Observer (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Rather discreet since its announcement, the new title Bloober Team, responsible last year for the terrifying Layers of Fear, intends to mark the spirits in this late summer. After exploring human anxieties in all its forms, the Polish developer delivers a direct dive into the meanders of the human psyche in a resolutely futuristic context that does not hide its influences.
- Krakow. The Chiron corporation has established the Fifth Republic of Poland. This follows the merciless repression of individuals contaminated by the nanophagus, a disease that mainly affects those who resort to increases of all kinds: neuronal implants, bionic members ... Observers designate these agents dispatched in the different sectors of the city by Chiron to investigate certain individuals suspected of contravening the rules enacted by the corporation.
Mankind Divided
The player takes control of one of these observers, Daniel Lazarski, who receives from the beginning of the game a strange transmission from his son, Adam, whom he had more or less lost sight of. Neither one nor two, Dan locates the origin of the call and goes there to find the trace of his offspring.
So we land in a courtyard that you will often have to cross afterwards. Indeed, all the intrigue of the game takes place in the adjacent buildings, offering a futuristic panorama and enamelled holograms of all kinds, as we observe in the traditional cyberpunk universes: difficult not to have in mind some shots of the Fifth Element or Blade Runner. Rutger Hauer himself, an interpreter of the famous replicant Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's masterpiece, lends his traits and his rocky voice to the character controlled by the player, for a performance while restraint.
In this dystopian universe, which is not unlike that of Deus Ex, the society developed by the ubiquitous Chiron is divided into different castes, from category A for the better off citizens to category C, more needy of them, lodging in unhealthy housing estates. These are treated as "undesirables" and live in constant fear of Observers. It is in this harmful and frankly sinister atmosphere that Dan Lazarski will have to carry out his investigation to find his son.
Electric Sheep
This title in the first person leads the player to regularly question the various residents of the buildings inspected. These tenants do not present themselves to the player directly but communicate through a video intercom, giving rise to many phases of dialogues which, if they allow the player to choose one answer rather than another, sometimes stretch a little too long. Most of these dialogues are not necessary to the progress of the game but allow to learn more about the way the citizens of category C live.
Thus, we are given to see an undesirable future, where technology has taken precedence over humanity and where it has yielded to the enchanting sirens of transhumanism (bionic members, neuronal implants, genetic mutations) and the dangers of virtual reality. The game pays even a small direct reference to Sony's virtual reality helmet ... These themes come in strong resonance with the player since these are questions that he will increasingly have to ask himself in a near future, even an immediate one for virtual reality.
The vision offered by the title is pessimistic with regard to all these technological advances presented as alienating and dehumanizing. However, certain dialogues of the game bring nuance to the subject and prevent it from falling into a purely Manichean and whistleblowing scheme.
Total Recall
As the scenario evolves rapidly (without much disclosure) into a succession of macabre murders, our dear Dan will have to search the crime scene carefully to understand the circumstances. To do this, it has two tools essential to its investigation: bio-vision and electromagnetic vision, which, alternatively, can analyze each relevant element of the crime scene. With a single press of the L1 key, the bio-vision starts and detects any trace of blood or biological element likely to be used for the survey, while the electromagnetic vision, made possible by pressing the R1 key , allows to locate implants and other artificial limbs. The use of this double-vision makes hunting for clues all the more interesting as it is sometimes necessary for the understanding of the frame.
But the most valuable and impressive tool at our disposal remains the Dream-Eater. Through this mechanism directly connected to his own brain, Dan Lazarski can penetrate directly into the memories of an individual, if he has not already passed the weapon to the left. Each of these sequences tells a story, but in a cryptic way, through multiple scenes, often surrealist, that crystallize both the anxieties and the buried memories of the individual. It is then up to the player to decipher these memories and reconstruct their path.
Digital Hell
The visual and sonorous atmosphere of the game enjoys a special care and reflects the feeling of malaise that inhabits the player throughout his progression. Thus, when one finds oneself in the lower floors of the subdivisions, the corridors are much more narrow, lugubrious and guttural sounds are heard to express the presence of a long invisible threat. Notice to the claustrophobes!
Since our Observer has synthetic improvements, he must regularly provide himself with a synchrozine dose to avoid turning the eye, especially after using the Dream-Eater. These moments when Dan is lacking are manifested by a shuddering of the image and by pixelation of it, further blurring the barrier between the human and the machine. Similarly, the frame-rate tends to fall drastically at these times, even if, it must be admitted, it lacks constancy throughout the game and not only when Dan is in need.
In general, the title is a real visual experience thanks to the famous sequences allowed by the Dream-Eater, which can sometimes stretch for several tens of minutes. These passages fascinate by their inventiveness and the way they disarm the player, completely tossed in the tortured mind of the individuals examined. It seems difficult to reveal more without spoiling the experience, but know that this one is clearly worth the detour.
An eye for an eye
Besides its main intrigue, which closes in six to seven hours, Observer will not give you much bone to gnaw. Especially since the game over is almost non-existent, only certain phases requiring to be successful for the progression to be made. It is therefore an experiment that is essentially narrative and linear. However, by consulting the computers scattered throughout the subdivisions, the player is given the opportunity to try out a very nice game: «Tout feu tout flamme», a sort of old-style platformer puzzle that will put your brainstorms to work , especially in its later stages.
The presence of this game in the game is not insignificant in a title like Observer. Indeed, many people see their perception of reality undermined, starting with the protagonist himself who, by dint of penetrating into the memories of others, discerns less and less well what belongs to "reality" as it is included in the game, of the virtual. One of the last uses of the Dream-Manger highlights this through phases of gameplay that refer directly to famous titles of videoludic heritage, in sequences, again, completely surreal.
It is difficult not to see this as an abyss of the condition of the player, as this singular title can, in a way, make him lose his own bearings and invite him to question himself about the role he plays. It acts as a true mirror for him because the Observer is both Daniel Lazarski, the Orwellian corporation Chiron, but also the player himself.
NOTE : 8/10
It is one of those titles which, once completed, leave an indelible imprint in the mind of the player. Observer is undeniably of these. Through the painting of a dystopian society controlled by an all-powerful corporation, the experience proposed by Blooper Team fascinates as much as it disturbs. It interrogates the player on the questions of transhumanism and virtual reality in a way that is at least original, by directly involving him in the heart of his reflection. A work that will surely remain in the memories.
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