For story-related reasons I won’t go into, you’ll find yourself being stalked by a menacing creature at a few different points, and you’ll have to hide and sneak around it to progress. That’s why it’s such a shame that developer Bloober Team felt the need to include a handful of stealth sequences that completely broke my immersion in its otherwise tense world.
Horror is subjective, of course, but as someone who both enjoys the genre and is easily frightened, I found myself muttering “Nope, nope, nope” while exploring a darkened basement and yelped out loud more than once during the 10-hour campaign. It doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares, instead creating a building sense of dread through the environments, ambient music, and sound effects. Observer is proof that you don’t always need the threat of a sword-dragging physical manifestation of guilt or a nine-foot-tall vampire lady to make a game scary (although those clearly work too). Most of the gameplay focuses on exploration and contextual interactions with the world around you, much like Gone Home or What Remains of Edith Finch. Unlike many games in the survival horror genre, Observer: System Redux doesn’t use violent combat or “run and hide” mechanics (for the most part) to create a creepy atmosphere. Observer never holds your hand or answers every question, and your choices will have a very real effect on how you see the world around you and even how it all ends. For example, you have the option to make Dan take his medication whenever his vitals are in the red, but you’re never told why – or what happens if you don’t. There’s a lot left up to interpretation, which can be said for much of the larger story as well. They’re not an exact replication of the victims’ memories, but more of a trippy reenactment that mashes together different environments and art styles. These “dream eater” sequences keep the derelict apartment setting from ever feeling too claustrophobic. Observer is proof that you don't always need a monster to make a game scary. Oh, and you can plug into a chip in dead people’s brains to explore their memories, like you do. You’ll use these abilities to track down whoever’s murdering the building’s tenants, sometimes following a literal trail of blood in your quest to stop the killer and find Dan’s son. Despite the familiar themes, Observer never feels derivative it’s more of a love letter to the works that came before than an imitation.īeing a cybernetically enhanced Observer, Dan Lazarski has a few extra tools at his disposal: he can use EM Vision to analyze electronic equipment, Bio Vision to identify biological materials like blood, and Night Vision to make dark spaces like the building’s creepy basement easier to navigate. There are multiple references to the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four as well, including finding physical copies of the book throughout the apartment building, and stumbling upon Easter eggs like this is always a delight. Lazarski is voiced by the now late Rutger Hauer, whose “tears in the rain” monologue from Blade Runner deserves a spot in the dystopian fiction hall of fame. Observer: System Redux doesn’t shy away from its sci-fi, cyberpunk, and horror influences.
OBSERVER SYSTEM REDUX IGN REVIEW SERIES
As Dan, you’ll investigate crime scenes, examine clues, and trawl a creepy, locked down tenement building in order to solve a series of murders and reunite with your long-lost son. The first-person perspective puts you in the hardened gumshoes of Dan Lazarski, an Observer – basically a police detective who can hack into people’s minds. The year is 2084, and Poland has been ravaged by the nanophage, a digital plague resulting in widespread drug use, body modification, and the watchful rule of governing megacorporation Chiron. Originally released as Observer in 2017, System Redux is an enhanced version of the base game with improved graphics and additional story content. It does a great job of building tension just by using its environments and ambient sounds, though a few out-of-place (and thankfully infrequent) stealth sections can sometimes cause more aggravation than fear. Part detective story, part psychological horror, Observer is the kind of game you’ll want to play with the lights off and headphones on. Set in a decrepit apartment building in futuristic Poland, Observer incorporates familiar science fiction and cyberpunk themes in a way that feels both deferential and distinct from its clear inspirations.
If the seminal sci-fi film Blade Runner and dystopian literary classic Nineteen Eighty-Four had a video game baby, it would be Observer: System Redux.
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