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2023 video game

A Space for the Unbound

Developer(s)	Mojiken Studio
Publisher(s)	Toge Productions Chorus Worldwide
Director(s)	Dimas Novan Delfiano
Producer(s)	Eka Pramudita M.
Designer(s)	Eka Pramudita M. Elwin Lysander
Programmer(s)	Ahmad Fadlillah
Artist(s)	Dimas Novan Delfiano Roland Melvin Z. Wildan Rahmat R.
Writer(s)	Brigitta Rena Galuh Elsa A. N.
Composer(s)	Masdito "Ittou" Bachtiar Christabel Annora Bambang Iswanto
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox One Xbox Series X/S
Release	January 19, 2023
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

A Space for the Unbound is an adventure video game developed by Mojiken Studio and published by Toge Productions. It was released on January 19, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Set in the late 1990s, the game follows Atma and his girlfriend Raya, who live in a suburban area in Indonesia. They explore their newly attained magical abilities and deal with supernatural powers that threaten their existence.

The game designer's focus was capturing what it felt like to grow up in Indonesia in the 1990s and wanted to preserve his memories as an Indonesian through the game. Reception to the game from critics was positive, with reviews focusing on the game's solid sense of place and heartfelt story.

Gameplay

The player controls Atma, an Indonesian high school student who is getting close to graduation with his girlfriend Raya. Through the powers of a red book that Atma finds, he gains the ability to "space dive" into people's minds and help fix their problems through puzzles that the player completes. These changes can affect the person's point of view and help them deal with trauma that they face. His girlfriend Raya, through the same book, gains "X-Men-esque powers" including levitation and changing the nature of reality. They face the issues that come from their new powers and investigate the supernatural forces that threaten their existence. Later Atma gets a magic wand and gains the ability to "rift dive" to another time in a location.

The player is able to interact with people, objects, and cats throughout the game. The game features a number of smaller minigames that help ground the game in its place and time, like practicing football and dodging falling objects with button inputs; fighting minigames which involve pressing a sequence of buttons in a time limit to attack and pressing the button when the moving bar hit the target, but most of the game is at a slower pace and involves exploring and talking with people through point and click gameplay. The game also features a number of cats, which the player can pet and name.

Plot

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Surabayan high school students Atma and his girlfriend Raya are both close to graduation, and are unsure of what to do with their futures. Instead of discussing with their school counselor their plans for the future, they instead opt to create a bucket list together of things they wish to do. 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 that allows him to "Spacedive" and enter people's minds. All of which end in him apparently drowning trying to save Nirmala, and with him waking up at his school desk.

At the cinema (and on the way), Raya gradually 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 a panic, Raya exits Cat Wonderland, and collapses from exhaustion, revealing that frequent use of her power renders her in a state of weakness. Back in the real world, Atma discovers that the cinema staff have begun behaving strangely, acting like cats. Via Spacediving and entering their minds, he restores them back to normal. Outside, Raya falls unconscious, as a crack appears in the sky.

Sometime later, Atma reawakens at his school desk, and discovers Raya is seemingly well. However, she collapses again after attempting to stop the anomaly that appeared previously in the cinema, and is escorted away by a teacher, Miss Niken. With the help of Admiral, a cat adopted by Atma and Raya together, who has suddenly developed the ability to speak, Atma seeks out to find a black forest gateaux-Raya's favourite dessert-in order to restore her strength. As the cake is ready, however, Admiral is run over and killed by Erik, a gang leader and bully from Atma's school. In a panic, Erik knocks out Atma, and takes the cake for himself to deliver to Raya as an apology. Catching up to Erik back at their school, Atma confronts and Spacedives him, revealing that he acts in this demeanor due to abuse from his father, leading to a desire to show no weakness, believing it makes him stronger. As Atma is about to exit Erik's mind, Nirmala suddenly appears, ejecting Atma back into the outside world and simultaneously turning Erik into a werewolf like monster. Raya intervenes, returning Erik to his normal form but paying no heed to his frantic apologies, and seemingly killing him before eating some of the cake, and passing out once more. Outside, the crack in the sky grows larger.

