The Game Census
Observation cover art

Observation

No Code · Devolver Digital · 2020-05-21

SteamGOGPlayStation StoreEpic Games StoreMicrosoft Store

AdventureIndie

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: First person

Releases: Jun 25, 2020 (Xbox One), May 21, 2019 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), May 21, 2019 (PlayStation 4)

Observation is a sci-fi thriller uncovering what happened to Dr. Emma Fisher, and the crew of her mission, through the lens of the station’s artificial intelligence S.A.M.

Observation is an Adventure, Indie game released in 2020, priced at $24.99, with an estimated 200,000 .. 500,000 owners and Mostly Positive (78% of 5201 reviews) sentiment.

9
playing now
78%
positive of 5.2k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
82/100
critic score (11 outlets, IGDB)
75/100
IGDB user rating (88 ratings)
4.23★
PlayStation Store rating (2,400 ratings)
5.7h
to beat · rushed 5h · completionist 11h
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unsupported
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Unsupported
$24.99
steam price (US)

9 players in-game as of 2026-10-15 20:00 UTC (census sample)

Observation is an adventure video game developed by No Code and published by Devolver Digital. The game, described as sci-fi thriller, puts the player in control of a space station AI in order to recover from the sudden, mysterious loss of its crew. Observation was released for Windows and PlayStation 4 on 21 May 2019 and for Xbox One on 25 June 2020.

Trailer

Observation trailer thumbnail

Observation - Launch Trailer | PS4

≈1,000,000 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 9 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 194 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~24/week).
  • · Review velocity up 7% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (1,087 reviews).
  • · Top 5% of 29,510 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Estimated sales: 104k–234k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 5,201 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Steam$5.78-79%
Fanatical$6.24-75%
GOG$6.25-75%
Gamesplanet$6.25-75%
GOG$6.25-75%
Microsoft Store$24.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.74 at Microsoft Store (2025-04-07) · bundled 2×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $24.99 · on sale 108 of 149 observed days · $2.51 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
86786720202026Week of 2020-05-01: 867 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 220 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 300 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 73 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 187 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 54 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 75 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 238 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 29 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 100 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 79 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 99 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 76 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

