‘A Space for the Unbound’ Finds Healing Power in Connection

A Space for the Unbound features many characters with dark, upsetting events in their pasts and presents. But these things don’t have to define who they are.

CONTENT WARNING – SELF HARM, ABUSE, VIOLENCE

This game forms a touching connection between its main characters, Atma and Raya, a young couple that have some painful elements in their lives. Like we mentioned in our preview of the game, they both pull each other out of the more traumatic elements in their lives and find solace in private places in their rural Indonesian town. They’ve each found a place of safety in each other. Uncertainty is striking their home, though, as strange supernatural elements are at work. Something monstrous seems to be breaking through the very sky above them.

Unsure how to fix it, the best thing you do seems to be to help the people around you. In this game, you assist folks by delving into their minds and solving adventure game-like puzzles. These mental places are often connected to the person’s troubles, and as you work through their problems in their minds, you help to heal them. And some of these mental places can get pretty wild and fun, letting the developers get creative with their pixel artwork. The game’s town and people are stunning, but the mental places allow the artists to create even more compelling, striking places.

It’s a lovely mechanic, and while many games have you doing things for people to progress the story, there’s something special about helping in A Space for the Unbound. Seeing how the connection between Raya and Atma has pulled them from their own darkness, I can’t help but feel that assisting these characters with the troubles in their minds is more touching and human. It’s this look at how we truly heal through connecting with others and helping others with their problems. A look at how, in trying to help someone else, we also start to fix the damage within ourselves.

A Space for the Unbound will be made available today on the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Epic Games Store, GOG, and Steam.

Joel Couture

Joel has been covering indie games for various sites including IndieGames.com, Siliconera, Gamasutra, Warp Door, CG Magazine, and more over the past seven years, and has written book-length studies on Undertale and P.T.. Joel is constantly on the lookout for digital experiences that push the boundaries of what games can be, and seeks to delve into the creative process, meanings, and emotion labor that goes into the work of artists worldwide.