Atma reawakens only to discover that Raya is nowhere to be found, and that the school is busy in preparation for the Lintang festival. Atma discovers that any attempts to ask about Raya's whereabouts result in the person being asked looping their words, then pretending nothing had happened at all. Moreover, teachers have suddenly begun acting very bizarrely and taking on seemingly entirely different personas. With the help of classmate Lulu, Atma engages in confrontations with the affected teachers and citizens, restoring them to normal, and discovering in the process that every single one of them had chastised Raya in some way or another, leading her to rewrite their personalities in retaliation. Atma also learns that Raya, being the class president, was tasked with organizing the festival, but failed to meet expectations and was under immense pressure as a result. Nirmala appears once again during a Spacedive and transforms Lulu into a humanoid swan.

Atma finds Raya alone on a bridge overlooking the city, who supposedly kills Lulu and reveals that she simply exerted her control over the town, organizing the festival simply because she wanted to be happy with Atma. Atma attempts to Spacedive her, but upon realizing what he is about to do, Raya destroys the book, and causes a large blue meteor to crash down upon the city.

Atma awakens to find the city is in ruins, debris is raining down from the sky, and the people of the city are nonchalantly and obliviously celebrating the festival. Marin, a quiet classmate of Atma, rescues him and takes him to safety, giving him a wand that allows him to access alternate timelines due to the weakened state of the universe. Reaching the ruins of the school, Atma discovers Marin in confrontation with Raya, and narrowly protects her from Raya's powers. He finds himself in a Spacedive dimension and learns that Marin was once close friends with both Nirmala and Raya, but grew distrustful once learning about Atma, convinced he was an imaginary friend, and eventually neglecting to protect her in the face of harassment and bullying at school. Nirmala turns Marin into a humanoid snail, and Raya destroys her before falling unconscious. Atma finds the Spacediving book on her, allowing him to enter her mind.

In a flashback, it is revealed that Nirmala and Raya are both the same person, with her full name being Raya Fitri Nirmala. As a child, Raya met Atma who had run away from home seeking to start a career in writing, and the two became friends. One day, Atma drowned and died trying to save Nirmala, being unable to swim himself (revealing the events of the game all took place inside Raya's mind). Raya, who was facing abuse from her father, in a moment of resentment separates "Nirmala" from herself, representing all of her hope and positivity and believing her to be at fault for Atma's death. Since then, Nirmala had been turning people who had wronged Raya into monsters, trying to get her attention.

Atma finds himself in a shattered dream-like world, aided by Bosque, Raya's second cat, finds Raya, now taking a giant blue form. Realizing now that she believes exerting more and more control is a solution to the life of abuse and hatred she has suffered, Atma attempts to convince her to return to the real world with him, to no avail. After avoiding an onslaught of attacks from Raya, her insecurities and traumatic memories of all of those who had abused her accumulate, allowing Atma to enter her mind.

Atma finds himself in a memory of Raya's home, and learns that her father steadily became abusive due to increasing debt, and a disapproval over her creative endeavors, and that the story he and Nirmala wrote was an allegory for her life. He convinces Raya that attempting to manufacture her own happy ending is only hurting her more, and to stop running and to face her fears head on, leading her through a dark cave populated by those who had bullied her. At the end of the tunnel, the ground suddenly begins to crumble, and Raya seemingly begins to float upwards. Realizing Raya needs to be able to let go of her past, Atma lets her go and bids her goodbye, fading into a memory as Raya tearfully ascends out of the dream world.

Sometime later, Raya-now visibly older-awakens in a hospital bed, recovering from an unstated incident. Her mother had divorced her father, and is in the process of clearing out the house to move to another city. She goes out for one last walk around the neighbourhood, encountering various people from throughout her life, and watches the sun set on the bridge, reflecting on her journey and healing.

