I’ll be honest. I don’t like horror games for the most part. But once in a while, there are some games that despite having elements that I don’t like, I get grossly immersed in. Observer by Bloober Team is an example of such a game. While I couldn’t play it for more than 30 minutes at a time since I got creeped-out way too easily (keep in mind though that I have an extremely low tolerance), I still wanted to go back and try to keep going.
The game is set in 2084, where humans have advanced enough to start augmenting themselves with seemingly primitive cybernetic implants that have to be constantly maintained otherwise they malfunction. The main character, Daniel Lazarski, is a detective who is working for Chiron, this mega-corporation that seems to have definitive rule over most of humanity due to manufacturing seemingly all the technology that you see in the game. At one point, a disease called the “nanophage” was the first type of virus to affect the augmentations, and throughout the game, you learn more and more about the drastic effects that this disease can have on someone. Augmentations also have to be maintained biologically via “synchrozine,” which denies the body from attacking implants and causing one to “desynchronize.” Daniel, if not given enough synchrozine, will start producing artifacts in his vision reminiscent of badly compressed images, and it will be more difficult to complete certain actions. I thought it was an interesting mechanic, but I never really ended up running out of it, so… I’m not sure.
The game itself is a detective-based psychological horror game. That means that rather than relying on cliché elements of horror in other media like gore, jumpscares, and other visual/aural stimuli, Observer derives its horror from a constant feeling of dread and “on-edgedness” while you’re playing. To me, that sounds less than appealing, but I was allured by the stunning cyberpunk visuals of the game. The concept of cybernetic implants in this game was presented relatively interestingly, and Daniel is able to hijack himself into other people’s minds with the so-called “Dream Eater” as a way to “interrogate” them. These sequences are some of the most disturbing scenes in the whole game because you’re subjected to what the thoughts are of some clearly not-so-mentally stable people. I thought that these parts were the most interesting of the game, mostly because I’m super into surreal art. Being able to use the bio scan and tech scan was cool too because you could see interesting little “easter eggs” about stuff around you such as a computer being out of date or blood being laced with some kind of drug.
The environment that you explore is grungy and dark and gives it the perfect atmosphere for this game. It really added to the creepiness factor. Especially near the beginning where you interrogate people in the apartment, and no one comes out; you have to just contact them through their weird camera things. It conveys a sense of isolation and dependency on technology. You encounter creepy noises like floorboards creaking, TV static, etc., and these are the primary force of creating the sense of dread. I almost didn’t want to use earbuds because of this because, as I said before, I couldn’t play for more than 30 minutes at a time.
The main gripe I had with Observer were the seemingly excessive door controls. I don’t know why, but you have to hold ZR while using the right joystick to open doors and cabinets, and it created some frustratingly-difficult dynamics for trying to open things, and it made me instantly lose immersion. Some might say it makes opening a door feel more “creepy” but I’m not so sure about that, because I was more annoyed than anything. Interacting with stuff was also a pain because of a similar mechanic. The game implemented some interesting motion controls with the joycons to interact with stuff, but it didn’t really add much.
Again, I don’t really like horror games, so I wasn’t too keen on the entire game. I had to trudge through some parts while distracting myself because it was a bit much. Some of the “puzzle” sequences were also dumb, because it was extremely dark for the most part and I could barely see anything (e.g. the part inside Amir’s mind where you go through the doors, which I got stuck on for like half an hour).
Observer overall is really good. I just wish I liked the horror genre more so that I could appreciate it on a deeper level. The story itself was pretty decent. Some might say that the whole cybernetic thing is a social commentary on how technology is advancing currently, but I don’t know if we’ll ever reach the point of this deep, grungy, and dark dystopia. For that reason, I kind of take the game at its face value and tried not to look much deeper into it. I give Observer an overall 8/10.
Check Out the Observer Nintendo Switch Trailer:
Observer is available for consoles and PC.
Nintendo Switch Review
Video games are my passion. I've played countless games for 15+ years on various different consoles ranging many genres. Favorites are action/adventure and RPG's just because they're so immersive and I love being able to lay out a strategy for going down tech trees and looking for loot, but I'll pretty much play anything that isn't a sports game.
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