[News] A Space for the Unbound Review: Love in playable form

[Douma]

I’m a crybaby. I come from a long line of crybabies, like my mother and grandfather before me. I cry easily, openly, and without shame or concern for what other people might think of me. In my culture (for lack of a better word), crying is not a sign of personal weakness, but an acknowledgement of a powerful experience. It is the recognition of something so poignant or nuanced, so raw or cutting, so impactful or insightful, that the conjured emotions bubble from deep within and burst once reaching the surface. To weep is to not only understand beauty, but to be synced with it as it flows freely through your body, mind, and heart.

All this to say that I was not prepared for the way A Space for the Unbound would make me feel (and cry). As a huge fan of Indonesian developer Mojiken and publisher Toge Productions’ other slice of life/emotional titles (When the Past Was Around, Coffee Talk) and having played the prologue years prior, I knew I’d be playing yet another gorgeous game able to speak directly to my heart, and I figured I’d cry, but not “pull the hoodie strings taut and put your arms over your head” full on sob. As a professional crybaby, take it from me: this isn’t your average tear-jerker… this is some To The Moon, Rakuen, Before Your Eyes level emotional story-telling. You will cry. You will relate.

A Space for the Unbound focuses on a boy named Atma and his girlfriend, Raya. The pair are like any other 90s high school students in their rural Indonesian town at first glance, but digging a little deeper into both yields some surprising magical secrets. In Atma’s case, he’s able to use a mystical red book to “space dive” into a person’s psyche to let their hearts speak freely, while Raya, well… let’s just say discovering Raya’s powers is key to understanding this universe. The more Atma learns about Raya and her abilities, the more he learns about himself and his place in the world and her world, too.

Despite their magical powers, this dynamic duo are still teenagers. They have adults pressuring them to prepare for their future, school to attend to, and friendships to maintain, but the truth is, they’d both rather be off doing their own things. Instead of living up to the expectations of others, they decide to make a joint bucket list, adding in some last ditch dreams before they graduate and grow up in the blink of an eye. Nothing too fancy, surely, but it’s important to them nonetheless.

Adorably, it’s this bucket list that will serve as the game’s task list. Players will need to run around town and fulfill each item, be it collecting every shiny bottle cap, playing the in-game arcade machine until your fingers bleed, or simply watching a movie together. I’m not sure I’ve seen this done in a video game before it captured that feeling of fleeting youth perfectly.

https://www.heypoorplayer.com/2023/01/25/a-space-for-the-unbound-review-pc/