A Space for the Unbound – Review
A Space for the Unbound, a video game created by Mojiken Studio and released by Toge Productions, is set in late-1990s rural Indonesia and follows Atma, a high school student.
Instead of having the players imagine what happens behind the scenes like in Visual Novel games, the game allows users to engage and fully immerse themselves in the world.
Assuming the role of Atma, we start out to investigate the paranormal occurrences that occur in his daily life, bringing up more questions than answers. The tale puts you on the edge of your seat, but it’s also a chill and relatable experience that made me go back to my adolescent years when I used to go out on whimsy trips and just enjoy life. A nostalgic excursion back to happier times is bittersweet.
Remember that A Space for the Unbound isn’t only sunshine and rainbows. The game discusses some of the tougher subjects including anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. And even though it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I beg you to play the game.
Characters are everything in a good tale, and fortunately, the game offers plenty of likeable characters. Atma, the primary protagonist of the game, is one of them. He is just your typical youngster with some extraordinary abilities; he is not the hotshot protagonist with their can-do attitude. But what makes the story feel so fun is his attitude and the way he responds to situations.
He is, like us, capable of being silly, serious, compassionate, hardworking, and patient, but most importantly, he has no idea what is going on around him. Because of this, Atma is such a likeable character. Being able to watch how the story develops from another person’s perspective is another way that him having his own personality provides for a more fascinating narrative. Instead of being a bespoke avatar that I just self-inserted.
Atma’s sweetheart Raya is another character I really like, and I also think she’ll surprise a lot of people, but I won’t say why.
A Space for the Unbound is really stunning, and I’m already a huge admirer of pixel aesthetics. The game makes up for its lack of “smoothness” in comparison to HD-2D styles like Live A Live or Octopath Traveler by providing a very nostalgic setting that transports you to Indonesia in the 1990s.
Minor details like having waroeng, having a wedding tent block a roadway, seeing a man listening to keroncong music, and seeing an elderly woman using a watering hose to clean the streets. The nicest part is that there are stray cats all everywhere that you may pet and name.
The particular scenes scattered throughout the narrative that enhance the experience are the icing on the cake. You may recognise the high calibre of the pixel art in scenes like the cinematic shots or even just the random events.
Despite calling itself a simple adventure game, A Space for the Unbound actually offers a surprising amount of activities. Although the game is largely linear, you are given much more flexibility to explore different locations as you advance through the story.
The game’s opening locations are extremely constrained, and the challenges you must complete are also quite simple. However, the game expands once you finish the Prologue, and each of the chapters offers a variety of fresh experiences.
Reading the Magical Red Book grants Atma access to her extraordinary capacity to enter other people’s minds. You can only employ this mechanism, termed Spacedive, when you come across folks who are struggling mentally or who have emotional baggage they can’t let go of.
The heads of these people are marked with yellow flowers, which you can subsequently interact with to enter their minds. Once you’re inside, you may see the visuals of the battle they’re going through and discover the answer they’re looking for. The Spacedive always requires some puzzle-solving, and there are occasions when you’ll need to use your creativity to locate particular objects or clues.
One of the main reasons the puzzle-solving portion of the game is by far my favourite feature is how they were able to mix the character stories you tried to assist with. The fact that the puzzle is made to correspond with the person’s mood is also pretty cool.
Even while the majority of the riddles are quite simple to solve, when Crossdive is involved, things may become weird. a device that allows you to meet someone within their head and allows you to travel there. A form of Mind-Inception, which, I’ll admit, makes it take longer to get to the next chapter of the story. But the idea itself is still interesting.
In addition to the mind-hopping, there are a number of mini-games to play, objects to find, stories to read, and even combat situations that make use of QTEs. Therefore, if you want to diverge from the primary plot, there are several options available.
A Space for the Unbound is structured in a way that keeps things interesting as well as unpredictable, despite the fact that some of the objectives can feel like a chore to complete and that certain chapters only feature one main job that seems to drag on.
There are, however, a few minor issues I personally have with the game. You can swipe left and right using the conversation option as one example. I initially got confused because I had accidentally skipped over some chat, but thankfully there is a text log option where I can read over earlier dialogue.
Speaking of decisions, I personally would have rather that the game follow multiple threads, with more severe effects in some situations. Again, this is simply a matter of personal opinion, but I would prefer that my character be given a little more leeway in how they are depicted, since it increases replay value.
Without a doubt, the wait was worthwhile for A Space for the Unbound. The game is able to convey a tranquil, lovely, and distinctive plot that is also captivating, holding my interest from beginning to end. Even while the game places a lot of emphasis on the narrative, it doesn’t skimp on the gameplay, introducing some exciting and novel mechanics in the form of Spacedive and Crossdive.
You’re constantly on the edge of your seat as a result of the game’s unpredictable nature. Rarely does a soothing game keep you completely engrossed, like this supernaturally infused 1990s Indonesia does. And while I do have a few minor quibbles with the dialogue options, they are minimal in relation to the whole experience.