3932026-09-16 06:00 — 9 players2026-09-17 13:00 — 7 players2026-09-18 21:00 — 15 players2026-09-20 04:00 — 12 players2026-09-21 12:00 — 7 players2026-09-22 20:00 — 15 players2026-09-24 03:00 — 8 players2026-09-25 11:00 — 9 players2026-09-26 18:00 — 12 players2026-09-28 02:00 — 8 players2026-09-29 09:00 — 5 players2026-09-30 17:00 — 9 players2026-10-02 00:00 — 21 players2026-10-03 08:00 — 15 players2026-10-04 16:00 — 39 players2026-10-05 23:00 — 28 players2026-10-07 07:00 — 8 players2026-10-08 14:00 — 25 players2026-10-09 22:00 — 15 players2026-10-11 05:00 — 13 players2026-10-12 13:00 — 14 players2026-10-13 21:00 — 22 players2026-10-15 04:00 — 3 players2026-10-15 20:00 — 9 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
4224May 2020Aug 2026May 2020 — avg 422 · peak 1,027Jul 2020 — avg 40 · peak 124Sep 2020 — avg 10 · peak 31Nov 2020 — avg 22 · peak 88Jan 2021 — avg 16 · peak 65Mar 2021 — avg 10 · peak 42May 2021 — avg 24 · peak 135Jul 2021 — avg 14 · peak 42Sep 2021 — avg 6 · peak 22Nov 2021 — avg 8 · peak 33Jan 2022 — avg 10 · peak 33Mar 2022 — avg 4 · peak 14May 2022 — avg 21 · peak 78Jul 2022 — avg 8 · peak 25Sep 2022 — avg 5 · peak 16Nov 2022 — avg 9 · peak 38Jan 2023 — avg 10 · peak 41Mar 2023 — avg 7 · peak 25May 2023 — avg 11 · peak 49Jul 2023 — avg 7 · peak 20Sep 2023 — avg 7 · peak 25Nov 2023 — avg 7 · peak 24Jan 2024 — avg 5 · peak 17Mar 2024 — avg 5 · peak 15May 2024 — avg 8 · peak 30Jul 2024 — avg 6 · peak 18Sep 2024 — avg 8 · peak 31Nov 2024 — avg 8 · peak 31Jan 2025 — avg 5 · peak 19Mar 2025 — avg 5 · peak 20May 2025 — avg 4 · peak 17Jul 2025 — avg 5 · peak 18Sep 2025 — avg 5 · peak 20Nov 2025 — avg 5 · peak 25Jan 2026 — avg 7 · peak 16Mar 2026 — avg 4 · peak 14May 2026 — avg 4 · peak 14Jul 2026 — avg 5 · peak 16Aug 2026 — avg 4 · peak 13
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$24.99$3.742019-04-262026-10-162019-04-26 — best price $22.492019-12-19 — best price $12.492020-06-15 — best price $24.992020-10-22 — best price $9.992021-01-04 — best price $24.992021-04-10 — best price $24.992021-06-25 — best price $9.992021-10-18 — best price $9.992021-12-23 — best price $8.402022-02-21 — best price $24.992022-04-19 — best price $22.492022-05-26 — best price $8.492022-08-15 — best price $9.992022-11-11 — best price $9.992022-12-23 — best price $6.242023-03-16 — best price $6.242023-05-12 — best price $6.242023-07-15 — best price $24.992023-09-01 — best price $7.972023-11-22 — best price $6.242024-02-05 — best price $9.062024-03-20 — best price $6.242024-05-23 — best price $24.992024-07-18 — best price $4.872024-09-12 — best price $6.242024-11-04 — best price $24.992025-01-07 — best price $6.252025-03-01 — best price $24.992025-04-23 — best price $6.242025-06-18 — best price $6.242025-09-24 — best price $24.992025-12-06 — best price $24.992026-02-23 — best price $24.992026-04-17 — best price $19.492026-06-17 — best price $6.252026-08-17 — best price $4.872026-09-09 — best price $6.242026-09-29 — best price $6.252026-10-16 — best price $24.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

2.6k662026-05-31 — 89 pageviews2026-06-04 — 361 pageviews2026-06-08 — 195 pageviews2026-06-12 — 140 pageviews2026-06-16 — 106 pageviews2026-06-20 — 108 pageviews2026-06-24 — 135 pageviews2026-06-28 — 89 pageviews2026-07-02 — 91 pageviews2026-07-06 — 125 pageviews2026-07-10 — 78 pageviews2026-07-14 — 92 pageviews2026-07-18 — 66 pageviews2026-07-22 — 93 pageviews2026-07-26 — 80 pageviews2026-07-30 — 342 pageviews2026-08-03 — 197 pageviews2026-08-07 — 136 pageviews2026-08-11 — 105 pageviews2026-08-15 — 91 pageviews2026-08-19 — 117 pageviews2026-08-23 — 255 pageviews2026-08-27 — 217 pageviews2026-08-31 — 201 pageviews2026-09-04 — 196 pageviews2026-09-08 — 203 pageviews2026-09-12 — 171 pageviews2026-09-16 — 560 pageviews2026-09-20 — 587 pageviews2026-09-24 — 1,938 pageviews2026-09-28 — 946 pageviews2026-10-02 — 491 pageviews2026-10-06 — 389 pageviews2026-10-10 — 311 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

11
achievements tracked
73.4%
earned "How did we get here?"
36.3%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportRemote Play on TVFamily Sharing

10 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Xbox One, Windows (Xbox)8,98214%11
PS4 (PlayStation)5,60920%11
Steam (Steam)3,59511%11

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

IndieSpaceHorrorPuzzleSci-fiMysteryThrillerAdventureStory RichAtmospheric

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsDon't Knock TwiceHouse of CaravanRusty Lake HotelPLANET ALPHARusty Lake: RootsThe Last JourneyDream Alone

Similarity via IGDB.

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