The Message from Deep Space

Game is very fun. Difficulty curve is just right imo. At the time of writing this, only beat ACT I, but I am enjoying it very much!

one of the best solo sequential discovery games of all time. it is THE sequential discovery. Ignore the negative comments, they literally just couldn't get it. Not hard. Long. Worth.

If the premise of this game speaks to you at all, do yourself a favor and play this game. This is by far the best game I've played this year.

incredible game about first contact with aliens. the game revolves around translating alien messages, which is mainly in the form of math, science, and language puzzles. if you're on the fence, there is a demo and the progress carries over, and I think you'll know right away whether it's for you after you play the demo. it's also a great game to play alongside a friend or partner, so you can work together to translate the messages. my small negatives about the game: I think it goes on for a bit too long (I beat it around 30 hours), and the last maybe 10~20% of the game could use more hints, since often I would get the idea of what the game wanted me to input but I wouldn't be putting it in exactly right. the feeling of not enough hints + that the game was dragging on made finishing the last part of the game feel a bit like a chore. I still really enjoyed the game and would recommend it!

The audience for this is probably pretty narrow. You'll need to enjoy, or at least tolerate, hours of math tests, science tests, grammar and language learning, and more. But if you can manage that, you have a fascinating and mechanically unique puzzle experience waiting for you. The banter between your teammates is fun and helps show different perspectives on the concepts shown. As someone whose experience and interests straddle multiple of the crewmate's areas of expertise, I found myself agreeing with different ideas from different members of the team at times. It gave some interesting space for introspection for me. Especially seeing the other team members' journal entries and being prompted to write your own thoughts after: super neat addition, I liked how it prompted you to think and write about what you'd experienced in that in-game week. As for what the aliens have to say, the titular message, it was pretty interesting and unique within the realm of first contact stories, and at times truly beautiful. I got sentimental at couple points in the game: when they explain [spoiler]their worldview and how it led to the meteor being sent to Earth[/spoiler]; and parts of the ending, which were especially resonant with recent events in my life. I imagine many people might find it cheesy, or overwrought, but [spoiler]the emotional moment you share before you know you have to say goodbye[/spoiler] really hit for me. And the fact that they can hit those moments using a language where no word has a truly canonical definition, just whatever meaning you, the player, can piece together and create yourself? I think that's pretty a pretty impressive feat. To be honest, I expected this to be a game where the language and puzzle mechanics would the main (and perhaps only) draw, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the writing and narrative. It was really just enjoyable on every front. If you think it might be for you, it's worth checking out.

absolutely brilliant !

peak, fun and unique translation game versus others.