A Space for the Unbound

The game story takes place in the late 1990s rural Indonesia, where two high

school students, a boy named Atma and and his girldriend Raya are close to graduation and also unsure what to do with their lives in the near future. So, to feel more secure about their own futures, they plan together a bucket list of things they wish to do before anything else. Deciding to get started right away, the two skip school to go see a movie at the cinema, the first item on their list.

Throughout the course of the game, Atma frequently experiences dreams where

he spends time writing a story with a young girl named Nirmala, who gives him a red book the allows him to "Spacedive" and enter people's mind. All of which end in him apparently drowning trying to save Nirmala, and with him waking up at his school desk.

Right after seeing the movie at the cinema, Raya reveals to Atma that she is

capable of powers that manipulate reality, conjuring a world inspired by the movie populated by cats called Cat Wonderland. However the cats suddenly begin to warn them that the end of the world is near. In panic, Raya exits Cat Wonderland, and collapses from exhaustion, revealing that frequent use of her power renders her in a state of weakness.

The game received positive reviews:

• Metacritic score: 85 / 100 (NS), 88 / 100 (PC), 84 / 100 (PS5)

• Eurogamer apreciation: Recommended

• Nintendo Life score: 8 / 10

• Nintendo World Report score: 8.5 / 10

• Push Square score: 8 / 10

• RPGFan apreciation: 89 %

• The Guardian score: 5 / 5

• TouchArcade score 4.5 / 5

Rock Paper Shotgun's Rachel Watts said that the game "takes a supernatural

teen drama [and] gives it real heart," and called its release "a wonderful start to 2023."RPGFan's Audra Bowling felt that the game succeeded in blending both despair and anxiety with themes of hope and healing, and that it could help players see their lives from a new perspective. Nintendo Life's Lowell Bell felt that the game's length was padded out by unnecessary challenges, but still recommend it in a positive review for its touching story. Eurogamer's Chis Tapsell called the game "magic" and said that "in many cases you will be deeply, maybe profoundly, moved." TouchArcade's Mikhail Madnani praised the game's support for the Nintendo Switch's touchscreen during dialogue sequences, and said it was "one of the best narrative driven indie games I've played." Nintendo World Report's Joe DeVader felt it was a "must play" for people who enjoyed narrative experiences in video games.

I admit that my personal opinion about the game is based only on 8 hours of

gameplay so it could be subject to change someday when I plan to play the game again, the whole story this time. Anyway for now what I praise the most are the characters of the game. And I don't mean only the two main characters, Atma and Raya, which are so natural in their decisions regarding some complex situations, but also the other characters, each one of them being subject of the story.