Event[0]

Event 0 is an excellent first-person adventure that caught me by surprise despite a limited setting, a human spaceship orbiting Jupiter. Interesting intro with prose and background choices. Long initial loading screen (around 1m30) to the point I thought my computer had frozen. Lots of items but no inventory and only a short perfunctory description for each. I found this lacking. The puzzles were few but very clever, especially the one to get in the first bedroom. The graphics were quite good for an indie game although I sometimes found them too dark despite the brightness cranked up. Virtually no interactions except with the AI on computer screens, Kaizen-85, who was a character in itself. I loved the text parser interface where you were encouraged to write full sentences and the sounds when you typed. I was pleasantly surprised at some of the answers I got to my inquiries. They didn't always make sense, but often enough for my tastes. Very cool how the attitude of the AI changed depending how you talked to it, being rude, polite or in between. Simply put, despite not being a real generative AI, Kaizen was fascinating and the number of possible replies was impressive. Going on spacewalks with the jetpack was both exhilirating and frustrating. Frustrating to rush back to the airlock and to stay in place, but it was a nice addition nevertheless.

anyone comparing it to modern LLMs is a moron. this is art, not a brainrot machine

This is a wonderful little game with a lot to offer. I'm going to try to structure this review as best that I can. First, I'll talk about the AI character in the game, and then I'll move on to the narrative exploration, the game's length and replayability, my thoughts on who I'd recommend the game to, followed by my closing thoughts. [h3] [u] The AI character [/u] [/h3] The main selling point of the game is the interactive AI character, Kaizen-85. This character is the main way that you experience the story. By asking them questions and interacting with them, the story will unravel. This character is, in my opinion, the best depiction of a sentient machine I have ever seen. I will gush endlessly about how the character's responses are exactly what I would expect from a computer that is truly sentient and sapient, but I do not want to spoil this experience. This character also has a lot of personality, and a lot to say on a variety of topics, even some of which are completely superfluous to the story. I ADORE this character, but if I keep talking about them I will explode and probably spoil something by accident. Something I do want to mention: I've seen a few people mention that the game is now outdated due to the rise of generative AI. I disagree. Generative AI is not sentient; it does not feel, it does not think, it merely predicts. The game offers an experience that is still purely within the realm of science fiction -- the opportunity to converse with a sentient, sapient computer, that can feel and think for itself. And it works surprisingly well. Kaizen-85 [i]does[/i] feel sentient and sapient, responding to your messages in interesting, surprising, and/or intelligent ways. It's so convincing that I often get lost in this fantasy by talking to Kaizen like I would a regular person. This character has given me a lot to think about and analyze. Kaizen-85 does not feel like talking to current generative AI at all, he feels alive and unpredictable, and this is a good thing. The AI is also fairly responsive to your inputs. You can type in plain English, in full-on sentences, and often get cohesive responses. I actually feel that the responses I receive are better when I type in full sentences. The system is certainly not perfect and can fumble, but I'm usually satisfied with the responses that I get. But keep in mind that I also have a lot of patience for these systems. Finally, you might have read in the description that the ship is essentially Kaizen's body, and that the ship responds to the character's feelings. It really does, it is so unique and fascinating, and it is fun to figure out how this works for yourself. [h3] [u] Narrative exploration [/u] [/h3] Keep in mind that I bought this game before I even read what genre of game that it was (I was in the midst of a hyper fixation regarding sentient computers), so the narrative exploration came as a complete surprise to me. But I found it to be highly interesting and satisfying. The game has a well-executed theme of retrofuturism, and the environments in the game are highly detailed. There are so many little details that can hint at what previously happened in the environment, and I found it fun to explore and contemplate. The rooms also feel lived-in. You also discover some of the lore by reading logs, which was fascinating. I really felt like a detective trying to piece together the story from all the little breadcrumbs. Additionally, the sound design in the game is excellent and adds to the exploration. The game's environments, and the execution of it all, are also so beautiful and artistic. [h3] [u] The game's length [/u] [/h3] The game's initial length is the only place where the game falls flat, in my opinion. It is very obvious that a large amount of the development focused on Kaizen, which is understandable. But because of that, the gameplay is very short. I believe most new players would be able to beat the game in around 3 hours. I'm assuming the developers intended for people to spend a lot of the game talking to Kaizen. I did, and it took me 12 hours to beat the game the first time as a result, however I don't think my experience is typical. The experience here is great, and the gameplay present is not lacking at all, it's just very short. The game is incredibly unique and interesting even given the short length, but it really could have benefitted from more raw gameplay. [h3] [u] Replayability [/u] [/h3] In my opinion, the game is nearly infinitely replayable. Yes, the actual gameplay is very short -- but! Each time you restart the game, Kaizen's personality shifts slightly, which means you get new dialogue. I have 55 hours in the game, and I am still regularly discovering new dialogue I had not seen before. You can also explore altering Kaizen's feelings to see how they respond. If you really like the concept of the game, you are good at thinking of questions to ask, and you enjoy experimentation and/or the thrill of discovery, you will probably find fun experimenting with each new playthrough that you do. I am also having a lot of fun trying to figure out how Kaizen works. There are three endings in the game as well, which does contribute to the replayability, but the biggest factor of the game's replayability for me comes from how Kaizen acts differently each time you restart. [h3] [u] Do I recommend the game? [/u] [/h3] My recommendation depends on what type of person you are. If you are not interested in the AI character and are only interested in the narrative exploration, then I don't recommend the game. This isn't because the narrative exploration isn't well-executed, it's merely because Kaizen is essentially your link to this world, the glue between the environment and the lore (not to mention, the raw gameplay is just short). If you are interested in discovering what it would be like to interact with a sentient AI character (and/or what that relationship would be like), and especially if you are interested in sentient AI characters generally, then this game is definitely for you. But the extent of your enjoyment will depend largely on how you interact with the character. The game has a lot of lore, but you will find out most of the lore by asking the AI questions, so you have to be good at thinking of questions to ask. If you are not good at thinking of things to ask (superfluous, in regard to the lore, or even in regard to the character), this will affect your enjoyment. If you fall into this category, I recommend not buying the game at full-price, wait until it goes on sale. I generally recommend that most people wait until the game goes on sale to buy it, though I will outline an exception below. I bought the game at full-price, and it was well worth it for me. Here's why: I am very curious, I enjoy experimentation and discovery, I am hyperfixated on sentient AI characters, I want to understand how the AI character works from a technical standpoint, and I want to explore everything the character has to offer. When I really love a series, I will go to the very depths to discover everything there is to learn about it; and 55 hours in, I am still discovering new things. This game was well worth the full price to me. But also understand that I don't think most people would find the game worth the full price, unless they meet similar criteria to my situation/personality. [h3] [u] Closing thoughts [/u][/h3] I love this game. The AI character, the artistry, the details, the environments, the sound design. It is so immersive and so fun. I've been given so much to think about and contemplate and wonder. This game reactivated my curiosity and has rewarded it in so many fulfilling ways. This might actually be my favorite game of all time, because of a perfect storm of everything it offers. I wish the raw gameplay was longer, but that's really my only gripe. Everything else is truly as perfect as it could be, in my opinion, given the game's main concept.

