Review for A Space for the Unbound

Written by
Piero Serra — August 3, 2024

High school romance is a common theme in contemporary fantasy, particularly where it involves pupils who possess magical powers or abilities, and can be seen across many different media types. This Indonesian interpretation of the genre takes its visual and storyline cues from JRPGs and anime books but brings its own set of peculiarities to the trope, along with a steadily evolving story that becomes something uniquely moving and profound. 

A Space for the Unbound is set in the suburbs of pre-2000s Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city. We can gauge the approximate decade because although technology is in evidence, no one yet has a mobile phone. You play as Atma, a somewhat wayward but seemingly reliable young man who demonstrates a strong empathy for people he meets. At the beginning of the game he befriends a young girl, Nirmala, with whom he finds a connection in a love of writing. He begins to help her plan the next part of her latest story project, and she bestows upon him a red book which grants him the magical ability to “spacedive” into the minds of other people – a technique which can help them overcome problems. An unexpected disaster then separates the pair and Atma suddenly finds himself back in his classroom at school. 

At this time you reconnect with your girlfriend, Raya, and your task then becomes the completion of a bucket list, planned together. Raya is not all that she seems though, and soon reveals her own magical ability: she can reshape reality to her will (apparently parallel to the existing main reality) although doing so is difficult and leaves her weakened. This volley of magical revelations doesn’t deter Atma, and he is forced to spacedive into the heads of local people at a cinema, helping to restore order from the chaos left behind by one of Raya’s reality-twisting escapades. 

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Once again Atma reawakens at school. Who was Nirmala? Was it a daydream or something else? Where has Raya gone and why do people now not acknowledge her existence? And why are there mysterious cats everywhere? These multiple shifts in the story make the first few hours of the game a little difficult to follow. However, Atma is happy to leave these issues to one side whilst you begin your task in earnest: to relocate Raya, to tick off the items in your all-important bucket list, and grab opportunities to name and interact with the many, many cats that can be found napping on the streets.

Playing the game involves guiding Atma around Surabaya, talking to people, solving puzzles and searching the “real” city for clues and objects. The action is presented in a side-scrolling two-dimensional format with occasional platforming sections, giving the game the feel of a mid-90s beat ‘em up. This sensation is reinforced by the inclusion of mini game challenges, which are introduced alongside the more traditional point-and-click object-oriented puzzles. The mini games are frequent and can involve fighting the local gang of bullies using reaction-time tests, or playing keepie-uppie with a football (top tip: the football game is much easier if you turn down the music as you need to get a constant rhythm going!) amongst other things.

A Space for the Unbound’s other major game playing motif, the aforementioned spacediving, is really used as a gateway into more subgames and puzzles involving the other folk who live in Surabaya. I found these spacedives to be amongst the most intriguing parts of the overall experience. The rather insightful psychology they explore is sensitively handled and often quite touching. During these dreamlike episodes you can find out exactly why, for example, a local bully is a bully, and how the wolf he fears is actually an extension of his own psyche, or how a mean and militaristic school teacher’s father made him the way he is.

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Visually, I have to admit that A Space for the Unbound didn’t impress me as much as other adventure games I have played recently. I can certainly appreciate the approximate sub-style of pixel art they were aiming for, imitating a mid-90s 16-bit console style consistent with the time period the game is set in. It’s just not a look I have a particular nostalgia for and I found many of the backdrops, such as the shops, school corridors and street scenes, rather bland. However, there are undoubtedly moments of beauty and some players will revel in the nostalgically muted colour palette, fussily detailed backdrops and unsophisticated animation techniques, and I did particularly enjoy the distinctive way the hair of the main characters bobs up and down even when they are standing still.

The game’s musical soundtrack, on the other hand, is in no way limited by the constraints of 1990s console music. Although varied in sonic texture depending upon which area of the city you are in, it’s generally a lush and melodic collection, varying between a reverb-heavy, organically evolving indie pop sound, synth-driven pieces and more filmic, emotive moments. It is an absolute joy to listen to. At times, during what can become fairly long and meandering excursions looking for objects (and cats) around the city, the music kept me playing simply because I wanted to hear more of it. It really is that good; a fantastic achievement for a game of any genre but especially an adventure game, where music can too often be cursory or disagreeably repetitive.

On the surface, A Space for the Unbound is a teenage romance with magical elements. As you progress into the lengthy story you become aware that more overwhelming forces are at work here. Things are not at all what they seem in Atma’s world, but at the same time a lot of the unfolding strangeness has to be ignored in favour of trivialities. The rudimentary pleasure of finding another bottle top for Atma’s collection, or seeing off a group of bullies – although a very real part of what makes up the patchwork of a teenager’s life – can feel irrelevant next to the weight of the giddying, twisting turns taken by the story arc. Add to this the fact that these frequent mini game sequences are not optional and I began to resent their inclusion slightly.

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Even if this meshing of the mundane with the fantastical left me feeling somewhat perplexed at times, that’s not to say that the game fails in its ultimate goals. It’s quite the opposite, as it turns out that there is a real importance in clinging to the simple pleasures of life – even the mundanities – whilst things outside of our control happen around us. As Raya and Atma’s version of Surabaya seems to dissolve into chaos and destruction, apparently brought on by the emotional turmoil of the main characters, we eventually arrive at the root cause of everything that has happened.

Whether or not you will enjoy the game’s meshing of multiple mini games with the more cerebral tasks will depend on how ‘traditional’ you like your adventures to remain. What is certainly true is that A Space for the Unbound delivers an emotionally charged story and conclusion that will stay with you for a long while afterwards, no matter how much you enjoy playing it.