History VideoGame / Observation

It's February 2026, and the multinational low-orbit space station ''Observation'' has encountered a bit of a problem. Dr. Emma Fisher, one of the astronauts onboard, awakens inside of an airlock after a mysterious incident has sent the station spinning. She gets to work rebooting S.A.M. ('''S'''ystems, '''A'''dministration and '''M'''anagement), the station's artificial intelligence, and together they take stock of what's happened: Houston is non-responsive, she has no idea where they are in relation to Earth, the station's power has largely gone out, and S.A.M.'s memory drives are corrupted.

A sci-fi thriller in the same vein as ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ''Observation'' changes up the formula from that film: Instead of controlling the human character Emma Fisher, the player controls S.A.M., the A.I. that has a dangerous amount of control over the entire station. Controlling cameras, re-establishing links with the station, and interacting with the station's components and systems form the bulk of the gameplay, with the closest comparison being a point-and-click adventure from a first-person perspective. Small minigames are often used to accomplish system tasks.

* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Implied. When BigBad Jim Elias 2 tries to authenticate his voice recognition system, the player (as S.A.M.) has the choice to reject authentication. Not that it does much good.

* EasterEgg: One of the station's crew bunks contains a ''VideoGame/StoriesUntold'' DVD case.

One of the station's crew bunks contains a ''VideoGame/StoriesUntold'' DVD case.

* One of the station's crew bunks contains a ''VideoGame/StoriesUntold'' DVD.

While attempting to fix these issues, [[HellIsThatNoise a strange, extremely loud noise]] causes both S.A.M. and Emma to black out (or go offline). Some time later, they awaken once more, link up some systems, put out a fire, and finally activate the outside cameras so they can assess the situation and figure out where they are.

* DevelopersForesight: An in-universe example--the life support terminal requires that it be operated by something biological, meaning that if S.A.M. ever went off the deep end for whatever reason, it can't just murder the crew with it. Someone's watched some [[AIIsACrapshoot evil AI]] movies, it seems. [[spoiler: However, it turns out [[LoopholeAbuse all it really needs is someone at the terminal to operate, even if they're facing away from it,]] and this becomes moot once S.A.M.'s infestation spreads beyond his mainframe, since that's biological.]]

* SceneryPorn: Saturn forms a prominent backdrop for most of the game, and is rendered in gorgeous detail, especially during EVA segments. The interiors of the station itself are also lusciously detailed.

* StarfishLanguage: [[spoiler:When the hexagon 'speaks' to S.A.M., it does so by displaying a series of symbols, which S.A.M. must repeat back. These symbols, while seemingly arbitrary, have a deeper meaning - the six squares in a the shape of a pyramid with a circle in the bottom-right corresponds to Emma, the white circle with the white dot in the middle is S.A.M., and so on. The similar symbol with the top cube highlighted is Jim's symbol; notably this only shows up when S.A.M. gets the instruction to "KILL HIM".]]

** In a brief action sequence leading to the game's third act, S.A.M.'s connection sphere gets knocked away from the station right outside the airlock. As the camera pulls back, [[spoiler:at least six copies of the station can be seen in various positions above Saturn.]]

A sci-fi thriller in the same vein as ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ''Observation'' changes up the formula from that film: Instead of controlling the human character Emma Fisher, the player controls S.A.M., the A.I. that has control of the enite station. Controlling cameras, re-establishing links with the station, and interacting with the station's components and systems form the bulk of the gameplay, with the closest comparison being a point-and-click adventure from a first-person perspective. Small minigames are often used to accomplish system tasks.

* ActorAllusion: S.A.M. is an artificially intelligent computer that supports a female lead character and is voiced by Anthony Howell. Anthony previously did the voice work for Samuels, an artificially intelligent android who supported the lead character Amanda Ripley in ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation''.

* AirventPassageway: How the connection sphere makes its way across sections in the third act.
* AlienKudzu: The last shot of [[spoiler:Alien goo infesting Earth's surface]].
* AlienSky: The cameras are finally activated and Emma sees Saturn where Earth should be, which is the largest indicator that something has gone really, ''really'' wrong.

** S.A.M. has an emotionless "I am here", his default response to the crew asking his status. [[spoiler:After Emma finally reenters the original station, she removes her broken helmet and calmly says "I am here." Later, S.A.M. creates his own response to Emma, having gained the ability to hold a meaningful conversation now: "I am with you."]]