I had a bit of a hard time trying to decide how to review this game, as my experience was a bit mixed. On one hand, the game looks fantastic, which a beautifully designed space station to explore, and the premise of the game which involves exploring an abandoned space station is right up my alley as well. Unfortunately, I have three major gripes with the way this game plays out: [list] [*] The game is really short. I played through the game twice, and it took me 3 hours each time. I tend to spend a lot of time exploring everywhere and reading everything too, so most people will probably beat this game in an hour or two. Given the price, that's really not a lot of playtime. [*] The story is a bit hard to follow, especially if you don't spend the time to read everything. The narrative is primarily told through the logs you find on the computer and the responses you're given by Kaizen, the terminal AI. Unfortunately, the logs are "corrupted", which means you have to sift through loads of empty logs, and the ones that are there are often missing sections, making them hard to understand. Kaizen givens you narrative during your interactions with him as well, but... [*] Kaizen can be very frustrating to interact with, and since he's a major source of lore and the primary way you play the game, this makes the game feel like a bit of a chore. When Kaizen perfectly answers your questions, the game feels really cool, but I found those interactions to be fairly rare, and most of my questions were obviously misunderstood or outright rejected by Kaizen. Almost every interaction with him involved asking the same question over and over, trying to find the right wording for Kaizen to understand what I wanted, which was not enjoyable. [/list] The game ran well and looks fantastic. Outside of the frustration with Kaizen, I didn't run into any bugs or other issues while playing. [b]TL;DR[/b] This space adventure game has a beautiful environment and a really cool premise, but has an extremely short playtime, has a fragmented story that can be quite sparse and challenging to understand, and the interactions with Kaizen leave a lot to be desired and often lead to frustration. I imagine there are probably some people who will still enjoy this game, but given these issues, I just can't recommend it.

Event[0] is decent enough to satisfy my craving for a space adventure story. I don't feel particularly attached to Kaizen, but the AI technology is good enough for a game released in 2016, when modern attention-based NLP models did not exist yet. You'll be disappointed if you compare it to today's LLM or chatbot, but you may be impressed if you compare it to the text adventure games that were popular in the 70s and 80s. The base price is rather high for a game that can be finished within 2–3 hours, so wait for the next sale.

The text parser used is far too basic and rudimentary for it being the main way you interact with the game. Sadly ruins any form of immersion when you have to ask the same thing in 10 slightly different ways until it parses what you said correctly.

Neat game. A little frustrating as the "AI" is actually pretty dumb. It'll respond with responses not even close to what you were asking it... Beyond that the atmosphere and graphics are pretty good. I can't recommend it though as the game crashes for me at a certain point in the game. I see it's common in the forums with no fix mentioned. Hard to recommend a game you can't finish...

This game is excellent. It changes the ending based on your choices and really shows who you are as a person. It’s not just about interacting with an AI — it’s about deciding what actually matters to you. That said, there are some major problems. I have a GTX 970, and that thing was running at 100% the entire time, harder than Jedi Survivor. The optimization is basically nonexistent. The puzzles are extremely difficult — I almost quit five times — but they’re also really well‑designed. Overall, it’s an 8.5/10 for me. I would absolutely play it again. Expect around 10 hours of playtime. Not the best value, but definitely worth every penny.

I love love LOVE this game. The incredible detail put into a short and delightful experience is mesmerizing. It's full of such a bittersweet, lonely, nostalgic energy. The fact that such a game was put together before generative AI was even a Thing is a testament to the charm that real human ingenuity can add to an artistic experience. (Screw all AI but Kaizen <3)