Observer: System Redux

 PlayStation 5
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 75 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 46 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 75
  3. Negative: 16 out of 75
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  1. srinu634
    Aug 12, 2021
    9
    Great game. Though not for everyone.
    This isn't a casual game like an arcade racing for example. This game demands your attention. You need to take your time and soak in the environment, paintings, abstract art, cyberpunk style level design because the developers/art designers did a great job. Music is great, better to use headphones any day. That being said, as much as I liked the game,    Great game. Though not for everyone.
    This isn't a casual game like an arcade racing for example. This game demands your attention. You need to take your time and soak in the environment, paintings, abstract art, cyberpunk style level design because the developers/art designers did a great job. Music is great, better to use headphones any day. That being said, as much as I liked the game, the game is pretty intense and I think it's not for everyone, specially if you are looking for a game to chill in the evening after work. 9 for the amazing level design and the art work. Can totally see that the developers put a lot of hard work into it.    … Expand
  2. HonestReviews66
    Jun 12, 2023
    0
    Boring game. Fancy lights and pointless psychedelic sequences hiding what is ultimately a boring walking SIM with a rubbish story. Very repetitive.
  3. videogayme
    Jan 30, 2021
    10
    Wow...what an incredible ride. Amazing beautiful abstract environments. Great story. Lots of replay. Note: should be a warning somewhere about people sensative to an lights. What an adventure. And an appropriate Swan song for Rutger Hower. (R.I.P.)
  4. hoohoo
    Dec 19, 2020
    5
    The dialogue acting is subpar, the puzzles quite boring.. ambience is ok. But had I tried it I would have not bought it.
  5. Tecneek
    Jan 11, 2021
    9
    Fantastic game. The knocked it out of the park with the visuals, atmosphere, and controls. The DualSense is used to great effect, and the tone created here by Bloober is perfection. Solving crimes and playing detective has never been more fun. I can only hope for a sequel down the road.
  6. Schueli
    Aug 10, 2022
    5
    Ich mag ja die Horror-Titel vom Blooper Team immer ganz gerne. Es sind jetzt keine Super-Highlights, aber im Horror-Genre kann man die immer gut mal zocken. Davon war Observer nun aber eines der weniger interessanten für mich. Mir hat das Setting nicht so gut gefallen. Das war mir alles ein wenig "to much". Zum Durchspielen hat es aber dennoch gereicht. Bis auf ein paar coolen Momenten, woIch mag ja die Horror-Titel vom Blooper Team immer ganz gerne. Es sind jetzt keine Super-Highlights, aber im Horror-Genre kann man die immer gut mal zocken. Davon war Observer nun aber eines der weniger interessanten für mich. Mir hat das Setting nicht so gut gefallen. Das war mir alles ein wenig "to much". Zum Durchspielen hat es aber dennoch gereicht. Bis auf ein paar coolen Momenten, wo es auch mal etwas gruselig war, fehlte es dem Titel aber an "Horror". Grafik geht klar, jedoch wird nicht ohne Grund im Vorfeld vor epileptischen Anfällen gewarnt. Alles blinkt, blitzt und flackert nur so vor sich her (gehört aber zum Spielprinzip - nicht wegen schlechter Technik).

    Kann man also mal gut zocken, ist aber meiner Ansicht nach ein durchschnittlicher Horror-Titel.    … Expand
  7. Mindurbidniss
    Oct 31, 2022
    2
    Observer is a pretty lackluster experience. You spend the majority of the game in one building talking to people you cant see. This wouldn't be an issue if the voice acting were any good... Spoiler alert, it isn't. Rutger Hauer, who's great in films, does a terrible job reading his lines. This instantly kills any immersion one might've been building up. On top of the voice acting, theObserver is a pretty lackluster experience. You spend the majority of the game in one building talking to people you cant see. This wouldn't be an issue if the voice acting were any good... Spoiler alert, it isn't. Rutger Hauer, who's great in films, does a terrible job reading his lines. This instantly kills any immersion one might've been building up. On top of the voice acting, the game's simply boring. And after the initial stun of cyberpunk graphics, one realizes how ugly the game actually is. The controls are also pretty slow and cumbersome. I can't recommend this game to any but the most hardcore cyberpunk fans. Even as a detective game, it doesn't have that thing that LA Noire or the Sherlock Holmes games have that keep you coming back. Maybe worth it if you can find it for less than $5.… Expand
  8. onemorelevel_1
    Jan 1, 2021
    10
    The gameplay, controls and options had received some updates, requested by the gaming community themselves. I first played the game through and then I checked the list of improvements, because I wanted to have a true experience and discover everything on my own, which I did! For example, playing the neural interrogation segments (when Dan hacks into suspect’s mind) were different. IThe gameplay, controls and options had received some updates, requested by the gaming community themselves. I first played the game through and then I checked the list of improvements, because I wanted to have a true experience and discover everything on my own, which I did! For example, playing the neural interrogation segments (when Dan hacks into suspect’s mind) were different. I noticed they were much shorter than the originals. It was great decision to cut them shorter, because I remember how awfully dragging they could be. Particularly one of them, where I had to sneak past an instantly killing enemy. Playing System Redux I wasn’t excited for that specific part and I was positively surprised how much, not easier, but shorter it was.

