Developer: Mojiken
Publisher: Toge Productions
Platform: PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5
Tested On: PC
A Space for the Unbound (PC) – Review
Most games telling nostalgic stories of years past tend to center on western or Japanese cultures. It is not that common to see other perspectives on life, making the handful of games which do present them that much more interesting. A Space for the Unbound is the latest game by Indonesian studio Mojiken, centering on the life of two high school kids and their coming-of-age tale with superpowers in a small Indonesian town. Here is what it has to offer.
Story
The game’s story follows a pair of teens named Atma and Raya as they explore their small Indonesian town and discover their supernatural powers while the world seemingly approaches its end. Throughout the narrative, the couple will confront themes like depression, abuse, and anxiety through the lens of Atma’s power to dive into a target’s psyche.
Overall, the story is the game’s main focus, getting most of the (well-deserved) spotlight. The characters are all fleshed out and endearing, with their growth culminating in a tear-jerking finale. Although the narrative does become somewhat tangled at times, the efforts made by the team to cleanly convey the information required, make the experience seamless and enjoyable throughout. Alongside this, the game features a handful of dialogue options that alter the story in minor ways that allow the player to further involve themselves with it.
Graphics
Boasting beautiful pixelart graphics, the quality of A Space for the Unbound’s art is top-notch thanks to its character and background designs, which stand out on their own while still remaining faithful to the core concept. The game’s graphics especially shine through during cutscenes and freeze shots, which allow the artists to showcase their full skill with beautiful shots.
Sound
The game’s sound design is also rather good, featuring entertaining tracks that match the mood conveyed by the story and location. That said, these tracks have a tendency to replay on loop for far too long, only occasionally interrupted by other tracks linked to characters or a special event, which are then cut short the moment their corresponding cutscene ends.
Gameplay
A Space for the Unbound is a narrative game that mostly plays out as a classic point-and-click adventure. Players will fill the shoes of Atma as he solves a series of inventory puzzles with the occasional minigame sprinkled in. Said minigames mostly require the player to tap a button at the correct time in different formats, such as bouncing a ball, inputting a series of button presses, or simpler quick-time events.
Overall, the puzzle difficulty is low and doesn’t require much of the moon logic the genre is infamous for; most solutions are easy, as long as the player bothers to explore the different areas and interact with most things and characters. This is further encouraged by the additional dialogue provided by Atma or the NPCs themselves, which further livens up the game’s world. Although the puzzle difficulty does increase as the game progresses by introducing separate areas to interact with, they remain accessible for the most part. The only outliers for this are the math-related puzzles, which require some amount of actual mathematical skill as well as patience to find the necessary hints to actually solve the equations.
Although the gameplay is rather simple and doesn’t run into many issues, it does feature a handful of caveats. The elephant in the room that needs to be addressed is the lack of a chapter selection, which forces players to start a new game if they’re attempting to complete the parts they missed the first time. Besides this, the lack of remappable controls and wonky sprinting can be somewhat annoying although this is a minor issue.
Conclusion
A Space for the Unbound is a beautiful game with a lot of heart which will delight any fan of narrative games. While those who enjoy purely gameplay-focused titles won’t find much here, this is something quite common for this specific genre of games. Sold for €19.50/$19.99/£16.75, the game is very much worth its price and features around 8 hours of content.
Personal Opinion
“I’ve quite enjoyed my time with this game. Although I find myself enjoying games with a focus on action more these days, occasional gems like A Space for the Unbound remind me of why I also play narrative-driven titles. The game is really well written and has the always surprising ability to make me feel nostalgic for something I never experienced (in this case childhood in a small Indonesian town). Although some of the minigames could’ve been improved or streamlined, these are ultimately minor remarks when looking at the bigger picture. Other than the one bigger flaw with the lack of a chapter selection feature, the game is very polished and enjoyable, making it definitely worth a shot.”
A Space for the Unbound (PC) - Review,
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