A Space for the Unbound is a slice-of-life pixel art adventure about two high school friends living in '90s rural Indonesia, but with a supernatural twist. Currently in development at Mojiken Studio and published by Toge Productions, A Space for the Unbound will tackle themes of anxiety, depression, and childhood friendship that will likely pull at your heartstrings.
After playing the demo myself, my heartstrings have well and truly been pulled.
The free demo is available to download through Steam and is pretty substantial, taking around twenty to thirty minutes to play and introduces the main character, plot, and mechanics of the game.
In the prologue you play as Atma, a high schooler who is helping his young friend finish a story she's writing, but to think of the perfect ending she needs her magic wand. She doesn't want her father to know that she's skipping school, so Atma volunteers to go to her house and get it for her. Kris Antoni, a founder of Toge Productions, tweeted that A Place for the Unbound was inspired by the animation films of Makoto Shinkai but with an Indonesian spin.
A Space for the Unbound plays out like a point-and-click adventure game. As you make your way to her house, following your cute and helpful cat guide, you get to explore the vibrant pixel-art Indonesian town—the colour of the clouds and the shadows cast by trees being particularly gorgeous—chat to characters, and most importantly, pet lots of cats.
Sneaking into your friend's house requires some easy puzzle solving that involves digging into character's minds and seeing their inner thoughts. The prologue ends on a surprising cliffhanger which hints that the quiet, country life of Atma and his friends might not be so quiet after all.
A Space for the Unbound doesn't currently have a release date, but you can play the prologue for free over on the game's Steam page. Mojiken is working on a number of games, so if A Space for the Unbound has caught your attention check out the studio's Itch page. I recommend When The Past Was Around (which also has a free demo) and Divination.