    Stealth and enemy AI was clearly better. User interface and dialogue were also better, because of the new settings and new accessibility options. Multiple save slots is great, but I have to say something negative about the autosaving system. I mean, there was such big gaps between checkpoints and I had to do few semi long parts again, because once the game crashed and one time I accidentally turned the console off. There is no way player can save game themselves, which is odd.

    With controls System Redux was pretty much the same with the original game, except the added haptic feedback, which was great add-on to the whole experience. Adaptive triggers were used on some places, such like opening doors; some doors opened easily and some of them needed more force.

    A new minigame was added to the doors, that were locked by four digit codes. I didn’t find all the codes and failed to hack all of them. So opening them was left for another playthrough (the minigame hacking can be turned off).

    There were some secrets to be found and I said to myself: ‘Imma d0 4ll the sidE stuff afTer da mAin gaem’. Yeah, that was a mistake, because Observer: System Redux does not include New Game+. Another oddity.

    Observer: System Redux looked even more stunning than ever. I honestly thought the game couldn’t look any better, but all the refined textures, animations, effects and whatnots in crystal clear 4k and 60fps, with raytracing, and HDR. I mean, this being my very first experience with next generation games on PS5, I feel blessed. This is absolutely beautiful game, but what I have to say about the 60fps, well, I did experience lots of lagging and sudden dips with it. It wasn’t smooth sail, but I also have to be clear that I played this with RTC on, 4K on, HDR on, Everything on. I’m still not completely familiar with the PS5 settings, since there seems to be various system settings, that affects games. If you wanna full technical report, I suggest googling it.

    Fire and Sword minigame got new levels, that can be found in computers throughout the whole game. Every new terminal seemed to add more levels to the puzzle minigame. I realized how much time I could spend on this game, that it should see its own release on indie genre!

    I truly enjoyed it and it was hard to quit playing, even when it was 4am. The game was scary, but not any jump-scare scary. The plot, voice acting, sound design, art style… all that created this finely emerging terror, that lasted the whole game. It was proposed for reviewers to play this with headphones and alone in dark. I did just that and it was spectacular experience. I live for the story and concept. There was few little hiccups, like the lack of autosaving points, option to save game by yourself and New Game+.    … Expand
  9. meadx
    Mar 14, 2021
    10
    MEGA AMAZING ATMOSPHERIC GAME! Super animation, super crazy ideas, super interesting LOR.
  10. busylast
    Dec 1, 2020
    6
    Its ok. I seem to be having a lot of issues with choppy frame rate and the ray tracing seems to make it worse when activated but its still a gorgeous looking game. The story is mildly interesting, but nothing that makes me look forward to jumping back into. I feel like it will be one of the free PSN games soon.
  11. maciekr1991
    Dec 7, 2020
    10
    I had a lot of fun playing this game. looks great and have interresting story and climat , its cheap.
  12. woolence
    Dec 17, 2020
    9
    This is great cyberpunk detective game and its what you expect from such game and even more. I didnt played original Observer but as i have seen its just graphics. This one looks great!
  13. Bartdobr
    May 3, 2021
    10
    Very original game, interesting, amazing vision of cyberpunk, interesting puzzles, nice graphics.
  14. eliroz
    Dec 29, 2020
    10
    This game plays with your mind!
    play it right now or ur gonna lose it .this is the best game i have ever seen ...in its kind
  15. Vokrug_Vostok
    Oct 16, 2022
    0
    boring, stupid, the walking game from a bunch of psychos . not scary, very easy platinum, but i even don't want to get it. frame drops on ps5. graphic is awful...one of the worst games I've ever played
  16. GamingCouchSpud
    Nov 10, 2021
    8
    As part of their the Bloober Team's 13 Years of Development celebrations, I got my hands on Observer: System Redux, a first person, investigative horror game.

