Vessels

Vessels, created and published by Local Space Survey Corps, is a tightly focused science fiction narrative that builds its identity around uncertainty, perspective, and the quiet tension of being something you don’t fully understand. The game opens with a disorienting premise, placing you inside a sealed airlock with no memory and no clear sense of self, immediately establishing a tone that is more psychological than action-driven. Rather than guiding the player through a conventional survival story, it leans into ambiguity and forces you to piece together both your role and the broader situation through fragmented interactions and repeated attempts. The most compelling aspect of Vessels lies in how it handles identity. You are not simply a character navigating a crisis, but an entity that can inhabit and control others, effectively turning each crew member into both a resource and a lens through which the story unfolds. This mechanic is not just a gameplay feature but the foundation of the narrative itself. By shifting between different individuals, you gain access to their thoughts, relationships, and personal stakes, gradually constructing a fuller picture of the situation aboard the ship. At the same time, this constant switching creates a sense of detachment, as you are never fully anchored to any one perspective, reinforcing the idea that you are an outsider trying to imitate humanity rather than belong to it. Dialogue is the primary driver of progression, and the writing carries much of the experience. Conversations are layered with subtext, often requiring you to read between the lines to understand what characters are feeling or hiding. There is a persistent tension in every exchange, as your choices can build trust, provoke suspicion, or push events toward irreversible outcomes. The game does not present clear moral pathways, and many decisions feel uncomfortable by design. You are frequently placed in situations where survival may require deception or manipulation, and the lack of a definitive “correct” choice adds weight to every interaction. Structurally, the game embraces repetition through a loop system that encourages experimentation. Failure is not treated as a setback but as part of the process, allowing you to return with new knowledge and approach situations differently. Each run adds context, gradually revealing how different characters respond under pressure and how events can unfold in alternate ways. This design gives the narrative a layered quality, where understanding emerges over time rather than being handed to the player outright. It also reinforces the theme of learning through imitation, as you refine your behavior based on previous outcomes. The presentation is deliberately restrained, favoring simplicity over visual spectacle. The confined spaceship setting enhances the sense of isolation, making every interaction feel more intense due to the lack of escape or distraction. Sound design and pacing play a crucial role in maintaining immersion, with quiet moments often carrying as much impact as the more dramatic ones. The presence of an unseen guiding voice adds another layer of intrigue, acting as both a source of direction and a potential manipulator, leaving you to question its motives as much as your own. There are, however, clear limitations to the experience. Its relatively short length means that while the core ideas are strong, they are not explored as deeply as they could be. Some character arcs feel only partially developed, and certain narrative threads end just as they begin to gain momentum. The loop structure, while effective, can also feel somewhat constrained after multiple runs, as the variations between outcomes are more subtle than transformative. Players expecting a wide range of gameplay systems or a more expansive world may find the experience narrow in scope. Even with these shortcomings, Vessels succeeds in delivering a memorable and thought-provoking experience. Its strength lies in its willingness to commit fully to its concept, prioritizing atmosphere and thematic depth over scale. The game lingers not because of dramatic set pieces, but because of the questions it raises about identity, agency, and what it means to understand others. It is a quiet, introspective piece that trusts the player to engage with its ambiguity rather than resolve it. In the end, Vessels stands as a distinctive indie title that offers something different within the sci-fi genre. It may not be long or mechanically complex, but its focus on perspective and moral tension gives it a lasting impact that extends beyond its runtime. For players who value narrative experimentation and are willing to embrace uncertainty, it provides a compelling and unsettling journey. Rating: 8/10

Very interesting game concept, I really like it. You wake up in an airlock, not knowing who you are, or who the people on the other side are, that are trying to decide if you are really their crew mate, or something else entirely. And the more you play and interact, the more your find out. There is a good sci-fi story beneath to discover.

An adventure/sleuth game with off-screen psychological horror. There are prychologically wicked endings, a not-so-certain positive ending, and a very bugged true ending where you can save everyone. The characters grow on you. At first they feel cold because you don't understand what's hapening, but as the game goes on, you realize they had good motives to be that way. Then, they get some character development from one Act to another. Unfortunately, that's just more frustrating if you want to try to save them, the game is too bugged to provide a sense of completion: - You can't reach the true ending in an immersive way, or even through using your cue logically, what looks like a bug makes the "good" route you end up on random. - The dialogues don't bring up as many options as it would make with the clues you gather. - Voices are mentionned, but in the current version (1.1) there is no voice over, jsut nice sounds during dialogues. - The game doesn't save, so if you reach a bad ending ou must do everything over again, deaths included, and that get bothersome after a while. At that price, through, well, why not? You can always remove it from your account afterwards.

Interesting indie game you can finish in one sitting. Feels like another side of another small game called 'Xanadu'

The narrative design of Vessels is just lovely. It is a game about choices. This is holistically, cohesively expressed in every facet of it design, from the great mystery to unravel, to the interactions available and the very well written dialogue. An easy recommendation as a short game of substance.

I started to like this game as a mystery game where you have to explore, find information and then use it to progress the story but it then seemed to fall into the trap of your typical detective game where you know the answer but you have to resort to having the same conversation multiple times and experimenting with the conversation branches to get the answer you are looking for as the option you chose doesn't lead where you would expect it to lead. This seemed to be handled well at the start of the game where if you gave the wrong answer you just got spaced and carried on. To speed it up when you knew you had it wrong or needed to reboot you could even space yourself. As you got out of the airlock though this began to become more and more tedious. Every time you got it wrong you have to call someone, wait for them to arrive, possess them (again), go and return to the conversation you were trying to solve, often having to trawl through large parts of the same conversation, pick your next option, tell quite obviously you got it wrong and are going to be spaced but have to trawl through the remainder of the conversation before you are actually spaced, then have to go through a number of options about what decicions you want in this timeline before respawning and starting the process again. I call games like this, try it and die games. Try it and die games can be ok if the process to get to the point of trying again is not labourious...in this game it became labourious and thus i just stopped playing. You can obviously check a guide but i knew the answer i was getting to, it was just boring getting there and if i am going to follow a guide i may aswell just read a synopsis as the point is the experience along the way.

no matter what you do, you just die. pretty ♥♥♥♥ writing. cool taking over other concept from emotional bonding and creating a "weakned emotional mental state". besides that this game is a pass. idea was nice, but its so short and so VNLIKE with too much of LOTS OF BAD CHOICES and only one good path. The idea of using information from previous runs is nice, but it fails because how limited the game feels. its really just a 2 hour game if you care about getting the ""real ending"" or just get bored with its narrative limitation, having to keep on repeating dialogues all the time was a huge design mistake.

Graphics is not spectacular but not minecraft-level awful. Story is not too rich, but is presented in a way of many details you get while exploring ship or respawning... which is actually catchy. What I dislike in the game: 1) No satisfying choices given, No different meaningful endings 2) No save system within acts The game is short. 2-3 hours with low replayability. I would recommend that if it is on sale.

A good idea/premise and well executed.

What an awesome ride! Mouthwashing meets Outer Wilds. I get that it came out five years ago but it's a bit crazy this is only a dollar. I read about this on buried-treasure while looking for something spooky and plunged in without reading too much. So glad I did.