
Mission: Translate an interstellar message, using the universal languages of math & science.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
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About
The Message from Deep Space is an odyssey of puzzles. Take the role of the mission's Translator, working alongside a scrappy band of scientists, and venture headfirst into the world of deciphering an alien language --- completely from the ground up.
Set in 1973, Earth is the recipient of a meteorite that broadcasts radio waves. In the role of the mission's Translator, the player is responsible for designing responses to the meteorite's transmissions, which, if correct, will elicit new messages from the meteorite. Only through this radio wave dialogue will patterns, words, syntax, and meaning all take form, leaving but one question:
What is it the aliens want to say?
Translate an alien language
Learn about an alien civilization
Interface with a retro computer
Manage a user-driven dictionary
Design radio transmissions by frequency
Collaborate with scientists that respond to your actions
+1000 in-game dialogues
+30 minutes OST
+30 hours of gameplay
Inspired by The Golden Record aboard the Voyager I space probe, The Message from Deep Space takes a realistic approach to deciphering an interstellar message. Beginning with the limited universal constants available to technologically advanced civilizations, the message spans a range of real-world fields of math & science. Decoding the message is tough, but with the support of the game's meticulous linguist, the single-minded computer programmer, and the affable astronomer, it is a challenge fit for anyone with Curiosity and Perseverance.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 208 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 208 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
This somehow makes math fun
There are a few stretches of the game that get frustrating at times, but it's worth it entirely. Wonderful game with a beautiful message, imo. 100% recommend if you like puzzles, logic, language, and especially logic and language puzzles
First contact with extant life from another world, & it's the aliens sending us their math homework. All jokes aside, I love this game. The characters seem simple on the surface, but their little conversations, in-jokes and quirks really make you connect with them. I can't believe that within the span of a couple hours they had me go from jeering at Dr. Akers to genuinely empathizing and rooting for him. I also wanna shout out the OST, the music is actually really nice to vibe to while puzzling over a new transmission. I'm definitely relying on walkthroughs to make progress, but the atmosphere and story are enough to make it still an enjoyable puzzle game
This game, of all games, does not need a hardcore save system. I've lost almost 10 hours, and replaying isn't even fun because progress is mostly in your understanding of the signals and symbols, and not actually in the entering of the data. I do not understand why a simple save and load which has been around for decades wouldn't have worked, but instead all it takes is one power issue or steam cloud saves problem to ruin everything. This doubly sucks because the game is genuinely fun, but I wouldn't wish the frustration of having that taken all away on anyone
This game is incredible. I have spent almost all of my waking time between buying it and now, playing it. And, like some of the best games in the genre - I would count [i]Return of the Obra Dinn[/i], [i]Type Help[/i] (now [i]The Incident at Galley Housse[/i], [i]The Roottrees are Dead[/i], and [i]The Outer Wilds[/i] among them - it is an experience that will be hard to forget for a very, very long time.
A really good and unique puzzle game.
非常好剧情,使我的大脑旋转。 从游戏机制上来说简单的线式一问一答到大后期的可玩性其实会有一点下降,但是量大管饱且越来越美丽深邃的剧情完美地弥补了这一点。 不过反过来说,剧情要么是外星语要么是英语,所以说非英语区玩家除了需要破译深空来信以外疑似还需要破译外国来信,双倍的「快乐」说是。
One of the most unique and remarkable gaming experiences I've had in a while. Chants of Senaar meets math/science. Quite challenging at times and definitely using a bunch of my old high school science. Had to get hints and take breaks to get through a few challenging puzzles, but well worth it. A clear premise executed beautifully.
The game starts off a bit slow; the beginning felt to me as mostly refreshing math/physics/chemistry knowledge from high-school and establishing some basic communication primitives. If that was all there was to it, I would have probably thought it was a good game, but not enough to recommend it. However, at some point this game changes [spoiler]probably when they send their first self-portrait[/spoiler]: It becomes much less of a quiz, and more of a very rewarding search for common understanding and meaning. I believe life longs for life, and this game reminds me of it almost on every transmission past a certain point. In puzzle/deduction games I usually end up disabling all hints and stuff. But this game has such amazing dialogue that I didn't mind if it occasionally recommended solutions: I really just wanted to know what Dr. Bautista, Dr. Akers, Dr. Collins, and Dr. Doppler had to say! The developer crafted a unique voice for each character, to the point I find myself in internal arguments with these characters while reading their different suggestions. Sometimes I appreciate Dr. Bautista's programmer-style focused on reducing verbosity, but other terms require the added nuance Dr. Collins' captures with each of her suggestions. And Dr. Akers? He is a really good astronomer. Personally, I would like it if the game UI were a bit more feature rich: I miss the ability to pin certain pages so as to have multiple open simultaneously or having a central note pad with links between notes, words, and transmissions. But these are minor grievances that can be addressed by just pulling out a notebook IRL. I am not done with this game, I estimate I am roughly around the halfway point ([spoiler]transmission 514 [/spoiler]). But I already wanted to share my thoughts on this wonderful game. I will update this review once I finish with the game with my final impressions. In the meantime, I strongly recommend it.
it's a beautiful little nerdy game. as the game progressed, there were moments where i became a little lost on what the transmissions were asking of me. sometimes that meant i closed the game and gave it a rest for a bit. but eventually i'd stumble upon the right perspective for the right answer. never really minded it that much, i figure this translation's meant to be taking course over the span of weeks, after all. it was an absolute joy to slowly get to know our friends in deep space, as well as the friends in very local space! the translation team was nice to (not quite) bounce ideas off of, i'll miss them all.
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Trends
Modeled estimate over time, reconstructed from Steam's monthly review histogram.
Momentum
Pace estimated from the game's recent review growth (our daily snapshots) at its own sales-per-review ratio — a momentum signal, not booked sales.
Engagement
DAU/MAU are modeled from peak concurrent players (≈×8 and ×28) — Steam publishes no active-user counts, so treat these as rough estimates, not reported figures.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
Audience
Games most often reviewed by the same players — an audience-affinity signal from our review sample, not full ownership data.
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