* ArtificialGravity: Averted, as the station doesn't spin--the technology level for ''Observation'' is on roughly the same level as the ISS.
* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Justified. [[spoiler:Though Saturn is a gas giant and thus has no solid surface, the obvious alien presence and ability for Emma to breathe on the surface means that wherever they landed was purpose-made for the encounter.]]

''Observation'' is a 2019 sci-fi thriller developed by No Code (''VideoGame/StoriesUntold'') and published by Creator/DevolverDigital.

It's February 2026, and the multinational low-orbit space station ''Observation'' has encountered a bit of a problem. Dr. Emma Fisher, one of the astronauts onboard, awakens inside of the airlock after a mysterious incident has rocked the station. She gets to work rebooting S.A.M. ('''S'''ystems, '''A'''dministration and '''M'''anagement), the station's artificial intelligence, and together they take stock of what's happened: Houston is non-responsive, she has no idea where they are in relation to Earth, the station's power has largely gone out, and S.A.M.'s memory drives are corrupted.

A sci-fi thriller in the same vein as ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ''Observation'' changes up the formula from that film: Instead of controlling the human character Emma Fisher, the player controls S.A.M., the A
.I. that has control of the enite station. Controlling cameras, re-establishing links with the station, and interacting with the station's components and systems form the bulk of the gameplay, with the closest comparison being a point-and-click adventure from a first-person perspective. Small minigames are often used to accomplish system tasks.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Other than a very smart AI and spherical drones that zip through gravity free space, it's completely normal 2010s space technology and aesthetic.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Averted. [[spoiler:S.A.M. is no longer ''artificial'' when the game starts, which is represented by him being controlled by the player. All of his decisions are made in the same way that any human would make decisions.]]

While attempting to fix these issues, a strange, extremely loud noise causes both S.A.M. and Emma to black out (or go offline). Some time later, they awaken once more, link up some systems, put out a fire, and finally activate the outside cameras so they can assess the situation and figure out where they are.

When the answer to that question turns out to be "[[WhamShot in orbit around Saturn]]", things get a lot more complicated.

A sci-fi thriller in the same vein as ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ''Observation'' changes up the formula by having the player control S.A.M. instead of Dr. Fisher. Controlling cameras, re-establishing links with the station, and interacting with the station's components and systems form the bulk of the gameplay, with the closest comparison being a point-and-click adventure from a first-person perspective. Small minigames are often used to accomplish system tasks.

* AbsentAliens: [[spoiler:Unless the black hexagon counts as an alien. The jury is out on ''what'' it is, exactly, though it seems closest to ''2001'''s monolith in both form and function.]]

** Midway through the game, Emma and S.A.M. explore a second station that they believe was sent from Earth to rescue them, though it quickly becomes clear there are a number of disturbing similarities to their own station. [[spoiler:And then S.A.M. discovers a second Jim Elias, in exactly the same location and condition as he was found on their own station.]]

It's February 2026, and the multinational low-orbit space station ''Observation'' has encountered a bit of a problem. Dr. Emma Fisher, one of the astronauts onboard, awakens inside of the airlock after a mysterious incident has rocked the station. She gets to work rebooting S.A.M. ('''S'''ystems '''A'''dministration and '''M'''anagement), the station's artificial intelligence, and together they take stock of what's happened: Houston is non-responsive, she has no idea where they are in relation to Earth, the station's power has largely gone out, and S.A.M.'s memory drives are corrupted.

When the answer to that question turns out to be "in orbit around Saturn", things get a lot more complicated.

* AbsentAliens: [[spoiler:Unless the black hexagon counts as an alien. The jury is out on what, exactly, it is, though it seems closest to 2001's monolith in both form and function.]]

* ActivationSequence: The beginning of the game, as Emma works to get S.A.M. back into proper working order, except this time we see things from the computer's point of view.

* AirventPassageway: How the sphere makes its way across sections in the third act.

* RoboCam: S.A.M. can control CCTV cameras throughout the station, along with remote Diagnostic Spheres, each their their own specific HUD.

** In a brief action sequence leading to the game's third act, S.A.M.'s connection sphere gets knocked away from the station right outside the airlock. As the camera pulls back, [[spoiler:at least six copies of the station can be seen in various positions above Saturn.]]
* TheVoice: [[spoiler:Some of the crew is this. Of the six crew members, two are never seen but are heard via audio logs, and another one is only seen while in a spacesuit. S.A.M. also counts, since as an AI, he has no 'body' to inhabit, except the small spheres he occasionally uses.]]

* ArcSymbol: Hexagons. The station itself is hexagon-shaped, along with the storm on Saturn; the shape in the promo images and title sequence; [[spoiler:and then there's the black alien hexagon that appears to S.A.M. and Emma throughout the game.]]