    Your name is Daniel Lazarski, voiced by the late great legend that is Rutger Hauer. You are what is known as a "Neural Detective". You find yourself investigating crimes in a decrepit apartment building in Poland as well as    As part of their the Bloober Team's 13 Years of Development celebrations, I got my hands on Observer: System Redux, a first person, investigative horror game.

    Your name is Daniel Lazarski, voiced by the late great legend that is Rutger Hauer. You are what is known as a "Neural Detective". You find yourself investigating crimes in a decrepit apartment building in Poland as well as looking for your lost son. Since this is a cyberpunk world, everything is technical, including how you investigate crimes. You can literally hack into someone's mind. This brings you to the scarier elements of the game, since physics go out the window if you are walking through someone's subconscious. But it does allow you to investigate a person's memories, look at things they interacted with, see what they saw.

    Since we are looking for a killer, reliving someone's last moments can be a challenge, and often you will find yourself in maze like situations, whereby you can feel very stuck in someone's memory. The first example of this is where you hack into the mind of a dying man who has been brutally attacked, after exploring for a while, you will find yourself in something of a walking loop. Any door you go through you end up back at the start. The only clue as to what you are supposed to do are the TVs that have switched themselves on. Now this took me a while to figure out. I had just been walking around and around for a while, before I even noticed the TVs and when I did, I still didn't realise that the clue to escaping the loop was what was being shown on the TVs in the first place. The game does not hold your hand and you will find yourself in seemingly inescapable situations. But a mixture of trial and error, as well as a crafty look at a walkthrough guide and you will soon find yourself back on track.

    Although hacking people's minds is a big part of the game, most of the time you will find yourself exploring the apartment building, you have two extra abilities that will help your investigations, "EM Vision" which allows you to analyse electronic equipment, and "Bio Vision" which allows you to identify biological materials, think blood and bodily fluids. This comes into use when investigating a crime scene, and trying to log everything, which in turn updates your systems which then gives guidance on what to do next.

    As you play, your character's stress levels grow, and you will have to take a pill to help lower the stress, we are never really told why you need to do this, but since we are in the future, and people have chips implanted into their brains, it is hardly surprising it might have some mental health side effects.

    There are no real combat situations, so no running away or hiding for most of the game, although towards the end there are some stealth elements needed to avoid a creature, sadly it feels like these segments of the game were thrown in, and kind of take away from what you have been doing for most of the game.

    Also, a quick mention to a mini game you will play on the various computers you access in the game, it is a simple game, and you will unlock a few levels on each computer you find and access. It is called Fire and Sword, and you have to move around a 2D map trying to avoid spiders, collecting gold. It is a simple but addictive game.

    The Good
    The game looks and sounds incredible, the slow build of tension and fear is perfectly done, and if you play with headphones, it makes the experience even better. The story is good, the "dream" sequences when hacking someone's mind really are interesting and add a true horror element to the game.

    The Bad
    The stealth segments towards the end feel out of place and become annoying instead of challenging. There is also an issue where you can find yourself in an impossible situation, for example I dropped a power cable that I then figured out I needed to plug into a computer, the cable went through a grate in the ground and then became impossible to reach. Luckily the auto save system meant I could just restart the area again, but it was frustrating.

    Also, EM Mode and Bio mode meant very different visual appearances on screen, and constantly switching between them as well as normal view, might cause eye strains to some people.

    Overall
    Although quite a linear game, I found myself getting very much into it, even after I had played for a while, I wanted to keep going. That is one of the most important things about a game, addictive to a point that is not destructive.

    I score Observer: System Redux on PC a strong 8/10    … Expand
  17. TigerlilyJules
    Jan 13, 2022
    5
    I am no stranger to uncomfortable, scary games; Alien Isolation, SOMA, and Prey are just a few from that list. I was very excited to play this game given the reputation the Bloober team's Layers of Fear has and it continually shows up on multiple scariest games of all-time lists. So, I did my research and found that given the option I should choose this over the aforementioned game dueI am no stranger to uncomfortable, scary games; Alien Isolation, SOMA, and Prey are just a few from that list. I was very excited to play this game given the reputation the Bloober team's Layers of Fear has and it continually shows up on multiple scariest games of all-time lists. So, I did my research and found that given the option I should choose this over the aforementioned game due to its enriching environment and more engaging gameplay. With that recommendation, I was sold and purchased Observer System Redux.

