The Message from Deep Space

Probably my GOTY.

I don't know if I've ever played a game this profound. I don't know if I will ever play a game this profound ever again. The people who made this game are truly incredible, and I hope they understand that they have made a genuine work of art that has touched me deeply.

One of the most unique and best games of the last few years. First off i have to address something tthat bugs me about a lot of the negative reviews: This is NOT a puzzle game. Calling it that and rating it based on that is missing the wood for the trees. Yes - the game will tickle a lot of the same parts of the brain as a puzzle game. And a lot of the early messages in particular could well be considered logic/math puzzles. But the whole point of this is to show how to develop complex language and understanding from simple and universal ideas. A lot of the later puzzles will feel vague. Or like they have a lot of possible answers. Like they lack logical precision. Because they are not puzzles. They are the attempt of an alien intelligence to communicate things that are meaningful to lifeforms that might have completely different senses, minds and experiences than them. But this is also the beauty of this game. With some minor concessions this is actually a pretty realistic portrayal of how this might work in real life. The way the probe works and the way our shared language is developed doesnt require handwaving or gamified simplification. You are actually building an understanding of complex concepts from basic building blocks. These aliens didnt contact us to discuss little timmies math homework. They want to discuss things that matter. Questions that drive them. Their hopes, their fears. Playing this game has made me stop in my track and stare at the ceiling in wonder. It made me laugh. And cry. And feel. It has scratched an itch that i would have never believed a game could scratch. I can give it nothing but my wholehearted recommendation.

This game is brilliant, the progression in the amount of communication you can do over the course of the game is crazy, the puzzles are mostly great, I cared about the characters by the end which was a nice addition to the pure text puzzling, and the narrative was touching. Some of the puzzles are really obtuse and I had no idea what I was going for which was frustrating, and the hint system doesn't help much because sometimes your colleagues will chime in when you've already solved the puzzle, sometimes you can try lots of wrong inputs and be stuck somewhere for a long time and they won't help I could never figure out the logic. But overall a very strong recommend from me!

Brilliant!

a good game for puzzle enjoyers

Seit Filmen/Geschichten wie Arrival oder Hail Mary habe ich mich gefragt, wie es wohl wäre, selbst eine Alien-Sprache zu entschlüsseln. Wo setzt man an, wie kommt man auf eine gemeinsame Kommunikation? Dieses Spiel bietet die Möglichkeit dazu. Absolute Empfehlung.