Observer: System Redux

If you're looking for a future full of bright colors and happy endings, this isn't the game you're looking for.Observer: System Redux is an updated remake that presents a dark and gritty take on the future. This bleak setting starts off disturbing and gets darker as the story unfolds. It's a place where the lower class are dumped like garbage into slums with no hope of a better life. Most find some sort of escape or self-destruction in the form of drugs, holograms, or other illicit activities. Although players are technically the hero of the story, there's not much to feel heroic about, especially when they jack into unwilling participants or even corpses in order to invade their most private memories. It's unsettling to say the least, but more so when seeing how these people lived (and died) through their own eyes. Add to this the often grisly crime scenes that players must investigate throughout the course of the story, and it's more than enough to give some folks a case of insomnia.

While Observer: System Redux is definitely not for kids and it's filled with dark and disturbing themes, it's still a fantastic experience. It's engaging horror on a psychological level. The presentation, from the grim but gorgeous visuals to the haunting sound design, grabs the player and doesn't let go. The developers also did a fantastic job of keeping players involved in the plot with various puzzles that generally fit the mood and theme of the story. These moments are never too challenging to be major obstacles, but still test a player's skill and intuition. Other gameplay elements, such as the stealth and neural interrogation mechanics, have been tweaked in this new release, and there are a handful of new side cases for players to sink their mind hacking teeth into. And though the game might be too dark for some, for fans of the genre, this is the definitive version of the Observer tale and an easy recommendation for this new generation of game platforms.