    Unfortunately, this game was not at all what I expected and was one major letdown after another. I had such high hopes and wanted nothing more than to love this game. I genuinely felt terrible that I hated it as much as I did and still do. To start with I couldn't even play it on my PS5 thanks to the audio issues it has. It stutters terribly to the point where I couldn't play the game without being taken out of the environment they were trying to immerse me into. I thought this was made for the next-gen consoles? So I downloaded it onto my PS4 which thankfully fixed the audio issues but then I was met with constant frame drops throughout the entire game.

    Next, the 'dream sequences' were so boring and way too long. They were confusing and didn't add anything meaningful to the story. I'm ok with abstract but they were so abstract I took nothing meaningful away from what I was looking at and it was just a mess of images thrown at you. When I was connecting to a person to view their memories I expected something more along the lines of the Cyberpunk braindance. You received their final memory and you had to piece things together, solve the puzzle, actually get a meaningful piece to the story that made coherent sense; that isn't at all what you got from this mess.

    Then there were these weird stealth segments thrown in from time to time. I don't mind having to avoid enemies or trophies attached to segments such as this that require skill but this was so out of place for the game it truly felt like it didn't belong plus my game had so many bugs and issues the enemies I was trying to avoid were glitching out half the time. It truly just made for the most frustrating, and unenjoyable experience.

    Finally, without spoiling the game for anyone, the ending was predictable and terrible. I had no connection to my character whatsoever due to the terrible storytelling and the ending, like the rest of the game, was all over the place. I genuinely wish I loved this game but I hated every minute of it and the only reason I stuck it out to the end was a small part of me was holding out hope.

    Why did I give it a 5 you ask? Because the artistic design is beautiful. They managed to build a gorgeous dirty, cyberpunk, dystopian world and as you walk around you get the feeling that this place is disgusting and futuristic all at the same time. You can see that there is no end of artistic design poured into this game, it reaks of atmosphere I only with the game itself played the way the environment looked.

    Overall, I think this game is overrated, I bought it because of its high score and I feel lied to. What a waste of time and money.    … Expand
  18. pizzastation
    Jun 10, 2022
    1
    this is boring games
    Its just a walking game.
    From start to finish

    Why does this devs keep making similar works?
    If you need waking simulator,must buy this game
    i dont need more
  19. HippiHemuli
    May 25, 2023
    9
    Psychedelic cyperpunk environment but enjoyable game only substories was hard to find and navigate was little bit hard. Very good voice acting by Hauer.

    Story = 9
    Graphic = 10
    Gameplay = 9
    Sounds = 10
  20. GombaM
    Feb 3, 2023
    8
    It was pretty fun, it's not so long with it's 11 hour, it was enough for my heart to be scared lol. The graphics, the sounds, the story are very well made. Near the end it started to be confusing for me, it's not hard to play through so anyone can enjoy this game. Although the frame drops were annoying, and the settings didn't help it at all.

Awards & Rankings

14
#14 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2020
16
#16 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. IGN
    Jul 28, 2021
    80
    Blade Runner meets 1984 in Observer: System Redux, a tense and atmospheric psychological horror murder mystery.
    Read full review
  2. Hey Poor Player
    Jul 23, 2021
    70
    Observer: System Redux weaves a moving story, both fascinating and relatable. With fantastic updated graphics, stunning audio, moving voice acting, and a memorable environment, this is a tale worth experiencing. I just wish it actually played better. The few times you actually have to do more than walk from room to room, the game falls apart. Thankfully they don’t make up a huge chunk of Observer, but they grow more common as you get deeper into the game. If you’re okay with that, though, and have time for an interesting cyberpunk story, Observer is worth your time.
    Read full review
  3. Cubed3
    Mar 8, 2021
    70
    Overall, Observer: System Redux is a great pickup for those looking to see just exactly how well their shiny new consoles can perform, as well as having an interesting experience to boot (you know, like a computer). Environments are beautiful in a truly depressing, atmospheric manner, and lead Rutger Hauer really makes the effort to portray a downtrodden detective tired of the new cybernetic world order. This is a clear pick up for fans of psychological horror drama, looking for a few jump scares and… uncomfortable-ness over a few hours. For the rest, however, it's an interesting experiment that perhaps could benefitted from less of the shocks and more of the Detective chops.
    Read full review
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