OBSERVATION

Format PC, PS4

Developer No Code

Publisher Devolver Digital

Origin UK

Release 2019

Few studios have made such an attention-grabbing start as Glasgow’s No Code. opens with a squall of noise, the crackle of a microphone audible over a rumbling score, as a caption tells us we’re aboard the titular space station, orbiting 410km above Earth. A light briefly illuminates a darkened room within the craft, which is passing floating detritus (including a spinning astronaut helmet), as the nervy voice of Dr Emma Fisher lets us know something has gone very wrong. She accesses the station’s computer system, SAM – at which point we discover it’s not Fisher, but the AI we’re playing as. As a relative calm settles over proceedings, we’re asked to run hull and pressure diagnostics, reading data and feeding back to the anxious medic. Then, out of nowhere, a series of symbols interferes with SAM’s display, alongside a persistent high-pitched sound. A message appears onscreen in all caps – “BRING HER” – and we cut to black. Establishing the game’s premise and the story’s central mystery with economy and no little flair, it’s one of the most memorable introductions of recent years. And all the more remarkable when you