Tacoma Review
A stunning space mystery in a scarily possible future
I’m going to be honest right off the bat here: I bought the latest Humble Bundle Monthly because I wanted Sid Meier’s Civilization VI. I hadn’t heard of Fullbright’s Tacoma, nor Gone Home — the game which put the same developers in the spotlight.
Gone Home was the first game that Fullbright released. Hitting stores in 2013, it was an instant best seller on Steam and ultimately won “Best Debut” at the 2014 BAFTA Game Awards. Released four years later, Tacoma attempts to hit the same artistic and emotional notes that critics praised Gone Home for, but in an entirely new setting and universe. I haven’t played Gone Home, so comparing it to Tacoma wouldn’t just be difficult, but also worthless.
When I first started up Tacoma, I was immediately impressed. For an indie title, this game packs a wonderful aesthetic punch. Perhaps the most stunning visual part of this game is the way the station rotates around while you’re inside, a movement that is equal parts mesmerising and dizzying. I love all things sci-fi, and this game had me vibing from the very beginning. The paradoxical vibrancy of a lifeless space station is really quite intriguing. From the first moment of the game, Fullbright creates an atmospheric and immersive adventure.
Set in 2088 aboard the empty Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma, the player takes control of Amy Ferrier in first person, a subcontractor employed to find out what happened to the station and its inhabitants. As Amy, the player walks around different parts of the station, and through an augmented reality (AR) device, is able to replay and listen to the recorded conversations of the crew members.
The entire time the people were working there, their employer, Venturis, had been recording them. And they consented. What a disturbing future. Venturis’ slogan even is, “Venturis is there, no matter where you are.” 2088 can’t come slowly enough! Aboard the space station is also an artificial intelligence (AI) who essentially runs and controls the critical components of the space station. Named Odin, he is the only other company the six people have aboard Tacoma.
In the recordings that you can replay, the employees don’t appear as real people, but rather coloured silhouettes, as seen below. Each silhouette flashes when they talk, making it easier to perceive who is talking when. Further information can be gleaned during the replays by pausing on particular sections and pulling up different pieces of information on your AR device. Other areas of the space station can only be entered by paying close attention to the characters’ actions and dialogue.
Moving from module to module of the space station, both the player and Amy begin to piece together what happened at Tacoma. The storyline progresses in a linear way in that in only heads towards a single outcome, yet the different recordings are not in sequential order. I believe this allows a more fulfilling piece by piece understanding of the events that occurred on the space station. The efficacy of Tacoma’s experience relies on its subtleties and small details.
For instance, you can go into one of the employee’s quarters and open their window, only to see this:
Yeah, I know right. Not bad.
Other interactions in the game involve picking up items and looking at them closely. Grabbing a person’s cup and examining it in your hands may not sound like much, but it adds just enough to the basic gameplay to make it that little bit more interesting.
Tacoma’s sound design is my favourite part of the game. The soundtrack is superb. I’m not a musical genius by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s the perfect complement to the game’s measured pace and quiet development. Synthesisers and soft piano blend for a relaxing but also spaced out sound. The quality of it evokes thoughts of Blade Runner (1982) and Alien (1979). Likewise, the game’s sound effects also hit the spot. Nothing makes me happier than the sound of a depressurising airlock. Doors too hiss when opened, and even the sound of turning the taps on and off in bathrooms is surprisingly satisfying.
As Tacoma doesn’t feature any motion-captured acting or rendered characters in the traditional sense, the game relies purely on the voice acting in order to help bestow the proper emotional tone. Without being incredible, the voice acting is solid. Sometimes, I felt it was uninspiring, but at other times the voice actors were compelling and quite emotionally potent. At the end of the day, Fullbright’s budget probably restricted them from hiring absolute top list voice actors, resulting in the aforementioned inconsistencies. They still did a marvelous job at conveying the right feelings when necessary.
That being said, Tacoma is a walking simulator. Unfortunately, there isn’t really another way to describe it. Apart from a few interactions you can make with the space station, this game is comprised of walking and listening. Oh and sometimes floating in zero gravity. Which is cool. Floating in zero gravity is always cool.
If you’re not feeling patient, Tacoma might not be for you. It’s a slow moving game. That being said, it’s a slow moving game that’s over swiftly. I finished the game in 98 minutes, yes ninety-eight minutes. Admittedly, there’s countless games that I have started without ever finishing, so it’s nice to have Tacoma done and dusted.
With walking being one of the key (and only) gameplay components, a game like Tacoma needs not only a strong storyline, but compelling characters. Tacoma ticks both boxes. A long storyline isn’t always a strong storyline, and despite its brevity, Tacoma manages to do a lot, raising important concepts like the power of mega-corporations, as well as if AI can achieve sentience, and its place in society. It’s a nice little touch that it can comment on such issues in a brief amount of time.
Developing a game is no easy task, especially so when you’re a small indie studio like Fullbright. I just feel like that with a little more content, and a slightly more developed storyline, Tacoma would be that much better. It’s still an incredible game though, and it goes to show again that AAA developers will probably never completely have a monopoly on games. There will always be a place for developers like Fullbright, and hopefully their next title is as fulfilling as Tacoma was.