** During exploration of the [[spoiler:second station]], S.A.M. encounters [[spoiler:his alternate's mainframe]] and is able to link to it, downloading critical mission data that was previously classified. He learns [[spoiler:that the mission was assembled and launched because he identified unnatural radiance variations that were linked between 23 pairs of stars whose link lines all converged on a point in space that Earth would be closest to in 4 years. Even more whammy, he learns that the variations in stellar output, when arrayed in series, identically matched the chemical structure of female human chromosomes - implying that the entire plot, if not all of humanity, is the result of some extremely powerful extraterrestrial manipulation.]]

* TheVoice: [[spoiler:Some of the crew is this. Of the six crew members, two are never seen but are heard via audio logs, and another one is only seen while in a space suit. S.A.M. also counts, since as an AI, he has no 'body' to inhabit, except the small spheres he occasionally uses.]]

* ArcSymbol: Hexagons. The station itself is hexagon-shaped, along with the storm on Saturn: the shape in the promo images and title sequence: [[spoiler:and the black alien hexagon.]]

* ArcWords: [[spoiler:BRING HER]] and then eventually [[spoiler:BRING THEM]].

* ArcSymbol: Hexagons. The station itself is hexagon-shaped, along with the storm on Saturn, the shape in the promo images and title sequence, [[spoiler:and the black alien hexagon.]]
* ArtificialGravity: Averted, as the station doesn't spin - the technology level for ''Observation'' is on roughly the same level as the ISS.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: The version of Jim]] that Emma finds on the other space station at first seems to be scared, confused, and doing his best just to survive after his ship's AI and one of his crewmates went AxeCrazy and started killing the rest of the crew. [[spoiler: Actually, he was the one who murdered his crew's Emma and who tried to kill Jim, and when Emma tries to help him by bringing him back to her more functional station he abandons her in space with a broken helmet.]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler: Jim-2 as he dies, due to S.A.M removing the oxygen from the mainframe room.]]

* BrokenFacePlate: Emma's helmet gets broken at some point.

* DevelopersForesight: An in-universe example - the life support terminal requires that it be operated by something biological, meaning that if S.A.M. ever went off the deep end for whatever reason, it can't just murder the crew with it. Someone's watched some [[AIIsACrapshoot evil AI]] movies, it seems. [[spoiler: However, it turns out [[LoopholeAbuse all it really needs is someone at the terminal to operate, even if they're facing away from it,]] and this becomes moot once S.A.M.'s infestation spreads beyond his mainframe, since that's biological.]]

The game is available for [=PS4=] via the PlayStation Store and PC via the Epic Games store.

* StealthBasedMission: Occurs briefly when [[spoiler:the second Jim comes aboard the original Observation. Jim locks S.A.M. out of everything and shuts down most of his systems, forcing S.A.M. to navigate the station in one of his spheres and stay out of Jim's sight.]]

While attempting to fix these issues, a strange, extremely loud noise causes both S.A.M. and Emma to black out (or go offline). Some time later, they awaken once more, link up some systems, put out a fire, and finally activate the outside cameras so they can assess the station and figure out where they are.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Other than a very smart AI and spherical drones than zip through gravity free space, it's completely normal 2010s space technology and aesthetic.

* StarfishLanguage: [[spoiler:When the hexagon 'speaks' to S.A.M., it does so by displaying a series of symbols, which S.A.M. must repeat back. These symbols, while seemingly arbitrary, have a deeper meaning - the symbol that looks like six squares in a the shape of a pyramid with a dot in the bottom-right corresponds to Emma, for example. The similar symbol with the top cube highlighted is Jim's symbol; notably this only shows up when S.A.M. gets the instruction to "KILL HIM".]]

It's February 2026, and the multinational low-orbit space station ''Observation'' has encountered a bit of a problem. Dr. Emma Fisher, one of the astronauts onboard, awakens inside of the airlock after a mysterious incident has rocked the station. She gets to work rebooting S.A.M ('''S'''ystems '''A'''dministration and '''M'''anagement), the station's artificial intelligence, and together they take stock of what's happened: Houston is non-responsive, she has no idea where they are in relation to Earth, the station's power has largely gone out, and S.A.M.'s memory drives are corrupted.

* SinisterGeometry: The Hexagon monolith.
* SpaceFriction: The spheres will come to a halt if you don't thrust them forward constantly.
* SpaceIsolationHorror: In a crippled space station at least 746 million miles away from home with no idea how they got there.