If the player managed to complete all items on the bucket list, a bonus post-credits scene shows Raya visiting the spot where Atma died, and leaves him a bouquet of flowers and the Spacediving book in his memory.

Development

Dimas Novan Delfiano, the game director from the development studio Mojiken for A Space for the Unbound, began development on the title in 2015. A team of two to three people began work on the game while the studio also developed multiple other games simultaneously. Dimas completed an initial prototype of the story in 2015, which served as a core for what would be developed. Dimas found the first few years of development incredibly difficult, as he struggled to build a substantial game from the beginnings of the prototype. In 2019, Dimas noted that he had found the "right formula for the game" and Mojiken released a demo that "was released to positive reception" in 2020. Around 2020, everyone at the studio (numbering about 12-14 people) were able to shift focus to working on the game.

Dimas since a young age wanted to create a game set in an Indonesian high school, and was inspired by the concept of an "Anime pilgrimage," where people travel to compare real-life locations against their anime-depicted counterparts. He wanted to highlight his personal experience of growing up in 1990s Indonesia, and wanted players to feel the same passage of time that he had experienced. Dimas was inspired by multiple Japanese concepts during development, including "Mono no aware," or the "pathos of things," which Dimas described "as an appreciation for or awareness of impermanence and the passage of time." He noted that "every generation has its own memories and is our memories and we want to preserve that before we completely forget about it." Dimas said that it was his goal to preserve his memories as an Indonesian growing up in the 1990s in the game. The game was heavily inspired by the works of Japanese filmmaker Makoto Shinkai.

The game heavily features anxiety and depression in the story, and Dimas and the rest of the development team consulted professionals for their input to help with telling it appropriately. The space diving mechanic was created to help explore these themes in more detail.

Reception

Aggregate score
Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	(NS) 85/100 (PC) 86/100 (PS5) 83/100

Review scores
Publication	Score
Eurogamer	Recommended
Nintendo Life
Nintendo World Report	8.5/10
Push Square
RPGFan	89%
The Guardian
TouchArcade	4.5/5

A Space for the Unbound received positive reviews, with an 85/100 from review aggregate website Metacritic. Rock Paper Shotgun's Rachel Watts said that the game "takes a supernatural teen drama 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 Chris Tapsell called the game "magic" and said that "in many cases you will be deeply, maybe profoundly, moved." TouchArcade's Shaun Musgrave 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.

References

^ Bowling, Audra (January 24, 2023). "A Space for the Unbound Review". RPGFan. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
^ Watts, Rachel (January 18, 2023). "A Space For The Unbound review: a supernatural teen romance with a wonderful sense of time and place". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
^ Bell, Lowell (January 18, 2023). "Review: A Space For The Unbound - A Beautifully Rendered, Breathtaking Adventure Game". Nintendo Life. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
^ Valentine, Rebekah (January 28, 2023). "A Space for the Unbound Took Me on an Emotional, Nostalgic Anime Pilgrimage". IGN. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
^ Castle, Katharine (April 8, 2022). "Coming of age: How A Space For The Unbound is paying tribute to childhood, nostalgia and Indonesian culture". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
"A Space For The Unbound". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
"A Space For The Unbound". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
"A Space For The Unbound". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
^ Tapsell, Chris (February 1, 2023). "A Space for the Unbound review - a slice of life, and all its pain". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
^ DeVader, Joe (January 20, 2023). "A Space for the Unbound (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
Fitzgerald, Simon (January 18, 2023). "Mini Review: A Space for the Unbound (PS5) - A Powerfully Engaging Story-Driven Adventure". Push Square. Archived from the original on January 18, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
Packwood, Lewis (January 18, 2023). "A Space for the Unbound review – Indonesian school adventure has a fantastical twist". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
^ Musgrave, Shaun (January 24, 2023). "SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring 'Persona 3 Portable' & 'NeverAwake', Plus the Latest Releases and Sales". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.

External links

A Space for the Unbound at Chorus Worldwide
A Space for the Unbound at Toge Productions
Prototype download at Itch.io

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