A Space for The Unbound: Finding Hope At The End Of The World

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EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, along comes a game that captures one's heart and mind so completely, pulls one into its world so convincingly yet with the effortlessness of falling asleep on a long journey, that every time you look up from the screen you need a moment to realign yourself with reality. Mojiken Studio's A Space for the Unbound is just one of those.

A slice-of-life, supernatural adventure, set in late '90s Indonesia, the game follows high schoolers Atma and Raya’s coming-of-age story as they navigate relationships, anxiety, social conflicts, depression, and finding one's place in the world; all the while as a mysterious power threatens their existence. Faced with the prospect of the end of the world, the two must set out on a reflective journey beset with secrets, magic, mind-bending twists, and cats.

Stepping into the small town amidst the rural landscape of the island nation, it doesn't take long for the game to envelop you with its scenic calm and nostalgic beauty. The shaded streets you walk, the many shops you visit, the off the road places you explore, everything brims with life and has a lived in feel to it. Furthermore, this sense of warm immersion is only aided by the characters that inhabit these landscapes. Be it one of the principal characters or just an NPC with only a couple of lines to contribute, it's a richly realised world written with care and a sense of place.

Walking (or more likely, running) around, one gets the urge not just to explore every nook and alley on the map, but interact with every single person (or animal) one comes across. And even when the more fantastical elements in the world begin to take over, the spell of immersion is never broken; if anything, it only adds to the sense of inspired wonderment that the game so skilfully deploys. But it's not just the gorgeous pixel art and well crafted interactions — that often take one back to those breezy youthful years when the feeling of being the most carefree person in the world went hand-in-hand with shouldering the mightiest burdens of the universe — the game stands on.

The phenomenal attention to visual detail is duly matched by the beautiful, almost earworm-ish music composed by Masdito Bachtiar, Christabel Annora and Bambang Iswanto. The game sails on its score with fluidity, always finding the right notes for every condition, be it the calm waters of the quiet suburbs or the raging storms of the otherworldly. And while the game mostly features a point and click gameplay — letting you interact with people, animals, objects, etc — along with a few basic mini-games, within those parameters it has got some interesting ideas up its sleeve.

There is the “space dive”, where you jump into a character's minds and help them deal with their troubles or think through things more clearly via a series of puzzles, and often in the process also end up learning more about them. Similarly, there is the “rift dive”, which enables the player to walk into another time in a location. While these concepts start off pretty innocuously, they steadily get more complex as the game moves along, always keeping you on your toes.

And if any of the above-mentioned notions sound familiar, that's because the game wears its inspirations on its sleeve. Throughout its dozen or so hours of gameplay, one comes across nods to the likes of Atlus' Persona games, Christopher Nolan's Inception, Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, Makoto Shinkai's anime feature Your Name, and more. And whether intentional or not, a further title that repeatedly comes to mind is Shingo Natsume's spectacular anime, Sonny Boy.

Another thing the game does not shy away from is the themes it aims to tackle. Depression, anxiety, death, abuse, bullying, despair, anger, hate… the game not only explores them, but plunges into their depths, peeling the layers back to expose them in all their ugliness. But this shouldn't dissuade you in any manner from playing it. If anything, the game's approach feels more realistic (aside all the supernatural goings-on) and heartfelt than many other projects taking on similar subjects.

A Space for The Unbound is a heavy game, have no doubt about it, and there are times towards the final act where it even comes off as a little overbearing. But it is also a game which passionately believes in and champions the ideas of enduring friendship, unceasing hope, creative pursuits, recovery, second chances, redemption, and forgiveness. Unbound, with a capital U.

So if you're looking for a thought-provoking, magical and immensely evocative adventure through a dream-like '90s topography, set to serene Indonesian melodies, this is a game that rivals the best on the indie scene. A real delight for the soul.

Available on PC, Switch, PS, Xbox | Paid | Download here.