Despite my appearance as a tough and unsentimental man (joke), I confess that I am very sensitive to those school stories that touch on sensitive subjects, mixed with the typical adolescent romances. When I saw the first pictures of A SPACE FOR THE UNBOUND, I immediately thought it was something like YOUR NAME, My all time favorite anime movie. And, while it has a few points in common, it turned out to be something quite different, although with the same level of “tearful sensibility” of the other title.
A SPACE FOR THE UNBOUND It is available for Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC
BREAKING THE REALITIES
Temporarily set in Indonesia in the late 1990s, the story puts us in the shoes of Atma, a high school boy like any other. Atma is a friend of Nirmala, a little girl with a lot of imagination and who is writing a fairy tale, but at the moment she is suffering from a “writer’s block” and does not know how to follow her story, so she asks her friend for help to to give you ideas on how to proceed. As part of a game, Nirmala presents Atma with a “magical” red book, which gives the boy the power to enter people’s subconscious. As the duo roams the town immersed in their fantasy, a strong storm breaks loose and Nirmala falls into a river. Trying to rescue her from her, Atma fails and ends up drowning in it.
A moment later, Atma wakes up in a school, not knowing how he got there and knowing absolutely no one of the people there. But all the others do seem to know him, and among them is Raya, a girl who claims to be the young man’s girlfriend and, as if that were not enough, she also has powers. Raya can make people’s wishes come true and manipulate reality to her whim. The problem is that the more power he uses, the weaker he becomes, and on top of that, the reality bending brings with it very detrimental side effects for everyone.
And so, in the middle of all this mess is that our young protagonist is found. Without knowing that he is real and that he is not, if his life is the previous one, with Nirmala, or this new one with Raya. Trying to solve all the problems that the manipulation of reality causes and, even if necessary, dive into the depths of the soul of those around him, learn their darkest secrets and, if he can, help them find the way to the light.
Mission pack.
A POTPOURRI OF IDEAS
Just as the history of the title is difficult to explain in a few words, it is also a more complex game in play than it appears. Mix various styles and shapes. On the one hand, it has elements of a school visual novel, full of dialogues and options that move the story forward. There is a lot of graphic adventure. Finding and using the correct items for each situation will be a constant during the journey. In addition, a multitude of puzzles are included, especially when Atma enters the mind of another character, and has to unravel the problems that afflict him. And if all that isn’t enough, we even have turn-based RPG elements. At a certain point Atma will learn to fight, and every time there is a confrontation with a rival, the combat is done in turns and by introducing rapid sequences of buttons that appear on the screen.
Despite such a mix of styles, the gameplay is dynamic and the story flows. How can you tell, the story is very convoluted, and it has a rhythm that at times can become a bit slow for the most anxious. Divided into 6 chapters of approximately two hours each, we are going to play this title for a while. In addition, and how could it be otherwise, there are multiple optional objectives that deepen the story and extend the hours of the game, such as side missions or collecting various types of collectibles.
It is worth clarifying that the title does not tremble when it comes to dealing with very sensitive issues. Domestic violence, depression, suicide, alcoholism, bullying and more are some of the issues that are reflected more than once in history. Yes, despite its “kawaii” appearance, A SPACE FOR THE UNBOUND is a very hard game and it takes its treatment of these topics very seriously.
ATTEND ME THAT ART
As can be seen in the images, the title is made entirely of pixel art. But surprisingly, it has a lot more work and love in it than most titles that use this type of art today. All the character models have multiple animations and expressions, and it is very easy to distinguish, for example, when they are happy, sad or angry. The settings are very colorful and detailed, and are full of items and nooks and crannies to check out and explore. They are all so full of life that we not only have lots of people to interact with, but even plenty of animals to pet. A huge number of cats (which we can even give names to), some dogs and even ducks. I don’t know if the cat invasion is normal in Indonesia or if the developers have a lot of love for cats.
Soundwise the game is very good too. Although most of the time the sound effects and melodies have a “classical” format and air, just as they sounded in the 8 or 16-bit era, at times the action is interrupted by powerful, very modern songs and current, with vocal part included.
The surprise comes from the side, as I said, of the gameplay. I really did not expect to find such a complete and complex title in this section. I honestly thought I was going to find a “story-driven” game, which I was going to try very relaxed, and I ended up finding a title that not only moved my brain with its themes, but also made me sweat the hell out with some of his puzzles and left my fingers cramping with the difficult commands in the fight sequences. Amazing.
NO FEAR OF SUCCESS
It is not the first time that I have had the opportunity to review a game from Indonesia. A while ago I also analyzed DREADOUT 2, another gem lost among the sea of Japanese or American releases. What surprised me the most about both titles was, on the one hand, the strong representation of their own culture that the developers show, without the need to adapt or adjust to “more western tastes”. On the other hand, the lack of “fear”, like that in quotes, of playing very strong themes and not so seen in other, much more popular productions.
A SPACE FOR THE UNBOUND is not what it seems. It fooled me with its cute anime aesthetic and sold me on a college love story. That was just the tip of an iceberg that was moving further and further away from that initial premise, towards the darkest corners of the human mind. But I don’t regret anything. Everything that the game showed me and that I really did not expect only improved my concept of it.
THE BEST
- Nice art style, very well applied
- Surprising sound level on more than one occasion
- A super played and mature story
WORST
- The narrative pace can be too slow for those in a hurry
- Some puzzles are very elaborate
- Lots of kittens but few puppies to caress?