Players will be invited to join the epic adventures of Atma and Raya
After a long wait, the newest game from Mojiken Studio and Toge Productions, entitled A Space for the Unbound, has finally been officially released. And this developer and local publisher combo has once again proven that they can raise the level of the local game industry through their work.
A Space for the Unbound itself is a slice-of-life adventure game with a pixel art style . One of the main attractions of this game is the game ‘s setting, which depicts Indonesia in the 90s.
However, who would have thought that the cliché adventure of high school children had a quite deep message and had a fantasy plot that many people would not expect as the story progresses.
Without further ado, here is the review for A Space for the Unbound.
The dark complexity of human life
As an adventure game , story is one of the most important aspects for A Space for the Unbound. And Mojiken Studio can be considered successful in presenting this to the players.
Players will probably play the full Atma character in this game . But that doesn’t mean the focus of the story will only be centered on him. Thanks to his supernatural ability Spacedive , Atma is able to enter the minds of other characters to find out what problems they are facing.
This is where players will later learn that just like in the real world, every character in this game has their own problems. And A Space for the Unbound describes it quite realistically.
Starting from bullying , anxiety, depression, to domestic violence with clear depictions, all of this triggers us to empathize with each of the existing characters, as well as providing an overview of the impact of various things that these characters experience.
Capture Indonesia in pixel visuals
Indonesia isn’t often used as a backdrop in a video game , therefore the execution carried out by Mojiken Studio can be considered a great success in representing an Indonesian village environment in the 90s.
A Space for the Unbound itself is set in a small town called Loka, which is not too big to explore, but is quite dense and feels alive. In the first hours, I have to be honest, I was amazed by the depiction of the city of Loka, which not only looks but also feels “very Indonesian” .
Ranging from typical 90s house designs, grocery stores, food vendors, schools, to various Indonesian trinkets such as kentongan, weddings on the street, and so on, you can find them at Loka.
The town of Loka may not be large in size, but the many interesting locations within it keep it interesting. Moreover, various places here will also evolve as the story progresses.
Solve puzzles and complete minigames
As a story-driven game , A Space for the Unbound implements a classic objective-based system. Players will control Atma who will travel around various locations in the city of Loka to complete various tasks.
To complete the objectives given, players will also be faced with puzzles and also several QTE ( Quick Time Event ) based minigames .
In order not to feel stagnant, Mojiken Studio also gradually increases the QTE difficulty level as the story progresses. This makes the final part of the game still feel quite challenging.
The puzzles that are presented are also increasingly challenging as the story progresses. It requires extra attention and patience as some require effort back and forth which may feel tedious while doing it.
A low-risk linear adventure
Continuing the gameplay aspects previously discussed, Atma’s adventures in this game will run very linearly. So that players will not face the risk of making the wrong decision.
The choice of existing dialogue will not affect the storyline or at least give a different reaction from other characters, because in the end all dialogue will be used solely to provide a deeper understanding of the story.
This decision might make gamers a little disappointed because there are no storyline branches, or at least variations in responses from other characters based on the dialogue that the player will choose.
This may also make players who have completed A Space for the Unbound have no reason to restart the game . Unless they want to access additional content that has not been accessed before.
Interesting additional content
In addition to the main story that must be passed, there is some additional content in A Space for the Unbound that can be done. All of these things are in the form of side missions in the form of “bucket lists” and also collections.
It will not be difficult to see the list, because all of these things will be clearly displayed in Atma’s notebook which can be accessed at any time. And players also don’t have to complete these side missions to continue the story.
However, these additional missions will give players additional playing hours for A Space for the Unbound. Furthermore, players will also get extra prizes when completing these additional missions.
Unfortunately, this game doesn’t have a New Game+ option or access to continue exploring the city of Loka after the main campaign is over. So it’s a good idea to complete these additional missions at the beginning rather than having to repeat them from scratch.
