A Space for the Unbound Reviews

It's a beautiful game. Trigger warnings to note: Brief non-graphic animal death, depression, anxiety, mental illness, domestic violence, abuse, and grief. The pixel art is beautiful. I loved that the game was set in Indonesia and depicts a lot of Indonesian culture as well, that was very nostalgic for me. An incredibly moving story about grief, the struggle of moving on from loss but that it's okay to always hold someone in your heart and never forget them. Also, there are cats and you can pet them.

The final part/ending broke me, and I'm not ashamed to say that I shed quite a few tears. The pixel art is really well done, with some really neat animations and use of the traveling effect (especially on the ""walk home"" bit at the end) that really bring this world to life. And although I thought I had figured it out, the story took me by surprise, which made the ending even more effective.

The gameplay mainly consists of fetch quests and QTE fights, which can feel tedious at times. However, the art, music and the emotional payoff makes it worth the ride. The best thing about A Space for the Unbound is how it captures Indonesian culture. It showcases the warmth and charm, but it doesn’t shy away from the harsher realities either. The quirks and everyday oddities bring the world to life, making it feel authentic, immersive, and deeply relatable. We love our cats, we have [spoiler]abusive fathers[/spoiler], and Mr. Setiawan / Didi Kempot is the GOAT.

Note: Prepare for a rather messy ramble! I just finished this game! ASFTU's greatest strength has to be its narrative. It got emotionally heartbreaking just learning about the truth of the world and its characters (especially Atma and Raya). At the time of writing this, I'm a senior at my high school, so some of the characters' dialogue really resonated with me. (They have very quotable lines!) A part of me thinks that this game could work really well as an animated series or movie. Gameplay-wise, it's relatively simple; with some button-mashing combat and puzzles to solve. The quality and difficulty of the puzzles vary (this is prominent in the fourth chapter), where I had to look up a walkthrough just to progress. However, I can put that slight issue aside. I do recommend playing ASFTU with little to no knowledge of the events that happen later in the game, because once you've played through the whole thing I don't think you'd be able to see it the same way. (It's kind of similar to OMORI in that sense? With both games having very emotionally compelling stories.) I also really appreciated the backdrop the game took place in. It's the exact setting which I really appreciate. I'm cheering for more games from Southeast Asia. Love them love them love them so much. SEA solidarity for the win! :D

Really enjoyed this game. Beautiful art; beautiful story.

What a beautiful game. Damn you creator. I don't know how to describe my feeling for this game. It's very complex. I cried a lot. I love how the character is on a journey to find her identity and her peace. I appreciate to all the people who make this game, i know that the creator make this game with their heart. Good luck for you guys.

This game is the real form of Absolute Masterpiece. Salut pada dev semangat terus INDO PRIDE! gamenya asik parah story rich sangat nyata bikin gw nangis tersedu 😭 rate 10/10

The story for this game is really beautiful but I've never played a game with less respect for my time. Two thirds of this game is running around holding left or right doing monotonous fetch quests with little to no bearing on the story and felt like a chore to play through, and I'm not convinced its worth it to play through that to get to the incredible final part of the game.

D+ This is hard for me because I adore the story and how it explores grief and self-identity, paired with a lovely soundtrack and cute visuals. But ultimately the plot, though heartwarming, is fairly predictable and simple. The worst aspect though is the gameplay which purely consists of shallow minigames and egregiously drawn out fetch quests, with pointless collectibles sprinkled throughout. Usually the beginning and ending of each chapter is fairly interesting but the main chunk of the game is ruined by the aforementioned gameplay issues. I like the story but it was tiresome to trudge through the gameplay. Outside of the co-leads there aren't really any interesting characters or developments either. Sound design is fairly minimalist as well. Watching a longplay would get you most of the benefits of the story without having to deal with any of the gameplay yourself.

a bit tedious for the mini games, too many fetch and catch side quest feel a bit like errand boy. However this game has a lot potentials, it can be made into anime style game (for wider range of target market), real live action of sort. i can feel the passion from the dev when creating this game so i knew this wont be the end of this game. do they put slice of life genre of this game? because this kind of game can be double edged for those who are currently in bad situation/environment..kinda like half empty or half full sort of situation. this is quite solid game 3,5 out of 5 for me. if you are indonesian then you absolutely should try this game (we need to support more indie developers especially from our own country). last but not least, every girl need their own atma :)