However, I’m not quite sure it really adds much substance to the core experience of Observer. More than the graphical improvements, these new stories would be the reason anyone who has played this game recently would even think of diving back into Bloober Team’s dark dystopian Poland.

Still, I can’t stress enough what a work of art this experience is through its narrative and brilliant sound design.Observer: System Redux also adds three new side cases: Errant Signal, Her Fearful Symmetry, and It Runs in the Family. Out the gate, Bloober Team has raised the bar of what we can expect to see graphically, but the gameplay portion of this supernatural adventure limits its overall appeal. Observer: System Redux is an excellent presentation of the masterful environments that indie teams can create on newer hardware. I would say that this only hurts those who have played the game before as the narrative has changed, so you’ll know what to expect. From the crime scenes to simply stumbling on a room of human body parts, each room has a story tell whether it’s explicitly told or not. Rushing will only limit your ability to see the best parts the game has to offer. I appreciated the level of detail that went into each environment, which demands that you spend time slowly making your way through the game.

Observer: System Redux is a beautiful game. I think the maze-like apartments were enough for me and the added layer of these insignificant plug-in power chord puzzles just stopped the flow. I’m just not really sold on some of the designs of them. Throughout these sections, you’ll be solving puzzles, some of which are just a little too easy, but others can take a minute. However, these mind hacks’ complexity becomes a bit too obtuse as some of them are just way too long. Through sound and environments, you feel like you are in someone’s broken mind opening doors to get deeper to the truth. These atmospheric masterpieces present some of the best supernatural work that I’ve seen in a video game. Observer: System Redux’s main appeal is found in the mind hacking scenes where you find yourself in a David Lynch film. Still, I enjoyed the design if only to force you to be thorough in your investigation, but an indicator so some sort that you may have missed something in the room would have been appreciated. If you miss a piece of the puzzle, you could be walking around aimlessly for a while. This isn’t always easy, though, as many of the interactable objects are small and tough to spot for some reason. Gameplay requires players to use their augmentations to scan rooms and get a closer look at objects. This highlights moments where you feel like you are on the right track to something, only to find yourself in a room with a few secret collectibles, which can often get annoying, especially when your main focus is completing the investigation. However, there are very few small discoveries here, with every barrier passed, opening a new set of possibilities. The lack of direction and open design only lead you to confusion as you collect clues. The narrative of Observer: System Redux is a bit messy if you look at it under a microscope. It’s here that he is sent down a dark string of events in hopes of getting his questions answered. His only resources are augmentations that allow him to gather evidence and the ability to hack into people’s minds to extract information. With the building now in lockdown, Daniel does his best to conduct a proper investigation with little help from the outside. It’s here that the nightmare begins as Daniel discovers multiple dead bodies in an apartment building home to Class C citizens. Players assume the role of one of these officers named Daniel Lazarski, who has just received a call from his estranged son that leads him to a bad side of town. Observer: System Redux is set in the year 2084, where a corporation known as Chiron created a police unit known as Observers to keep the citizens in their place. The experience stands out in the genre, but whether that’s worth returning to depends on a few things. With the release of Observer: System Redux, we get largely the same experience proved in the 2017 release of Observer as the focus is more on general graphic improvements. This new hardware could really enhance their narratives that rely heavily on atmosphere. While I wouldn’t want this to become a trend, I feel like Bloober Team has really defined themselves as supernatural horror developers. With the launch of the new systems, owners need something to play, but also developers needed to figure out just how far they could push the more powerful hardware to enhance their already released games.

Observer system redux