Observa

[i]"Hungry, like stars are hungry."[/i] [b]tl;dr: This is a nifty little game that wins a lot of points for its atmosphere and sparse, sharp writing--that unfortunately suffers from a game-breaking bug.[/b] [hr][/hr] Where this game truly shone for me was in the writing, specifically the log entries you get for researching and cataloguing a new discovery. With the earliest / easiest discoveries, they start out fairly mundane, but as you upgrade your telescope and find rarer things, the writing starts to get under your skin, from [i]"Something did this. Recently."[/i] to a galaxy described as [spoiler]having a broken arm[/spoiler]. (I think the biggest disappointment for me here was discovering that, while you can view a record of all your discoveries, there's no way to revisit those little tidbits in the metagame catalogue. Dev, if you can add those, please do! I'd love to read them all side by side.) The art direction is equally as sparse and simple, but it does its job well. I can't tell you the number of times I stopped the telescope and went "what [i]is[/i] that?!?" Overall, the game is excellent at cultivating the sense that you're utterly alone in a dead or dying unive…

While a very short game, it's a neat one. I beat it in only 30 minutes but there are plenty of other celestial objects out there to discover. Funny that I was capturing images on my IRL rig while playing this. I wish real astrophotography was this easy!

Observa is a slow-burning cosmic horror experience that transforms the peaceful act of stargazing into something deeply unsettling. Developed by NorthRest Games, the title places players alone aboard a small observatory drifting through endless space, where the primary objective is simply to observe, photograph, and document celestial phenomena. What initially feels calming and meditative gradually evolves into an unnerving psychological experience as strange objects begin appearing in the darkness beyond the telescope lens. Instead of relying on traditional horror formulas filled with combat or nonstop jump scares, Observa creates fear through isolation, silence, and the terrifying realization that something incomprehensible may be staring back from the void. The atmosphere is easily the game’s greatest strength. From the moment the experience begins, players are surrounded by emptiness and silence broken only by subtle machinery sounds and distant cosmic ambience. The observatory itself is small and confined, creating a constant sense of vulnerability while the endless darkness outside stretches infinitely in every direction. At first, the process of scanning stars and photograp…

A pretty short game, but a very cool concept. Will refund this one

10% looking to the stars 90% running photos from the copier to the seller It's not really a full game, more of a concept of one. Bought this on sale for $1.50, and I don't think I'll refund it despite beating it in around 15 minutes. The art is nice, the ui isn't great, the progression is sort of non existent and isn't super meaningful, but it does what it shows in the trailers, just don't expect more than that.

A nice little game, I barely made it with seconds to spare, then did another run or two. There's a good amount of jank, but the game is short enough that the bugs don't get annoying (imo).