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0 We recently covered the news of Human Within releasing dev diaries, so we thought it best we follow that up with a full review. Developed by SignalSpace and published by Signal Space Lab, Human Within is a narrative-driven experience. Released at the start of January this year, let’s check out whether it’s worth your £15.99 (at time of writing on the Meta store)
Immense Processing Power
Are you a fan of narrative-driven games? Well, let us know in the comments what your favourite of all time is.
Gameplay
We join Nyla and her sister, Linh being held against their will. They are both Cyber Engineers who have developed a way to harness the power of the brain to create the ultimate computer. Unfortunately, with great power comes great responsibility, and Nyla wants to back out. We join the original story as our sisters decide that enough is enough and want out. Playing as Linh, albeit her consciousness, we are the supercomputer. We are the… Human Within. (Spider-Man Meme)
So how do we go about doing that? Throughout the game, you will spend time in the computer environment. With data all around you, it’s down to you to make the most of your abilities. Doing this is through a series of what can only be described as microgames. One in particular saw me choosing from a number of nodes trying to find someone. All the while the storyline is playing alongside and progressing as you go.
Now and again you are greeted with a full VR video, where you are watching from a particular point. Throughout these moments there are decisions to be made, do you stay or go, that sort of thing. Unfortunately these decisions never really felt enough. However, they do lead to different endings, so choose wisely.
Other puzzles include a corrupted data segment. This sees you placing blocks with corresponding points together to match patterns. Or even recreating a whole room to be able to move around and help use the environment to your advantage. I think these were my favourite sections, being able to manipulate time and interact on different levels was a great experience.
Graphics & Audio
Human Within is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to this section. I’m going to flip it about and handle the audio side first.
Being a FMV style game, the voice acting needed to be on point otherwise you lose the immersion. Thankfully for the most part it’s pretty good. There are a few dubious moments during the game, but in general a great job by all those involved.
Now we come to the graphics side. The times when you are in Linh’s consciousness are great, the environment is believable and the multiscreen view is incredibly impressive. However, when you go into the actual video sections, they just felt a bit flat. Being recorded on a 360 degree camera meant that some parts just felt a bit out of balance. Some characters felt a bit warped while other parts felt fine. The parts where you generate the entire room felt a bit basic, especially when you are meant to be a supercomputer. Don’t get me wrong, it was still relatively fun to play, these things just bothered me and slightly broke the immersion.
Longevity
In total Human Within should take you around 3 hours to complete. Which in the grand scheme of things isn’t that large of an amount of time. However, with the branching storyline, there is the potential for several replays. Afterall, you need to see what all the other endings are right?
Final Thoughts
Overall, Human Within is a great experience, especially from a narrative point of view. The story definitely started to ramp up towards the end, and even though there may not have been a point to them, I felt that when completing puzzles I was on the clock. Which did have me fretting when I kept getting them wrong.
Thankfully the storyline was such that it was relative. I felt that it was believable and if you are a tech head then you will probably see some elements of real life in there too.
Human Within receives the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this review.
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