The Station (PC) Indie One Shot
This game is a tough one to review. Not tough in the sense that it's difficult to talk about because the game was bad (it wasn't) or the length being too short to provide anything to really talk about (it's a short game but my GOD is it an experience). No, The Station is tough to review because without giving away the end of the story, there's no way to properly encompass in a review how amazing this game really is. I'm going to try though.
Everything starts with an image-by-image cutscene. An alien race has been discovered on a far away planet. It provides a unique opportunity to observe this race, and the government (along with the people) debate on whether or not they should do this. The race planet is at war with itself, and observing them risks being detected by them and being drawn into their war.
Still, a space station is sent to hover just outside of their atmosphere and observe. The space station (named The Espial) is fully cloaked and undetectable. Or rather, it is until something goes wrong. Issues occur on The Espial and the crew goes offline, and that's where you come in. Your character is sent to The Espial in an attempt to locate the crew and find out exactly what went wrong before it's too late.
Over the next few hours, you'll try and piece together what exactly happened on your space station. Is the crew still alive? Do the aliens know you're there? At it's core, The Station is a walking simulator narrative with some puzzle elements on your journey. While trying to locate the crew, you'll need to wind your way through the two floors and over a dozen rooms, restoring power, life support, and anything else that goes wrong in your presence.
Along the way you'll come across numerous text logs, audio logs, emails, science notes, and equipment. All of this serves to fill in things that happened on the mission up until it went wrong. Certain areas of the ship can only be accessed with the ID bracelet of whoever is in charge of that area. Locating these logs can be key to finding said bracelets. The science logs are purely optional to locate, but provide tons of information on the alien race being observed.
Graphically, this game is beautiful (and that's an understatement). The environment is so detailed, from inside to The Espial to every inch of space you're able to see from the observation windows. As for the audio, it's very minimal to how much music you get. Instead, you'll be surrounded by the sounds of the space station. Remember, things went wrong, so the ship will be rocked and small explosions may echo the halls as you walk them. There definitely are some great spikes that, combined visually with what's in front of you, make for some excellent creepy (and potentially jump-scare) moments.
In the end, The Station is an amazing game. The price tag might be a bit hefty when you consider the length of the game, but knowing the full experience myself, it would be worth every penny to experience this game. If you do pick up this game, I highly recommend playing it in one sitting. Or, if you need to break it up, don't stay away for too long. The faster you experience the entire story, the more you'll get to soak it in and actually make it an experience, and one worth remembering at that.
Rating : 9.5/10
Developed and Published by : The Station Game
Also Available On : Xbox One, Playstation 4
Everything starts with an image-by-image cutscene. An alien race has been discovered on a far away planet. It provides a unique opportunity to observe this race, and the government (along with the people) debate on whether or not they should do this. The race planet is at war with itself, and observing them risks being detected by them and being drawn into their war.
Still, a space station is sent to hover just outside of their atmosphere and observe. The space station (named The Espial) is fully cloaked and undetectable. Or rather, it is until something goes wrong. Issues occur on The Espial and the crew goes offline, and that's where you come in. Your character is sent to The Espial in an attempt to locate the crew and find out exactly what went wrong before it's too late.
Along the way you'll come across numerous text logs, audio logs, emails, science notes, and equipment. All of this serves to fill in things that happened on the mission up until it went wrong. Certain areas of the ship can only be accessed with the ID bracelet of whoever is in charge of that area. Locating these logs can be key to finding said bracelets. The science logs are purely optional to locate, but provide tons of information on the alien race being observed.
Graphically, this game is beautiful (and that's an understatement). The environment is so detailed, from inside to The Espial to every inch of space you're able to see from the observation windows. As for the audio, it's very minimal to how much music you get. Instead, you'll be surrounded by the sounds of the space station. Remember, things went wrong, so the ship will be rocked and small explosions may echo the halls as you walk them. There definitely are some great spikes that, combined visually with what's in front of you, make for some excellent creepy (and potentially jump-scare) moments.
Rating : 9.5/10
Developed and Published by : The Station Game
Also Available On : Xbox One, Playstation 4
