2019
    85
    While there have been a lot of games like it recently, Observation’s interesting player perspective, stellar production values, and exceptional level of detail might just make it the best of them.
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  3. The Overpowered Noobs
    Jun 17, 2019
    60
    Challenging puzzles and a thrilling story makes Observation truly fantastic — but launch prices paired with the brevity of the experience and its lack of replay value make it hard to recommend.
    Read full review
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