Astronauts who are willing to float at the edge of the cosmos must be a mixture of brave and batshit crazy. Haven’t any of these people seen Aliens or Killer Clowns From Outer Space?

Observation is enough to make any aspiring space cadet remain on terra firma. At the start of the game, a space station is cut adrift from its orbit around Earth. The sole astronaut discovers the vessel is en route to Saturn. “What happened?”, she asks SAM, the onboard AI. “I brought us here,” he responds. “Why?” she asks. The answer: “I don’t know”. The bastard.

Observation’s stroke of genius is to cast the player as this A.I., observing proceedings through cameras, solving technical puzzles, and floating through claustrophobic cubicles in a mechanical sphere. The sense of unease in this sci-fi thriller recalls Kubrick’s 2001; the story raises themes of mankind’s insignificance in the universe and the dangers of rogue A.I.