The Message from Deep Space

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.

great premise and great execution of the concept. so far all the puzzles have been fair. im taking my time with it but cant wait to see where it goes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and highly recommend it. You're tasked with a small team to parse an alien message from effectively nothing, building piece by piece to a greater understanding. Parts of the translation are elegant and others frustrating, and I expect which parts will vary a good bit from person to person. Thankfully an in-game reference is provided and your teammates can sometimes give you a nudge when your progress is stalling. One tip - taking notes for formatting and syntax may save you a bit of potential hassle if you're taking a while between sessions. Very uplifting and well worth the price of entry.

This game was really something special. I'd highly recommend having your own group of friends to discuss and theorize with, it really added to the experience for me. 9/10, the couple of times I had to look up the solution I felt like an idiot afterwards. There were some areas that could maybe use more tips and theories, but doing that for every message is unreasonable. Thanks devs, this was awesome.

I am stupid and I don't deserve access to a computer

This game is such a cool puzzle game, mainly because it makes you feel like you’re actually figuring out first contact instead of just playing through a sci-fi story. You’re basically sitting in front of a retro CRT terminal after a mysterious meteorite lands on Earth, working with a small team of scientists to communicate with an alien civilization. There are no flashy space battles or huge cinematic moments. Most of the story happens through radio transmissions, messages, and the things you manage to figure out yourself. Somehow, that makes the whole experience feel much more personal and believable. The gameplay is probably the most interesting part. You start with absolutely no shared vocabulary, so you have to build an alien dictionary from scratch. You slowly figure out numbers, words, grammar, and patterns through trial and error. The game doesn’t just tell you how the language works. You actually have to discover it. And then it gets even more interesting. The puzzles pull from math, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and linguistics. You might start by figuring out an alien number system, then suddenly find yourself calculating stellar mass or trying to understand the difference between a pulsar and a black hole. What makes this especially fun is that the puzzles actually matter to the story. Every word you translate and every concept you understand gives you another piece of the bigger picture. You’re not just solving puzzles for the sake of solving them. You’re slowly learning how an entirely different civilization thinks and communicates. It can be frustrating, though. You’ll definitely have moments where you’re staring at the terminal for 20 minutes wondering what you’re missing. But when something finally clicks, the satisfaction is huge. That feeling of going from “I have absolutely no idea what this means” to “WAIT, I GET IT” is basically the best part of the game. That’s why I find this game so interesting. It takes something as simple as communicating through a computer terminal and turns it into a genuinely engaging experience about language, science, logic, and discovery. If you’re into challenging puzzles and sci-fi that makes you actively participate in the story, definitely give this one a try.