Story Rich--Tacoma

After the high-stakes action of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I needed something considerably lighter to play.  Luckily enough, I received a free month of Origin Access (basic...because you know, premium is only for the cool kids) for setting up two-factor authentication on my EA account.  There are many serious EA titles on Origin Access, but I decided that I would check out some of the indie titles first.  I've enjoyed the bulk of the indies that I have picked up in the past, but from an economic standpoint, I don't find them to be the best bang for my buck.  Sure, triple-A titles cost a pretty penny, but I can play a big RPG for 100+ hours in some cases--most indies I pick up are of good quality, but are the kind of game that you'll play once for the experience and then, most likely, never pick it up again.  Maybe that's the wrong mindset to have, I do enjoy supporting smaller indie studios, but it feels like a better investment to buy a game that I know I can sink a lot of (mostly satisfactory) time into.

The first indie I decided to check out is the space investigation game Tacoma (2017).  Tacoma was developed by the same studio that created the indie darling Gone Home and had long been a game that was lurking on my side wishlist.  The story in the game involves you playing the role of a contractor who is investigating a mysterious accident on a space station.  The crew is missing and there's virtually no information about what happened to them.  Using a clever interface of pseudo-augmented reality overlays you are able to replay and investigate the events surrounding the accident.  (Spoiler-free!)

Pros:
+ AR-like investigation tool is fun.  The major events leading up to the accident play out in a series of pre-recorded AR sessions.  Specific zones on the ship are locked until you play through the AR recordings throughout a certain section.  The AR recordings are time stamped so you can get a clear sense of the sequence of events.  All you can see in the recordings are the outlines of the crewmembers on the ship, but you can hear all their dialogue.  The recordings can be rewound and replayed--this is handy because the recordings cover any crew member activities within a section, so you need to move about and observe what everyone is doing.  While you observe the recordings you also will see specific ? queries appear on the time marker--this means that you can engage with a specific crew member's AR interface.  It's sort of like snooping around in someones phone; you can read their text messages, their e-mails, or see what relevant information they've been searching for.

+ Great character development.  Using your AR tools and also being observant while you're searching through the ship gives you insight into the personalities and quirks of the six crew members.  Each of them is dealing with some very human issues and has their own insecurities, strengths and weaknesses.

+ Story unravels in tantalizing pieces.  The plot builds throughout the end of the story and makes you want to keep investigating.

+ Amazing details.  I was extremely impressed by the number of small details in the game.  The ship is littered with items that can be picked up and investigated.  It might sound tedious looking at a piece of floating garbage, but that piece of garbage has been carefully crafted to help set up the feeling of living in space.  Nosing through recycling bins can reveal scrapped personal letters that shed light on each character.

+ The story itself is entertaining and didn't turn out the way that I thought it would.

+ Very diverse cast of characters.

Cons:
-+ Short story.  I completed the entire story in four hours.  I liked the story and felt like it was told in an entertaining way.  If you're the type of gamer who is looking for something that is low-key, story-rich, and will only take a few hours to complete, this would be the perfect option for you.

-Limited replayability.  This is a game that you'll most likely play once and then not think of it again.

If you enjoy indie games and are the type of person who liked Gone Home, I would heartily recommend Tacoma.  I felt very engaged in the story the entire time I played and wasn't exactly sure how it was going to play out (my initial prediction for the story turned out to be quite wrong).  The small details are a great touch and the characters in the game felt very real.