In the grungy cyberpunk future where nations have given way to corporations there is a special kind of police officer known as Observers. Technologically modified to be able enter the minds of their suspects and take the information they need they are the boogey man of the underclass. You play as an Observer searching for his estranged son in the aptly named game: Observer.
Observer is made by Blooper team who previously released Layers of Fear. Observer has many similar properties to Layers of Fear such as jump scares and sinister room shifts but ultimately is more evolved in its storytelling. Where Layers of fear dealt strictly with personal demons and madness Observer has both a personal and overarching story.
Was it any Good?
Yes and No. The first playthrough of Observer felt repetitive and the story came off as very run of the mill with the brain dives behaving as spoons to force feed spookiness to the player. Then I got the end of the game which completely recontextualizes the story you just played through. Suddenly everything snaps into place and you see the story, not as a knotted up piece of string but a carefully crafted spiderweb of interconnecting actions and effects.
Observer is definitely a game that greatly benefits from a second playthrough once you find out the twist but it doesn’t solve all my complaints. In Layers of fear there were many doors that did not open, they were just placed in the game to add to the world feel. Observer does this as well but in place of just a locked door in a single room there are 4 floors of dozens of locked doors. Everyone one highlights like it can be interacted with and while every door has a intercom only a handful offer any interaction. I know the doors are there for world padding and they make sense, but if you want to get all the side information you will ultimately be knocking on every single door and it makes the game drag.
So recommend it or not?
If you liked Layers of Fear you will probably like Observer. Once you have the complete picture of the story it’s quite good, it can just be a bit of a struggle to stay completely engaged until you get to that point. Blooper Team’s decision to make every door and intercom look like it can be interacted with leads to repeat action fatigue. By the time I was halfway through the second floor, I didn’t even want to keep trying intercoms and this feeling persisted for the rest of game leading me to miss a side quest along the way.
So go forth become the brain police you always wanted to be, or don’t I’m only here to observe your choice.