How would you react to the invention of a complicated however violent alien civilisation within the midst of a civil battle? That’s the query that opens the pitch for sci-fi explore-o-puzzler The Station, and it’s intriguing sufficient for me to wish to try the sport based mostly on that alone. You play as a recon specialist despatched to analyze a supposedly undetectable surveillance station that’s lower off communication, the place you’ll uncover what went down by way of the crew’s AR logs. It’s out now.
So, Tacoma with a deal with a inter-species ethics and questions on surveillance and the boundaries of ethical authority? Yep, I’m on board.
It actually does sound prefer it’s borrowing liberally from Tacoma: the blurb mentions that “technology has gone through a digital revolution and conversations, notes and even computers are experienced in full Augmented Reality.” I’m not complaining – Tacoma’s mixture of environmental knick-knacks and recorded conversations was a wonderful method to weave a narrative, and I’m happy to see one other sport comply with in its footsteps.
There’s a heavier deal with puzzling than in Tacoma, thoughts. “The secrets on-board the station will resist being uncovered and you must rely on your ability to identify and solve intuitive but subtle problems”, says the blurb, including that “The Station itself is a puzzle to be solved”. I’m all for the facet of puzzling that’s about piecing collectively a narrative, although I do hope the mechanical puzzles alluded to there don’t get in the best way of that.
It’s the promise that “what players discover will challenge their view of surveillance, imperialism and moral law” that pursuits me essentially the most, and it might be a disgrace if these discoveries are on the opposite facet of a door that I can’t work out the best way to open.
If that is your jam, thus far I’ve seen the perfect explorations of those questions in books somewhat than video games. The ethics of observing and influencing alien civilisations is on the coronary heart of the Culture novels by Ian M. Banks, and the Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin has an attention-grabbing (if gloomy) tackle how first contact may go. Oh, and if you happen to’re fearful that the invention of alien life would plunge the Earth right into a state of panic and uncertainty, a recent study discovered that most individuals would truly be fairly upbeat about the entire thing.
The Station got here out yesterday on Steam for £11.39/$14.99/€14.99.
