Observer belongs to the category of those games that are more intriguing than entertaining. This is an adventure from the first person placed in the near future, more precisely in 2084, in which mankind does not have much reason for joy. The world is ruled by one corporation, and people are suffering from consequences, dependence on holographic content and overall degradation of life. In that mystery, the hopeless player takes over the role of Dan Lazarski, the so-called. Observer - a licensed "policeman" who has the authority to hack someone else's mind, or get someone in the head.

Lazarski is looking for his son, and the trail leads him through a suspicious set of circumstances during which several murders took place. Investigating the minds of the victims, Lazarski is somewhat losing sight of the whole investigation because he is not alone with his own brain. This plot might not be completely original because we got stuck in the other's head in Psychonaut

However, this does not diminish the value of what the game manages to accomplish. The story balances it correctly in the midst of the puzzling and anticipated. Each chapter gives the player a lot of crumbs to put in some information with which he approaches closer to composing the whole picture - what is happening at all in the game. In such an approach, there is not much room for deeper character development, but Observer is keenly aware of current events. The best way to see it is when you explore other people's minds. Then the scenes change and mix very quickly, but in each one you see something interesting and you go to the answer to the question that interests you.

However, this does not diminish the value of what the game manages to accomplish. The story balances it correctly in the midst of the puzzling and anticipated. Each chapter gives the player a lot of crumbs to put in some information with which he approaches closer to composing the whole picture - what is happening at all in the game. In such an approach, there is not much room for deeper character development, but Observer is keenly aware of current events. The best way to see it is when you explore other people's minds. Then the scenes change and mix very quickly, but in each one you see something interesting and you go to the answer to the question that is "itchy" to you.

Observer skillfully keeps you in mind for current events and there is no slowdown that would kick you out of the clock.

Although it sounds fun, the Observer is actually quite poor on the gameplay itself. The aforementioned hunting of the other mind has been imaginatively designed, but most of the imagination has gone on to visually scratching the scapegoats of other memories through different image distortions. There are very few ideas in puzzles or elements of survival. The Observer is described as a horror game, with you feeling threatened in just a few occasions that you can count on your fingers. And those cases when your opponent's opponents are mostly scripted and done in just a few seconds.

Well, Observer is therefore unpleasant in other ways. The atmosphere of this game is convincingly its best part. All the time, you are in some kind of environment, walk through the narrow corridors and hallucinate that some kind of bleeding is spread over them. Tenants with whom you communicate through closed doors are largely hysterical, depressed and undetected. In the building you encounter the horrors you would expect in such a suspicious location; cases such as drug dealing, illegal operations, trafficking in human beings, etc.

All the time, you are in some kind of environment, walk through the narrow corridors and hallucinate that some kind of bleeding is spread over them.

Of course, not such a design is quite accidental. It is a game of independent production and a limited budget, and this is noted in a static and closed environment, a very small number of characters, and in very simple gameplay mechanics. There is no physical model on which the game would rely on, there is no interactive hiding, and every intimate encounter with the enemy is an instant game over. Through someone else's minds, you're mostly wandering along the linear path, and detective scanning is just that - scanning. Do not expect some kind of reconstruction of the scene by Ethan Carter or Telltale's Batman.

It is a good thing that none of the above is necessarily taken as an objection. The observer uses his weaknesses efficiently for other purposes. For example, indoor spaces favor claustrophobic ambience, lack of characters goes in favor of spoiling alienation, and simple gameplay keeps the game dynamic enough to have no slowdown that the player would kick out of the clock. Observer is a game that does not try to be more than what it can offer, and focus on the atmosphere is a hit.

We could discuss whether this game could be more fun and with that focus on the atmosphere. The answer is probably confirmed, but I do not think it's the Observer's point. If you want a cyberpunk party, you have Deus Ex. If you want a great open world of cyberpunk themes, wait for Cyberpunk 2074. Finally, if you want an intriguing story of some seven hours, or an adventure in which you do not need to burden your RPG or survival elements, look at that Observer.