It’s the near future, and you are the artificial intelligence of a space station struck by disaster. Your systems are malfunctioning, most data is lost, and the crew is God knows where. You need to work out what happened and put things right.

That’s how No Code’s recent Observation starts. The game is fantastic. If you’re into sci-fi, especially the classics, Arthur C. Clarke and that kind of thing, you’ll love it. Of the games I’ve played recently in this genre, only SOMA is better.

Do yourself a favor: skip the reviews, because journalists can’t string two words together without spoilers. Skip the official trailer too. The game has a brilliant intro, and you should see it as part of the story, not on YouTube.

The intro’s music was written by Robin Finck of Nine Inch Nails, by the way. The visuals don’t make sense when you first see them, but once you work out what you’re looking at, they really get to you.