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>observer_ Review

by Dante (@videodante​)

• >observer_
  
• Bloober Team SA 
  
• Aspyr
  
• PC, PS4, Xbox One
  

I have a complicated relationship with cyberpunk. It’s a complicated genre, to be fair. In all good cyberpunk, there’s a tension between the society and the individual. Above many genres, I would say that it’s its most defining feature: the creep of augmented personhood and augmented society and its effect on the individual, on the day-to-day.

OBSERVER, by Polish studio Bloober Team, very much understands this concept of cyberpunk. And, to its credit, delivers on the tension between those forces. It’s a game that tries mightily to invoke the inherent horror of a human society grappling with forces beyond its capacity, and for the most part succeeds. 

OBSERVER places the character in the shoes of Daniel Lazarski, an ‘observer’, which in the game’s universe is something like a cross between a policeman and a blade runner. He is authorized to use a specialized cybernetic tool to access the memories of the dying to ascertain the reason for their wounding. As you find out, it can also do more than that, but it’s highly recommended not to.

Mechanically, it’s a first-person horror game, complete with all the trappings of the genre a player would be used to. Jump scares are, thankfully, few and far between, and it plays up the unreality of the space and the unreliability of Lazarski’s sensory input to be a more cerebral, psychological horror for most of the game. There’s undeniable P.T. influence here as well, with the meticulously-detailed interior hallways that comprise the bulk of the gameworld, and the occasional looping sections. There are a scant few stealth sections, tasking the player with reaching an objective without being caught by roving enemies, and they’re probably the most clunky of the play-sections, but luckily short and fairly simple to finish.

The similarity to Blade Runner suggested by the game’s visual design is more than just skin-deep, and this is to the game’s benefit. Sure, it wears the aesthetic of cyberpunk as popularized by Blade Runner (and countless imitators), but it also gets into some aspects of Blade Runner cyberpunk that other works often discount or minimize. The maximalist, trash-filled apartment hallways, the sickening grossness of the future, the horror of cybernetic enhancement—all of this is played to maximum effect in OBSERVER.

And for good reason: it’s a horror game, after all. It deserves some kudos for this, too, and it’s where the strongest reasoning for it being a “proper cyberpunk game” really comes from. Modern cyberpunk adaptations often focus on the glitz and glamour of the dark future, emphasizing the neon signs, the shiny technology, the interconnected globe of travel and slick warfare. OBSERVER does none of this, and even pushes back against it.

Neon signs flicker and dim, revealing grotesque human corpses behind their frames. Virtual reality technology is prevalent to the point of addiction—while the entire game, more or less, happens within an apartment building, you only see one other human. Nearly all contact with friendly inhabitants of the building is limited to a pointedly disgusting viewport attached to each apartment door. You do not see people, you see blinking eyes, dismembered mouths, visibly pustuled skin. If OBSERVER is showing a future illuminated by technology, the overwhelming takeaway is that this same technology is destroying us as a species.

The plot, similarly, deals with this tension between technology and humankind. You are tasked, as an observer, to solve a murder. As these stories so often go, there is much more than a murder happening here. The world, as explained in a lengthy opening monologue and cinematic, has been ravaged both by a worldwide conflict and by the ensuing corporate takeover of most of the unscathed earth. The secretive Chiron corporation controls nearly every aspect of life, including your job as an Observer.

This theme, of corporate overreach and the ensuing biomechanical horror of the gameworld, permeates every setting. The apartments themselves are dim, dull and creeping with insects and gore. This, alone, is standard fare for horror games, but OBSERVER feels tinged with a specific edge. This horror is not the cause of a natural turn, or a supernatural event. It’s driven by desperation and fear: desperation for resources, and fear of the looming, inescapable corporatism of Chiron.

As you unravel the threads surrounding the murder, the game begins introducing more storylines. This is, honestly, where OBSERVER’s weakest points lie. While some of the stories of the apartment building and its denizens are well-written and woven carefully into others, some simply fall flat. The writing and voice acting is similarly hit-and-miss, with some extremely awkward line deliveries. To an extent, this is probably due to localization, but even the player character Daniel Lazarski (voiced by Actual Blade Runner Actor Rutger Hauer) is only occasionally as good as he could be. It’s disappointing, too, as it makes the more brilliant parts of story delivery feel even weaker in comparison.

Using a combination of Arkham-style ‘detective vision’ and occasional jumps into suspects’ minds, Lazarski falls deeper into a mystery of murderers, junkies, ‘splicers’ (who alter their body using genetic or cybernetic tools), and lost family. It’s this last thread that is the most disappointing, and sadly takes up the bulk of the final act of the game.

While it’s an understandable turn for the plot to take, moving away from the grander narratives of human horrors of the near-future and into a story primarily about a lost son felt extremely bland. The game also features its few choice-based moments in the final chapters, and these, too, felt rushed and underdelivered. They’re certainly not ‘bad’, but some of the reveals and subsequent choices made by the player were awkwardly presented.

Even with this choppy ending, OBSERVER still feels like, mostly, a very well-told tale of a horrifying, corporate-led future dystopia. And, ultimately, what else is cyberpunk, but that? Far too many modern takes on cyberpunk omit the pointed critiques of early writers. OBSERVER does not, and for this, deserves ample commendation. The future could be bleak, and could be horrifying, and OBSERVER knows this.